Inspector Gadget

INSPECTOR GADGET
Made by: D.I.C.
Shown on: ITV?
Years shown: 1983 onwards

Everyone remembers the opening titles to Inspector Gadget, with the titular sleuth climbing out of a manhole and demonstrating his vast arsenal of implements, to the theme music chant of “Go, Gadget, go!” It was the novelty of Gadget’s endless supply of ingenious appendages that kids thought was so fantastic - just as well this was sufficient distraction, because Gadget himself was a useless detective. The story went that he was once an ordinary human being, but one day he slipped on a banana skin and did himself a nasty injury - so instead of prescribing bed-rest and some Ibuprofen, the surgeons decided on the rather extreme option of putting him back together with gadgets, such as extendible limbs, and a set of helicopter blades folded into his hat. Just hope he was consulted first. Gadget’s boss was just known as Chief, and he was always blowing himself up with the self-destructing letters (although no-one offered to turn him into a cyborg); and his great enemy was Dr Claw, with his over-fed cat (maybe Claw’s first name was Henry…?), and the self-explanatory MAD agency. Gadget may have been an ineffectual cop, but his cases were resolved thanks to his know-all niece, Penny, with her proto-laptop, and his faithful dog, Brain, who always came off worst in any skirmish.

SQUARE EYES RATING: 5/10