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Ragdolly Anna and the Bacon

Ragdolly Anna and the Bacon (Ragdolly Anna)

26 Jul 1982
10m

If the little dressmaker can't bring home the bacon, then maybe Ragdolly Anna can? First episode in a children's series with Pat Coombs and friend.

Anne Wood is the producer of some Britain's most memorable children's television series including Pob (1985-90), Teletubbies (1997-2001) (2015-) and In the Night Garden... (2007-09). In its innovative use of technology and considered approach to its young audience, this adaptation of Jean Kenwood's Ragdolly Anna books features many of the traits of her later successes. There's no explanation required for a ragdoll that can talk and walk the streets hunting for pork products - it's an everyday occurrence in the world of children's play.

Through a combination of basic puppetry and video effects of an actor in a doll costume, Ragdolly Anna leads her eventful life alongside the Little Dressmaker, Dummy and the Big White Cat. Pat Coombs is the perfect choice to play Anna's flatmate in their third-floor home, filmed at the Woolman Street Tenements in Leeds.

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Kid's TV

Our relationship with the small screen starts early in life, opening our square eyes to a heady mix of drama and comedy; fantasy and fact.

Dedicated children’s programming has been part of the television mix from its earliest years, growing from short intervals “For The Children” after WWII, to a plethora of standalone channels today. The start of the BBC’s long-running “Watch With Mother” series in 1953 set much of the template for pre-school television, blending puppets, song and animation, with the implicit expectation that mum - assumed to be a housewife - would supervise. Catering for older children, meanwhile, sought to balance the kinds of programmes children want to watch with those their parents want them to see. Eventually a fuller menu of drama, comedy, factual and magazine programmes for children - in other words, versions of 'grown-up' programmes for 'small people' - came to fill the schedules of weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings. Sadly, the segregation of children’s television to its own satellite, cable and digital channels has made its much less likely for adults to experience the frequent delights of kids’ TV. But our collection welcomes all ages! (Though please note that some programmes maybe flagged as unsuitable for young children.)

47 videos in this collection

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The Story of the Caveman

1971

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Diane's Panda Party [28/09/72]

1972

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Animal Kwackers [09/10/75]

1975

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Witches' Brew [28/12/72]

1972

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Origami [09/04/70]

1970

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Mr. Trimble [21/02/73]

1973

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Gathercole Bunch

1973

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The Distant Voice

1973

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The Challenge

1973

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Play It Again, Stewpot [25/07/74]

1974

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Play It Again, Stewpot [05/09/74]

1974

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A Handful of Songs [27/05/77]

1977

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Saturday Scene Road Show [11/05/75]

1975

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Big and Bigger

1975

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Mickey the Demon Barber

1981

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Kevin Goes to the Library

1978

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