"It was rather a flat day on Monday, with flat clouds
     floating in a flat sky, and flat birds sitting in flat trees,
     singing flat songs..."    
 

    ...So begins another Roobarb tale. In five wonderful wobbling minutes Roobarb
    the green keen dog would have a plan with which to fill the emptiness of his
    days, whilst Custard the shocking pink cat would scoff at his associate and
    do his very best to undermine Roobarb's enthusiasm as the birds in the trees
    chattered and twittered excitedly in and around the tale. Roobarb's enthusiasm
    usually focused upon making something, and that something was just as
    usually created in his shed, and just as usually, would go wrong in some
    way. But the pleasure wasn't to be found in the achieving, rather in the
    process of getting there...
    
    What can one say about "Roobarb"? - Bright flourescent green and ever keen,
    Roobarb was a unique tea-time star born in the 70s but ingrained indeliby upon
    the tv memories of not only its original generation of viewers but for subsequent
    generations too. Indeed, the show is still on UK screens today courtesy of
    FIVE's recent acquisition of all 30 episodes...

    Roobarb was a team triumph. The series was the brainchild of Grange Calveley,
    who incoporated much witty wordplay and musings into every script. Bob
    Godfrey's tiny Soho animation team brought the scripts to life on an equally
    tiny budget, using marker pens and plain white paper, giving a wobbling
    dynamic edginess to proceedings. Add to this Richard Briers' breathless,
    enthusiastic narration and Johnny Hawksworth's raw, electric theme and -
    well - who couldn't fail to fall for the show?   

    • Grange Calveley based Roobarb on his own, real-life, Welsh Retriever.
       (Only, the dog was black, not flourescent green!)

    • Every episode title begins with the word "When". Hence we have the
       likes of: "When Roobarb was being Bored, then not being Bored", etc.
       The idea was continued through to the second Calveley/Godfrey/Briers
       collaboration Noah and Nelly. All of those episodes begin with "During"...

    • Speaking of the SklArk. Roobarb actually makes a cameo appearance
       as an umbrella head, in the episode "'During a Stay at the Reservoir Desert'.

 

   Roobarb and Custard Too

   In August 2005 a brand new Roobarb series gambolled onto our
   tv screens. You can read up about the show here. And Toonhound
   spoke with the show's new director Jason Tammemagi of Monster
   Animation just before the series launched on FIVE:

  
 

    When...

   When Roobarb made a spike
   When Roobarb didn’t see the sun come up
   When Roobarb was being bored then not being bored
   When the tree fell to pieces
   When Roobarb found sauce
   When it was night
   When it was Christmas
   When the sun was just right
   When the ppera wasn’t a phantom
   When there wasn’t treasure
   When it wasn’t Thorsday
   When Roobarb was cheating
   When Custard was sorry
   When Roobarb mixed the paint
   When Roobarb’s heart ruled his head
   When you're going to fly - fly high
   When the day didn't arrive
   When Roobarb did the lion's share
   When Roobarb was at the end of his tether
   When Custard stole the show
   When there was a dance at Foxes Dale
   When Roobarb wasn't as pleased as punch
   When Roobarb turned over a new leaf
   When there was something else
   When the day wouldn't keep still
   When Roobarb got a long break
   When the pipes call the tune
   When a knight lost his day
   When Custard got too near the bone
   When there was a big mix-up

 

     Promos/Tie-ins

    

     Wow! - Lollipop Animation are currently selling a very handsome
     collection of original Roobarb drawings, straight out of the 70s,
     from the hand of Bob Godfrey. These are one-of-a-kind items,
     folks, so when they're gone - they're gone for good. Oh, but
     The Hound wants them all!....

 

     Roobarb on DVD

     The Complete Roobarb
               Region 2 / all 30 episodes / Contender / April 2004

 

      created by Grange Calveley
      produced by Bob Godfrey's Movie Emporium

     writer:            Grange Calveley
      director:            Bob Godfrey
      unit director:    Anne Jolliffe
     animation:      Anne Jolliffe, Terry Moesker
     music:            Johnny Hawksworth
     camera:         Julian Holdaway
     editing:          Tony Fish, Peter Hearn
     prod man:       Hester Coblentz
     prod asst:       Terry Moesker
     narrator:         Richard Briers     
         
 

     On the web


      Roobarb and Custard Too 
      The official site for Roobarb's new series....