This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2021) |
Come Outside | |
---|---|
Genre | Children's Educational Comedy |
Created by | Elizabeth Bennett Ronald Smedley |
Directed by | Elizabeth Bennett Peter Rose Barbara Roddam |
Starring | Lynda Baron Pippin Mr. Higgins |
Composer | Jonathan Cohen |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 3 |
No. of episodes | 40 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers | Judy Whitfield Stacey Adams Anne Brogan |
Producer | Elizabeth Bennett |
Production location | Greater London & Buckinghamshire |
Editors | David Austin Jon Bignold |
Camera setup | Graham Latter Lee Pulbrook Jeremy Braben |
Running time | 14 minutes |
Production companies | Spelthorne Productions (Series 1) Tricorn Productions (Series 2–3) |
Original release | |
Network | BBC Two CBeebies |
Release | 23 September 1993 – 18 March 1997 |
Come Outside is a British educational children's television series that ran from 23 September 1993 to 18 March 1997, presented by and starring Lynda Baron as Auntie Mabel and her dog 'Pippin'.
The series aims to encourage young children to learn about the world around them. The starting point for each programme is something with which children may already be familiar, such as: wood, paper, boots, spiders, buses, soap and lampposts.
The two main characters are Auntie Mabel (played by Lynda Baron), and her dog Pippin, who was initially played by a female dog also called Pippin. A feature of Come Outside is Auntie Mabel's unusual mode of transport: a small aeroplane (a Slingsby T67 Firefly) with multi-coloured polka dots.
Series | Start date | End date | Episodes |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 23 September 1993 | 2 December 1993 | 11 |
2 | 22 September 1994 | 9 March 1995 | 19 |
3 | 7 January 1997 | 18 March 1997 | 10 |
Pippin was a mixed-breed dog, half Tibetan Terrier, half Bearded Collie, roughly third generation descended from the famous American acting dog Benji and was owned and trained by the award-winning animal trainer Ann Head. Pippin was quite old at the start of the first series in 1993 and so she performed the slower but more complex moves while her grandson, Mr. Higgins, performed any physically demanding actions.
Pippin retired at the end of Series 1 and Mr. Higgins took over the role of 'Pippin' entirely for Series 2 and 3. Mr. Higgins also starred as the Bakers dog for Bakers Complete pet food commercials and is still pictured on the products. He died in 2008 of old age while his grandmother, the original Pippin, died in the late 1990s. [2]
Many other animals took part in Come Outside. Specially-shot footage included snails from London Zoo, frogs at Chester Zoo, geese at Folly Farm in Gloucestershire, rabbits at Tilgate Nature Centre in West Sussex, butterflies in the Butterfly Centre, Eastbourne, hedgehogs supplied by St. Tiggywinkles Animal Hospital and spiders from a private collection. In addition archive shots were provided by the BBC's Natural History Film Library in Bristol.
Elizabeth Bennett created the format and characters, wrote the scripts, directed many of the programmes and produced all three series.
Two different production companies were involved. Series 1 was made by Spelthorne Productions, which has since closed; Series 2 and 3 were made by Elizabeth Bennett's production company Tricorn Associates.
Aerial views of the various locations visited by Auntie Mabel were shot by Jeremy Braben.
Series 1 was set in a cottage on the corner of Denham Airfield in Buckinghamshire, and was used to provide the exterior shots of Auntie Mabel's house. She would come out of the house, walk through the back garden and on to the airfield to climb into her aeroplane (A 1989 Slingsby T67C Firefly registered G-RAFG). The interiors were shot at Capital Studios in Wandsworth, South West London.
Series 2 was shot entirely on location, including the interiors of Auntie Mabel's house, with the exception of the bathroom in the Spiders episode which was shot in a studio. The cottage at Denham Airfield was occupied and so a new location had to be found. An empty cottage on a farmland in Harefield in Western Greater London was rented. To allow for the change of location to be incorporated into the show's continuity, a programme about moving house was shot to link the two locations, which makes the first series the third chronologically. The plane (now a 1988 Slingsby T67C Firefly registered G-BOCM) was kept in a field nearby.
