Fingerbobs

Fingerbobs
Genre	Live-action/puppet TV series
Created by	Joanne Cole Michael Cole
Presented by	Rick Jones
Theme music composer	Michael Jessett
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Producer(s)	Q3 London
Running time	15 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC1
Picture format	4:3
Audio format	Monaural sound
Original run	14 February 1972 – 15 May 1972
Chronology
Related shows	Fingermouse

Fingerbobs was a British children's television programme made by the BBC in 1972. The first episode was broadcast on 14 February 1972 on BBC1 as part of Watch with Mother. The show was created by Joanne and Michael Cole, who also created Bod. Only thirteen episodes were ever made.

Presented by mime artist "Yoffy" (played by Canadian actor Rick Jones), each ten-minute episode told a story centred around a paper finger puppet animal, and usually involved collecting various items (such as pebbles or feathers) to make up another object at the end. The finger puppets, each of whom had their own song, included:

• Fingermouse - a mouse, consisting of a grey paper cone head with paper ears and whiskers with a grey glove for the body ("Fingermouse, Fingermouse/I am a sort of wondermouse"). Fingermouse later got his own show, with a new puppeteer, called "The Music Man". The Music Man would tell stories involving Fingermouse, using musical instruments.

• Gulliver - a seagull made from a white ping-pong ball (head) placed over a thumb and white gloves forming the body with outstretched fingers as the wings. ("I spread my wings.")
• Scampi - several scampi were made using purple gloves with red heads on each finger
• Flash - a tortoise, with a paper shell. ("Slowly, steadily, I move at my own pace/They call me Flash though I won't dash/Who wants to run a race?")

Fingermouse gained his own series in 1985. In this series, the focus was more on musical instruments. One series was made of thirteen programmes.

The memorable theme tune went "Yoffy lifts a finger, and a mouse is there/Puts his hands together, and a seagull takes the air/Yoffy lifts a finger, and a scampi darts about/Yoffy bends another, and a tortoise head peeps out/These hands were made for making, and making they must do."

At the end of the series Jones was so sick of making the show that he destroyed the finger puppets while the camera was still rolling.

Fingerbobs was referenced in the video of 'A Town Called Hypocrisy" by Lostprophets.

Episodes

The following information has been taken from the Kult Kidz Gold DVD release of the series.

Gulliver's Stories

• Bumpy
• Stones
• Feathers

Scampi's Stories

• Sounds
• Wood
• Shiny

Fingermouse's Stories

• String
• Shadow
• Shapes
• Bricks

Flash's Stories

• Paint
• Seeds
• House

Note: Episode titles were given in Radio Times, but were not shown on-screen.

External links

• Fingerbobs
• Fingerbobs at the Internet Movie Database