It's great to see the Wombles making a return to Britain's television screens, as there's a true dearth of home-grown original programmes
for children as costs are slashed across the broadcasting sector.
What's also good is that the makers aren't afraid to
confront controversial issues head-on:
In a hard-hitting first episode, Tomsk is mistaken for a badger after a drunken
prank with a bottle of Tipp-ex and black felt-tip pen goes horribly wrong, and
he blunders into the path of the local cull. A tragic lesson on the futility of
the government's misguided attempts to tackle bovine TB.
In the second episode, the gang have a fight on their hands
as a private contractor wins the Wimbledon Common litter contract. Worse follows
as their new rivals neglect to do their CRB check and accidentally employed a
mass killer who's forgotten to take his medication. Madame Cholet goes missing.
Episode Three: Orinoco joins the English Defence League, and
rounds on Great Uncle Bulgaria
as a "dirty bearded muzzie immigrant". Orinoco soon learns the error
of his ways and learns to live and let live, but not before Bulgaria
suffers a stroke that leaves him dependent on round-the-clock care for the rest
of his days.
Episode Four: Wimbledon social services, concerned that the
infirm Bulgaria is living in little more than a hole in the ground filled
floor-to-ceiling with obsessively collected rubbish, have him taken into care
and the burrow condemned. Worse, the Womble organisation face unlimited fines
for illegal storage of contaminated waste and are bankrupted. It's all too much
for Tobermory, who is found with his head in a gas oven. The rest of the gang watch bewildered as a Tesco Express opens on the site of what used to be their home.
Five: Consigned to life on the streets and quite unsuited to
modern life, Wellington and Bungo earn money begging outside Waterloo Station,
while Orinoco is less discerning about the company he keeps and even less
careful of how he plies his trade. Telling his pals he's got an appointment
near King's Cross, he is never seen again. Viewers see a rolled-up carpet being
dumped at a council recycling centre, one grey paw flopping from the end.
Fade to black.
3 comments:
Apparently they wobble but they don't fall down.
They had better be careful! Pete Winkelman plans to franchise them off to Milton Keynes!
Funny - but sadly could be too close to the truth for comfort.
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