Series 3 was commissioned two years later and was also shot at the cottage in Harefield. A much older plane (A 1983 Slingsby T67M Firefly registered G-SFTZ) was used, now featuring a spiralled propeller
In every episode Mabel ventures outside and this involved shooting in many locations in the United Kingdom, such as a pencil factory in Keswick, the manufacture of Wellington boots in Dumfries, a pottery in Stoke, growing bulbs and attending the annual flower parade in Spalding, Lincolnshire and making brushes in Portsmouth.
Sometimes Auntie Mabel's adventures stayed closer to home. For example the episode "Buses", was filmed around the Ruislip area of North London. Scenes were also shot in Woodley, Berkshire, in the retail precinct and in the veterinary clinic.
In the episode "Marmalade" Auntie Mabel flies to Seville to visit an orange grove. Shooting was restricted to the one day on which the oranges were ready for harvesting. This was only known with very short notice and consequently arrangements to fly out were made at the last minute. It happened well outside the main production period by which time Lynda Baron was committed to other work and was not free to travel to Seville. To make it appear that Aunt Mabel had visited the orange grove, she was recorded in the studio against a Chroma key background while a body double was used for reverse angle shots of her in Spain.
Animation sequences for stories, songs and skits was done by Penny Holten, Touch Animation, Really Animated Pictures and Ealing Animation (occasionally).
The episode entitled Bricks won the Royal Television Society Educational Television Award 1997 in the Pre-school and Infants category. [3]
The BBC issued a collection on VHS tapes in the early 2000s, later released on DVD. The complete series is now available in a DVD box set. The BBC also released a collection of DVDs with booklets and notes not intended for home use but instead for use in schools and other educational purposes.
A selection of books were issued by the BBC in the mid 1990s based on the episodes.
Press Gang is a British children's television comedy-drama consisting of 43 episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993. Produced by Richmond Film & Television for Central, it screened on the ITV network in its regular weekday afternoon children's strand, CITV, typically in a 4:45 pm slot.
Open All Hours is a British television sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. It ran for 26 episodes in four series, which aired in 1976, 1981, 1982 and 1985. The programme was developed from a television pilot broadcast in Ronnie Barker's Seven of One (1973) comedy anthology series. Open All Hours ranked eighth in the 2004 Britain's Best Sitcom poll. A sequel, titled Still Open All Hours, aired from 2013 to 2019.
Mama's Family is an American sitcom television series starring Vicki Lawrence as Mama. The series is a spin-off of a recurring series of comedy sketches called "The Family" featured on The Carol Burnett Show (1967–78) and Carol Burnett & Company (1979). The sketches led to the television film Eunice, and finally the television series.
Petticoat Junction is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from September 1963 to April 1970. The series takes place at the Shady Rest Hotel, which is run by Kate Bradley; her three daughters Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Betty Jo; and her uncle Joe Carson. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters produced by Paul Henning. Petticoat Junction was created upon the success of Henning's previous rural/urban-themed sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971). The success of Petticoat Junction led to a spin-off, Green Acres (1965–1971). Petticoat Junction was produced by Filmways, Inc.
Tweenies is a British live-action puppet children's television series created by Will Brenton and Iain Lauchlan. The programme was focused on four preschool-aged characters, known as the "Tweenies", playing, singing, dancing, and learning in a fictional playgroup in England. They are cared for by two adult Tweenies and their dogs.
The Upper Hand is a British television sitcom with dramatic elements broadcast by ITV from 1 May 1990 to 14 October 1996. The programme was adapted from the American sitcom Who's the Boss?
The Herbs is a television series for young children made for the BBC by Graham Clutterbuck's FilmFair company. It was written by Michael Bond, directed by Ivor Wood using 3D stop motion model animation and first transmitted from 12 February 1968 in the BBC1 Watch with Mother timeslot. There were 13 episodes in the series, each one 15 minutes long.
