Stoppit and Tidyup

STOPPIT AND TIDYUP
Made by: ?
Shown on: BBC
Years shown: 1987, plus repeats

Absurd doesn’t even begin to describe this five minute Terry Wogan-narrated cartoon, with a vaguely environmental message. It was set in the somewhat oppressive land of Do-As-You’re-Told, where Stoppit (a furry ball who got accidentally squashed a lot) and his pal Tidyup (a foghorn-voiced blue thing with purple hair) lived. That was about it. There would usually be a minor story involved, such as the characters solving a puzzle, but it relied on the outlandishness and peculiarity of its boundless range of support characters. They were as follows: Comb-Your-Hair (with his eyes obscured by a fringe), Wash-Your-Face (filthy, of course), Hurry-Up (an orange ball of harassed energy), Go-And-Play (who wore a nappy and had lots of nursery toys), “poor little” Calm-Down (who brandished an umbrella), “nasty little” Not-Now, Bee-Have and Bee-Quiet (mutated bees, funnily enough), “sleepy old” Go-To-Bed (perennially tired), Don’t-Do-That (some kind of itchy-looking red insect), Take-Care (purple and anxious looking), Clean-Your-Teeth (with an unnervingly big smile), and a whole tribe of Sit-Downs. Best of all though, was the furious Big Bad I-Said-No, who was bright red and about to blow his top. Stoppit and Tidyup was absolute nonsense, and I can’t do it full justice on paper because it is simply impossible to recreate those weird noises that each character had. Halfway between Edward Lear and a very nasty experiment with hallucinogens, it was just about tongue-in-cheek enough to make watching it a repeatable experience.

SQUARE EYES RATING: 5/10

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