Rainbow (1972–1992)

Children's puppet programme featuring music and stories.

Creator:

Pamela Lonsdale

Stars:

Geoffrey Hayes, Roy Skelton, Stanley Bates

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Geoffrey Hayes	...	Geoffrey (993 episodes, 1973-1992)
Roy Skelton	...	George (993 episodes, 1973-1992)
Stanley Bates	...	Bungle (920 episodes, 1973-1989)
Rod Burton	...	Rod (832 episodes, 1974-1989)
Jane Tucker	...	Jane (831 episodes, 1974-1989)
Freddy Marks	...	Freddy (424 episodes, 1980-1989)

Storyline

Children's puppet programme featuring music and stories.

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Plot Keywords:

one word title

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Genres:

Family

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 October 1972 (UK)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Thames Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The show was created with the notion of its being a British equivalent of American children's hit Sesame Street, complete with puppet characters and animated inserts between the story as in the US show.

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Goofs

In an episode called Night Out, Zippy makes an arm gesture, which knocks over a bottle of washing up liquid and it rolls off the counter and onto the floor. This incident is ignored by all four characters and, after we cut back from Geoffery to Zippy, someone has replaced the prop, so that Zippy can then pick it up and start squeezing it.

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Connections

Featured in Bring Back... Fame (2008)

User Reviews

The military junta of Geoffrey

Rainbow is an allegory for the oppressive, dictatorial state we live in

Geoffrey represents the state, an all powerful machine that cannot be questioned or subverted - He controls the nature of reality and the direction of society

Zippy and George represent the dissenting element of society - Zippy because he speaks his mind and George because he's clearly homosexual and these aspects threaten the official states(Geoffrey's) ideals - This is why they're both behind a desk (because Geoffrey has had their legs broken to further control them)

Bungle represents the conformist element and consequently is allowed the use of his legs by Geoffrey - Bungle will blindly obey the states (Geoffrey's) commands and follow the official party line

Rod, Jane and Freddy....well, it's pretty obvious what they represent (the dirty buggers) Geoffrey allows them a modicum of freedom since they're the voice of his state propaganda (songs about being good little boys and girls)

Overall, a great show that teaches us about the nature of our oppressive, twisted, nightmare society (unless i'm reading too much into it?)