Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll (Magic Roundabout)

Member Name: wiggglypufff

Product:	Magic Roundabout
Date:	04/08/01 (717 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Suitable for kids, and adults, Videos available

Disadvantages: Eric Thompson dying

Controversial, rife with undertones of drug taking, and a number of sexual innuendos. Hallucinogenic imagery, bribery and corruption, the list goes on. If you think Eminem is the biggest threat you’re likely to encounter with regard to your child’s moral safety and well being, think again...

A children’s TV classic, created by Serge Danot in 1965, screened by the BBC for 12 years until the ‘powers that be’ decided to ban it. Well debatable point as to whether it was actually banned, but it seemingly ‘disappeared’ from our screens in the late 70s until the early 1990s when it resurfaced on Channel 4.

Originally a French children's programme and called Le Manege Enchante, it was an animation, telling stories of the adventures of Pollux, Flappy, Ambroise and Margote. If these names don’t sound familiar, it’s simply because the scripts were completely rewritten for the British audience.

Pollux became Dougal, Flappy was to be re-named Dylan, Ambroise was Brian and Margote became Florence. Along with Mr. Rusty, the delightful Ermintrude and last but not least Zebedee, Le Manege Enchante took a literary transformation and was delivered to our screens as The Magic Roundabout.

Eric Thompson, father of award winning actress Emma Thompson was responsible (although some may say irresponsible) for the goings on of the loveable characters in a garden filled with flowers and some quite unusual happenings. The only similarity of Serge Danot’s Le Manege Enchante with Eric Thompson’s The magic Roundabout was the visual side of things.

In the innocent eyes of children, Dougal was simply a rather energetic shaggy dog with a love of sugar cubes. Dylan was a rabbit who liked to play guitar and sleep a lot. Brian was a sensible snail, and Florence a young girl. Ermintrude was a pink cow who loved chewing flowers, and Zebedee was a thing on a spring that said ‘Boing!&#
8217; a lot. Mr. Rusty was the owner of the roundabout and was more often than not seen riding around on his trusty little bike (well tricycle to be precise).

Each episode of The Magic Roundabout was just 5 minutes long, but had a little storyline of it’s own. Taken at face value, the themed episodes such as one of my favourites when the gang competed in a garden olympics seemed harmless enough.

So, how did Serge Danot’s clean cut characters end up representing 60s drug culture and corrupting children by the hundred? In truth, they
didn’t. Eric Thompson wrote witty and creative scripts that could be taken on face value by children, but interpreted in many different ways by the adult viewers.

Dougal’s addiction to sugar lumps to the children was simply a liking for sugar. His sarcastic humour would have travelled straight over their heads too. But for the adults, Dougal could be seen as a speed addict.
Dylan, the guitar playing rabbit with a tendency for napping under trees was simply a lazy rabbit. In the adult mind, he was more likely a dope smoking hippy. Ermintrude, a pink, flower chewing cow, was simply that in the eyes of children, although the adult mind boggled on what it could signify, as it did over Zebedee.

Eric Thompson sadly died in the early 80s and took with him the real story of The Magic Roundabout. When the series came back to TV on Channel 4 just over 10 years ago it was narrated by Nigel Planner of The Young Ones fame. His renowned character, Neil the hippy, did nothing to dispel the adult theme The magic Roundabout had become famed for.

....so there you have it. Harmless fun or a drug induced world of the surreal and senseless? A little of both maybe, I‘m not entirely sure, but it makes delightful viewing for adults and children alike.

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