Charley Says: Mummy Should Know

Charley Says: Mummy Should Know (Charley Says)

1973
Sound
1m

Killjoy, or conscience of a generation? Charley cat scuppers a playdate, but earns a fishy picnic through doing the right thing

We all wanted a cat like Charley. Someone to play with, someone to look out for us, and someone to spray us with bits of raw fish while delivering garbled safety messages. It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what burnt this series into the memory of a generation, leading to its crowning as the 'nation's favourite' public information film on the 60th anniversary of the Central Office of Information - though it may have had something to do with this film's plundering for The Prodigy's 1991 rave hit 'Charley Says'.

Animated public information filler. A boy's friends ask him to go for a picnic, but Charley the cat says he should ask his mummy first. She is busy talking to the milkman and by the time she says yes his friends has gone. His mum says that he did the right thing asking and takes him out for the day instead.

Animation Goes to Work

For those with an official message to get across, animation is the perfect messenger

Animation has an almost magical ability to charm and captivate. And those same qualities also make it a strikingly effective communication tool. It grabs attention, speaks to all ages, and can distil complex messages into simple and appealing visual metaphors. For government or other august bodies, cartoon antics have often been the perfect jam to sweeten the pill of official communications, whether to explain sweeping change or impart health and safety messages. And for the inventive animator, even the most utilitarian brief is no barrier to the most outlandish of treatments.