Budgie the Little Helicopter is a British animated television series, relating to a fictional helicopter and his friends, based on a series of children's books. The characters were based on the books by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. The show was co-produced by Fred Wolf Films Dublin, The Sleepy Kids Company and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York for HTV West and Scottish Television, and originally aired on British television in 1994 on CITV, where it ran for 39 episodes. A range of videos, books, and toys were released under the Budgie label.
Lilian Ridgway, known professionally as Lynda Baron, was an English actress and singer. She is known for having played Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in the BBC sitcom Open All Hours (1976–1985) and its sequel, Still Open All Hours (2013–2016), Auntie Mabel in the award-winning children's series Come Outside (1993–1997), and the part of Linda Clarke in EastEnders in 2006 and from 2008 to 2009, with a brief return in 2016.
Keen Eddie is an American comedy-drama police procedural television series that aired on Fox from June 3 to July 24, 2003. The series was originally scheduled to premiere during the 2002–03 television season, but was postponed and premiered as a summer replacement in June 2003. Fox canceled the series, pulling it from the schedule after airing seven episodes. The remaining six episodes debuted on the American cable network Bravo and began airing in January 2004.
Woof! is a British children's television series produced by Central Independent Television about the adventures of a boy who shapeshifts into a dog. It was based on the book by Allan Ahlberg. It was directed by David Cobham with the screenplay by Richard Fegen and Andrew Norriss who novelized the second, third and fourth series as Woof! The Tale Wags On, Woof! The Tale Gets Longer and Woof! A Twist in the Tale respectively.
Second Thoughts is a British comedy television programme that ran from 3 May 1991 to 14 October 1994. It was broadcast on the ITV network and made by the ITV company LWT. It was followed by a sequel, Faith in the Future. Second Thoughts followed the lives of two middle-aged divorcees, Bill MacGregor and Faith Greyshott, from very different backgrounds trying to develop a relationship, despite the pressures pulling it apart.
North & South is a British television historical drama programme, produced by the BBC and originally broadcast in four episodes on BBC One in November and December 2004. The serial is based on the 1855 Victorian novel North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and takes place in the years surrounding the Great Exhibition of 1851.
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends is a British animated anthology television series based on the works of Beatrix Potter, featuring Peter Rabbit and other anthropomorphic animal characters created by Potter. 14 of Potter's stories were adapted into 9 films, and the series was originally shown in the U.K. on the BBC between 20 December 1992 and 25 December 1998. It was subsequently broadcast in the U.S. on Family Channel between 23 October 1992 and 23 October 1995. For the initial VHS releases, some of the characters' voices were dubbed-over by actors with more American-like accents.
"The Second Time Around" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the fourth episode of series 1, and was first broadcast on 29 September 1981. In the episode, an old fiancée of Del's returns and they rekindle their relationship, to Rodney and Grandad's horror.
Still Open All Hours is a British sitcom (2013–2019) created for the BBC by Roy Clarke, and starring David Jason and James Baxter. It is the sequel to the sitcom Open All Hours (1976–1985), which both Clarke and Jason were involved in. The new series was launched following a 40th Anniversary Special in December 2013 commemorating the original series. The sitcom's premise focuses on the life of a much older Granville, who now runs his late uncle's grocery shop with the assistance of his son, continuing to sell products at higher prices alongside seeking to be with his love interest.
The Coroner is a BBC Birmingham drama series starring Claire Goose as Jane Kennedy, a coroner based in a fictional South Devon coastal town. Matt Bardock stars as Detective Sergeant Davey Higgins.
"The Square Triangle" is the tenth episode aired of the first series of UFO - a 1970 British television science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth. The screenplay was written by Alan Pattillo and the director was David Lane. The episode was filmed between 3 September and 15 September 1969 and aired on the ATV Midlands on 9 December 1970. Though shown as the ninth episode, it was actually the eleventh to have been filmed.