Nightmarish kid's telly

January 7, 2008 7:13 AM

oldtelevisionprogramfilter. Please help me remember this old half-forgotten British children's show...

I've been trying to track this down, off and on for years... it's one of my earliest memories so I'm guessing it's from the early 1970s (although it might have been a repeat of something earlier.)

Black and white, naturally. It was some sort of puppet show I think. The main thing I can remember was there was some sort of 'bad guy' or 'villain' character who was basically a balloon with a face painted on it, possibly with some arms and legs stuck on it as well and a hat. He kept calling at someone's door for some reason (money?). Eventually he was 'killed' by being burst with a pin... which I think half-traumatised me for years.

Can someone confirm this actually existed and has not just been a bad dream all these years...

posted by fearfulsymmetry to media & arts (4 comments total)

I know this probably isn't it, but your description reminded me a lot of a cartoon from the 30's called Baloon Land. The Pincushion Man was scary to watch as a kid even in the 80's. Maybe that cartoon inspired the show you remember seeing? Any other details that you remember from the rest of the show? (mainly looking for google-able search terms).
posted by samsara at 8:08 AM on January 7, 2008

I think there was only one 'balloon' character... so creepy though that cartoon looks that wasn't it (or an inspiration) I think.

Any other details that you remember from the rest of the show?
Not really... except that at least some of it took place within a house and the door was opened to reveal the balloon-thing.
I think the puppets MAY (and that's a big 'may') have been hand-puppets or at least operated from bellow.

Oh and my google-fu has failed me on several occasions over this.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:48 AM on January 7, 2008

Was the balloon-man an actual character, or might it had been a balloon that the wind was repeatedly blowing against the door or window, and that the characters inside the house thought was someone banging against it, trying to get in? I have a vague recollection of the latter story from about the same time.

Also, when you say black-and-white do you mean definitely b/w or would you have been watching it on a b/w set?
posted by Hogshead at 10:04 AM on January 7, 2008

Yeah, the balloon-man was an actual character.

I remember it being black and white, and I think we had a colour television pretty early on (when I was quite small) but I suppose I could have seen it on a black and white television (my gran had one until I was a teenager I think) so it may have originally been in colour.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:32 AM on January 7, 2008