History of the Magic Roundabout

Created by Serge Danot in 1965, The Magic Roundabout became a television legend. The five minute slot just before the early evening news guaranteed the programme a viewing figure of over eight million. Seemingly innocent children's animation series included witty commentary for the adults, allowing two generations to enjoy it. Flavoured with a laid-back and surreal view of life, the programme reflected a heavy sixties feel. It soon achieved a cult status. The programme featured a rather off-the-wall cast. Its included Dougal, a shaggy dog who lived on a strict diet of sugar; an eccentric bouncing character called Zebedee, who would announce his arrival with a 'boing'; a rabbit named Dylan, who could have been accused of growing something considerably stronger than carrots in his vegetable patch; Ermintrude the pink cow, Florence, Brian the snail and their friends in the Garden. Thus The Magic Roundabout staked its place in television history. The most famous sentence of the series was Zebedee's standard declaration "Time for Bed" sending millions of children to sleep every evening. The Magic Roundabout was re-run on channel 4 television at the end of last year, winning yet another generation of young fans.

The characters

Interesting points of view about the Magic Roundabout I discovered while surfing the net:

Martin Ridgwell of Manchester wrote:

"I have been told that the Magic Roundabout was originally a French political satire with each character representing a figure in French politics. Apart from guessing Dougal as De Gaulle, who are the others? FRENCH politicians? I find that hard to swallow. Those of us at a certain age know that the Magic Roundabout was an Early Learning introduction to drug culture: 'It's a marvellous feeling,' Mr Rusty told Dougal about a 'trip' on his roundabout. A staple part of common room conversation was to identify the illegal substance that each character represented. Many years and several flashbacks later, I now find it difficult to recall what they were ... ah, let me see. Florence was a more butch version of our Alice, an innocent abroad; Dylan, the hippy bunny, was hashish; Brian was amphetamines. But what substance was produced from those flowers Ermitrude kept chewing, that once made her triple her size and fly away? And Dougal? At the time I thought his supply of sugar cubes had something to do with LSD but now I'm not so sure. Personally I'd like to know if there is any truth in the rumour that the BBC has banned it from our screens. Anyhow, time for bed."

J.Cormack of Leicester wrote:

"I THINK the questioner is wrong in saying that the Magic Roundabout (Le Manège Enchanté) was a political satire in Serge Danot's original French version. It was a simple children's series in which Dougal was called Pollux and spoke French with a heavy English accent (the French never fail to find an English accent hugely amusing). The rabbit was called Flappy and spoke with a heavy Spanish accent (the French people's other joke). Brian, the snail, was called Ambroise and Florence was Margote. There was no subtlety in the stories compared to the sophisticated version produced later for English TV by Eric Thompson. Hardly any adults watched it except English expats living in Paris at the time who used Pollux's sayings as catchphrases (at least they could manage that accent)."

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