Roobarb

The 1970s comedy cartoon series, Roobarb, about a bouncy dog and his contemptuous cat pal, Custard , remains cult viewing four decades on, even though only 30 original episodes were ever made.

Roobarb the dog was based on the writer Grange Calveley's own pet dog of the same name and he exhibited all of the same traits as the Welsh border collie. The series originally ran from 21st October until 27th November 1974 on BBC1, with re-runs on Nickelodeon in the 1980s.

The cartoon was resurrected on Channel Five in the 21st century, with a new series entitled Roobarb and Custard Too beginning on 8th August 2005 - running for 39 additional episodes.

Calveley and Briers teamed up again as writer and narrator of the second series, with the animation created by Monster Animation and Design. Despite modern technology and computer-aided animation, the original "wobbly" look was deliberately retained.

Theme tune

Even the music can transport you back to a bygone era, with the familiar theme song evoking happy memories of the BBC's famous cartoon. Roobarb's pal, Custard, was based on the Calveley's neighbour's cat. Unlike their real counterparts, the cartoon Roobard and Custard were green and pink respectively.

Calveley, now 74, reverted to an old-fashioned animation technique called "boiling", which involved drawing the images with marker pens on paper to achieve the deliberately wobbly, bouncy and colourful cartoon. The other animators included Bob Godfrey, who won BAFTA awards during his long career of more than half a century in the industry.

The narrator was popular actor Richard Briers, who provided all of the characters' voices in the five-minute episodes, which began with Johnny Hawksworth's bouncy theme tune.

Roobarb was a shaggy dog with a bushy tail, who loved adventures and eating things such as bones, shoes, chairs and carpets. Although he and Custard were friends, they were rivals too - and they were continually getting into all sorts of predicaments.

Custard loved playing pranks to sabotage Roobarb's day but cared for him deep down and always put things right in the end.

The cartoon was set in a small suburban garden and the adventures were portrayed from a dog's point of view. For example, in an episode called When Roobarb Made a Spike, the dog had been watching birds pecking at worms on the lawn and wondered what the "rubber bands" were that they ate. However, every time he went over to try and take a look, the birds flew off. So, not only was Roobard baffled about the rubber bands, he was also intrigued as to how the birds could hover in mid-air.

Roobarb devised a cunning plan - according to the narrator, "six and a half hours later, while disguised as a huge loaf of bread", our hero managed to stealthily approach the birds and realised their "spike" was the implement that picked up the rubber bands.

He then spent all night in the garden shed coming up with a rather strange invention to become the world's first flying dog with his own spike. Of course, things don't go quite according to plan!

A 'biogwoofy'

Published in 2013, Calveley's book, 'Roobarb: An Illuminated Biogwoofy' describes the real life Roobarb, who entered his life soon after his marriage to his wife, Hanny. Roobarb loved their big garden, with its shady conker tree and garden shed - and the large patch of rhubarb after which he was named.

He was so energetic he would leap high into the air and into the fork of the tree - which was perhaps the inspiration for his attempts at flying in When Roobarb Made a Spike. The real Roobarb's antics - including eating everything in sight, such as carpets and plants - made up the cartoon's opening sequence.

Calveley said his own dog was happy soaking up the sun in the garden, surrounded by trees, bone-holes, interesting smells and "things that bounced."

Millions of fans

Roobard and Custard attracted seven million viewers per episode when it was first screened in 1974. It traditionally occupied the slot before the Six o'Clock News on BBC1. The broadcasting rights were sold to more than 40 countries, including the USA and Australia.

Today, there is a Roobarb and Custard website and Facebook and Twitter feeds. Calveley lives in Cheshire, from where he has written the series of 'One to Five' books about five children and their dog, Ragamuffin.

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