External links
- Gus at Flambards
- Archived 21 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine South West Film & Television Archive
Gus Honeybun was the station mascot for Westward Television, and later Television South West, from 1961 to December 1992. [1] A puppet rabbit, and star of Gus Honeybun's Magic Birthdays, he achieved a longevity for a TV puppet second only to the Sooty characters. [2]
The clips were filmed at Westward/TSW's Plymouth studios in the Derry's Cross part of the city. There were four different Gus Honeybun puppets made by TSW and 3 made by Westward TV and TSW employed a person to create Gus Honeybun's wardrobe. Gus had a theme tune composed by TV composer Ed Welch. A short video was made to accompany it, featuring Gus and several TSW presenters walking around in Plymouth. A 7" picture disc single of the theme song was released in 1987 to several local record shops. Other Gus merchandise available included cuddly toy puppets, keyrings and car stickers. One car sticker said "Watch Gus on TSW!" and had his face and the TSW logo on it.
The character was devised to fill unsold advertising slots during children's TV broadcasts. Several ITV franchise stations at one time had a regional birthdays slot (often following Children's ITV or the previous incarnation of the children's television slot) with a continuity announcer and puppet announcing children's birthdays. With Gus, the announcer would read out a birthday card and the puppet would give a jump, known as a bunny hop, for each year of the child's life. Alternatives to bunny hops were ear waggles, head stands, winks and later "putting out the lights" and a colour-distorting "magic button". Gus appeared with virtually every Westward/TSW presenter, including the late Ian Stirling, Fern Britton, Judi Spiers, David Fitzgerald, Ruth Langsford and Sally Meen. The character was given the full name Augustus Jeremiah Honeybun by some continuity announcers, and was said to have been found under a gorse bush on Dartmoor in 1961 by the founders of Westward Television.
During the TSW era, Gus was broadcast twice a day on weekdays (before and after Children's ITV), and usually once a day at weekends. The show usually lasted about 2 or 3 minutes per episode. From 1987 to 1990, TSW used to often opt out of showing the first and last Children's ITV in-vision continuity links of the day so it could fit in Gus' birthday slot on weekday afternoons.
There was also a TSW-/Gus-branded Hoppa bus, made by local bus and coach company Western National. It was in regular use on most service routes until TSW's demise in 1992.
Gus Honeybun attracted a cult following and it was not unknown for adults to write in requesting "bunny hops" etc. 12 was the official age limit for having a birthday read out on air, so people of 40 were presented as being four and so on. [3]
Gus Honeybun was so identified with regional television in the south-west that when TSW's managing director Harry Turner presented the station's ITV franchise renewal in 1991 he took Gus with him. [1] However, Gus's Magic Birthdays series and his career at the station were ended at the start of 1993, when Westcountry Television took over from TSW after winning the franchise.
The last-ever Gus Honeybun programme aired on 31 December 1992, at the tail end of the final TSW Today , which paid tribute to the station's 11 years of service. The programme saw Gus returned to the moor and reunited with his rabbit family with the help of continuity announcers Ruth Langsford and David Fitzgerald. The successor ITV franchise Westcountry provided a programme called Birthday People , but this was cancelled in 2004.
After TSW Gus was sold to Flambards Theme Park in Helston, Cornwall, along with the Gus Trailer that toured the Westcountry and 2 original TSW Gus Honeybuns and a Westward version. Flambards also had their own animatronic Gus made for a display after they stopped using the trailer and original Gus's. Unfortunately this one had a lot of trouble and was forever breaking down. Later in 2022 they took this one out of the 'TV set' they made for Gus and replaced him with one of the original Gus puppets. When Flambards closed in 2024 they held an auction in February 2025 and sold the aninatronic one for £3100 and a screen used Gus for £3600 There was a smaller auction in May 2025 where more items not sold by Flambards in the first auction was auctioned off including the 2nd original Gus Honeybun puppet.
Of all the official screen used Gus's the whereabouts of 5 is known, A Westward TV one is with Judi Spiers. The Box museum in Plymouth (TSW film archive/SWFTA) own 2, one is still in the 'Scottish' outfit from the last birthday programme with Sally Mean and Tristan Payne, and the other is the 'Dad Gus'that was in the last TSW Today programme where Gus was released into the wild. (This is easy to identify as he still is in the same costume still although missing the beard and glasses) these are rotated on display in The Box. The 'Mum Gus' in the last TSW Today programme was the one sold in the February auction at Flambards along with several original costumes, And the Gus released into the wild on that programme was the one sold in the May auction again with some original costumes. It is easy to identify which Gus was which in the last TSW Today programme as 2 in The Box are still in original costumes and the 2 Flambards ones are identifiable by the white fur around the face as they are slightly different on each Gus as they were all hand made so fur varied slightly. These 2 are now in private hands the February auction Gus one can be seen on a Facebook page 'I used to work at tsw' the Gus released into the wild is believed to be in the South-west still
The puppet was spoofed on Victoria Wood As Seen On TV by Susie Blake's continuity announcer character accompanied by 'Wally Wallaby'. Terry Wogan for some time referred to Gloria Hunniford (whose show preceded his on national BBC Radio 2) as Gloria Honeybun. In the post-apocalyptic novel by Jasper Fforde entitled Shades of Grey , which is set 1,500 years into the future, Devon and Cornwall are known as 'The Honeybun Peninsula'. In 2024, Gus Honeybun's story featured in several episodes of the BBC Radio 6 Music weekend programme, Radcliffe and Maconie , in which listeners recalled their experiences of the rabbit.