Bod

BOD
Made by: Michael Cole
Shown on: BBC (?)
Years shown: 1975-early eighties

History has thrown up many great philosophical questions, but none is as puzzling as this one: what the hell was Bod? I know everyone debates this, but it is a legitimate question. You wanted to believe he was human, but he was ageless (he looked like a child and seemed to have no obvious profession, but lived alone), totally bald, and wore a yellow dress. He inhabited a world devoid of landscape, and every week he would have ‘adventures’ with the same old friends, Aunt Flo, Farmer Barleymow, PC Copper and Frank the Postman. We were lulled into a false sense of security by the suave tones of narrator, John Le Mesurier, and the jolly tunes provided by Derek Griffiths; Frank’s theme was the funkiest, while Flo’s reflected her authoritarian temperament. Cunning.

Bod’s capers were usually surreal in the extreme, including an episode where a giant strawberry landed on his head; and his friends seemed to be able to abandon their day-jobs in order to join in the madness. Bod is a true children’s gem, borne of a marvellously unbalanced mind, which does nothing more than spread a bit of harmless happiness.

Then, of course, there was Alberto the Frog and his Amazing Animal Band, which used to be shown after the main feature. Firstly, the band was not amazing, but they were suckers: every episode, Alberto and co. would complete a good deed for someone, but Alberto took all the credit for none of the work. He was also a most unusual mercenary, demanding a different flavoured milkshake from every poor person he had helped out, and, of course, not offering any of it to the hard-working Animals. A hero for the eighties if ever there was one.

SQUARE EYES RATING: 9/10

(Thanks to www.thechestnut.com for the borrowed pic)