January
2008Uncle Bulgaria's favourite newspaper, The Times, is giving away a set of classic kids' TV shows, starting with a free Wombles DVD inside this weekend's Sunday Times (13 January).
The cover image shows 'Tobermory On TV', similar to the commercially released DVD that came out last March, but it's not clear how many episodes will be included on this free version.
Apparently there will be adverts for this giveaway promotion across television, radio, press and outdoor posters, although the only one I've seen so far was in the press (in thelondonpaper). So keep an eye out for Tobermory!
Find out more about the giveaway on the Times Online site.
The
Wombles are featured in a new TV advert for gas and electricity supplier EDF
Energy. It's a montage of old footage with an environmental theme, and at the
end it says: "This commercial is made from recycled film clips."
The short Wombles clip appears near the end, with Uncle Bulgaria saying: "Oh, that's the idea - making good use of bad rubbish."
You can watch the advert below or on YouTube, and read about it in the Media Guardian.
May
2007The Wombles are included in BBC Four's Children's TV On Trial week, which looks back at kids' telly from the 1950s to the 1990s - you may have seen them in recent trailers running on BBC channels.
The season begins on Saturday, 26 May with the introductory Goodbye Children Everywhere at 7.40pm, and The Kids' Verdict at 9.05pm, in which today's children give their comments on classic programmes while Bernard Cribbins is one of the contributors.
The episode of Children's TV On Trial looking at the 1970s is on Tuesday, 29 May at 9pm.
Visit the BBC Four site for more information and full programme listings, and to watch the trailer and take a quiz about children's television.
Bernard
Cribbins, the narrator/voice of the original Wombles TV series, will be signing
autographs at the Collectormania
fair in Milton Keynes on Saturday, 5 May.
Note that you have to pay for autographs, usually about £15 depending on the guest. You can choose a free 8"x10" photograph to have signed, or bring your own personal item(s). Most guests are happy for you to have your photo taken with them when getting your autograph. Read more about how Collectormania works.
On a related note, Bernard Cribbins was recently voted the fourth best-loved voice from British children's television, in a BBC poll of more than 1,200 people. He was beaten only by Brian Cant (Camberwick Green, Trumpton), Oliver Postgate (Bagpuss, Ivor The Engine) and David Jason (DangerMouse).
Paddy Kempshall, editor of the BBC's Underground Ernie magazine, said: "Many of us find it hard to forget the hypnotic-like animation, stop-motion figures and wonderfully imaginative environments and characters from British children's TV but we rarely give a thought to the talented narrators and voices behind these shows.
"This poll demonstrates that the iconic status of shows such as Trumpton or Bagpuss was as much due to the voices and narration behind them as the writing, producing or even illustrating. The voices of Brian Cant, Oliver Postgate and Bernard Cribbins remind us that a familiar voice or narration is hugely important when it comes to entertaining children on television."
April
2007Congratulations to the winners of our recent competition, and thanks to everyone who entered. David Eastaugh and Helen Myers won a copy of the new Tobermory On Television DVD.
The follow-up to last year's Orinoco And The Big Black Umbrella DVD contains the second set of 12 episodes from the original TV series, from Tobermory On Television through to Games In The Snow.
The 60-minute disc also contains two 'interactive extras' - Meet The Wombles, with profiles of Wellington, Bungo and Tobermory, and a trivia quiz, Uncle Bulgaria's Brain-Teasers.
Get your paws on a copy of Tobermory On Television from Amazon
November
2006Abbey Home Media's new online shop is now open. Alongside the DVD of Orinoco And The Big Black Umbrella (the first 12 episodes from 1973), you can buy a range of other children's DVDs, audio CDs/cassettes and books. Visit the Abbey Kids Shop.
The Wombles also feature in a Christmas-themed compilation DVD from Abbey, Santa's Favourites, along with Paddington, Huxley Pig, The Perishers, Moschops and more. The two Wombles episodes are Games In The Snow and The Snow Wombles. It's available from 20 November 2006.
The 1977 Wombling Free film is back in the shops, in a new 'special edition' DVD released on 17 July 2006 by Network. The film is accompanied by archive interviews with Bonnie Langford, David Tomlinson and writer/director Lionel Jeffries, all originally recorded for The Electric Theatre Show. Find out more on the Wombling Free page.
Congratulations to the winners of our Orinoco And The Big Black Umbrella competition. Courtesy of Abbey Home Media, copies of the new DVD went to:
Two
years after the first UK Wombles DVD (from Columbia TriStar), a new version
with the same title, Orinoco And The Big Black Umbrella, has been released by
Abbey Home Media.
This time it contains the first 12 episodes rather than 10, from the original 1973 TV series. This sets things up nicely for an eventual set of five discs to cover the full 60 episodes, so make sure you support this release even if you've already got the 2004 version!
Pauline Gaiger from Abbey Home Media tells me: "We have bought the old FilmFair catalogue so have lots of Wombles episodes to distribute, and we will most definitely be releasing another DVD towards the end of the year."
The DVD has two 'interactive extras' - Meet The Wombles, with profiles of Great Uncle Bulgaria, Orinoco and Tomsk, and an eight-question trivia quiz, Bungo's Brain-Teasers.
I also asked Pauline why they used a picture from the 1990s series, which includes characters such as Stepney who aren't in these episodes. She explains: "We were supplied very little artwork from the original series. We had a real struggle trying to select a front image that was good enough to incorporate an eye-catching group shot for the sleeve, so we have had to substitute using a pic from the more recent series in order to have the original main characters all looking towards camera."
Orinoco And The Big Black Umbrella is available now from Amazon or Play.com.
The Wombles came joint sixth (with The Clangers) in a recent BBC survey on the most popular pre-school children's TV shows of all time.
The top five shows were Rainbow, The Magic Roundabout, Mr Benn, Play School and Bagpuss.
The survey, to launch new magazine CBeebies Weekly, asked 1,000 people aged 25-45 to pick their favourites.
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