Bertha

BERTHA
Made by: Woodland Animations
Shown on: BBC
Years shown: 1984 onwards
Theme tune: “Bertha, lovely Bertha, you are a lovely machine/And everyone who works with you/Will know just what I mean”

This was working-class animation, in the same stop-motion vein as Postman Pat and the later Fireman Sam. Bertha was a giant green machine at Spottiswood Factory, who could basically produce any product that was programmed into her. Her inventor, who was clearly rolling in it as a result, was Mr Sprot, but his factory was run by foreman Ted Turner, and his robot TOM (Talk-Operated Machine), who would make sure things were running smoothly. Often they were not, and there was a hell of a lot of waste from amusing but faulty products.

The white-collar workforce included the manager, the vocationally-named Mr Willmake, plus secretary Miss Clackerty, and office junior, Tracy, who would sometimes play tic-tac-toe on her computer with Roy, the apprentice and general dogsbody (these were the days before Minesweeper and Free Cell.) Completing the line-up were tea-lady, Mrs Tupp, who was vastly under-employed if you ask me, and the packers, Nell and Flo. Each character had their own song, but Nell and Flo’s is the most memorable: “Packing and stacking, no we don’t believe in slacking/We’re Nell and Flo and we’re always on the go” That’s all very well but, as I think Mr Sprot should have pointed out, their singing was losing the company vital pennies. BerthaCharlie Chalk, and was aided by the enthusiasm of chief voice-artist, the late Roy Kinnear. was good wholesome children’s viewing, arriving on our screens before the surreal and rather unnerving

SQUARE EYES RATING: 7/10

(Thanks to Sendit.com for the borrowed pic)