Charlie Chalk

CHARLIE CHALK
Made by: Woodland Animations
Shown on: BBC
Years shown: 1988-89
Theme tune: "Charlie Chalk, Charlie Chalk/He's got a silly way of walking/A wacky way of talking/Charlie Chalk"

From the same camp as Postman Pat and Bertha came Charlie Chalk, an animation which hit ten on the weird-o-meter, had a theme sung by Ken Barrie, and which I actually found a little disturbing.

The first episode set the scene, and had Charlie, a circus clown, falling asleep in his boat while fishing, and waking up on the island of Merrytwit. Very soon, he decides to make a home there, and he builds himself a beach-hut on wheels, which he can move according to the direction of the sunlight. Merrytwit was like an island of lost souls, with an Alice in Wonderland type selection of unusual creatures and eccentric human beings. There was Edward, a slothful bear/gorilla thing, who wore a straw hat, and was always sleepy; Arnold was a pink elephant, who was both clumsy and stupid; and there was the outgoing Louis T. Duck, who wore a straw boater. The other people present were Captain Mildred, the shore-bound skipper of the marooned ship, Buttercup, who was bossy in the manner of a middle-aged PE teacher; and Trader Jones, mostly beard and glasses, who did exactly as his name suggests.

Then there were the real weirdoes. Litterbug was a beachcomber, forever collecting litter, but what the hell was Bert? Charlie and friends discovered Bert trapped in a cave on the island, when they heard a faint moaning sound - they dug him out, but probably wished they hadn’t bothered. Bert was like a bald eagle in the sense that he was furry from the neck down, but he had the most tiny head, which was pink and oddly foetal looking. Nasty. He didn’t mean any harm, of course, but he unnerved me. At least you knew where you were with Greendale.

SQUARE EYES RATING: 5/10

(Thanks to www.entertainmentrights.com for the borrowed pic - there's irony in there somewhere...)