Hickory House

Hickory House

Dusty Mop is confused when he discovers that pans come in different sizes and gives us his unconvincing impression of a spider.

Meanwhile, Humphrey Cushion puts his three things in some tins and takes a keen interest in Louise's box.

There is also an enormous turnip needing some urgent attention, for which the blame lies firmly with Tolstoy (not that one).

Sometimes, I wonder whether the 'Upstairs Downstairs' sketch involving the contents of the cleaning cupboard in 'The Young Ones' was also a partial nod to Humphrey Cushion and Dusty Mop from 'Hickory House'.

I remember being scared of Humphrey when I was very small and even the doors of the house are somewhat sinisater with their smiling faces, hinting at dark secrets.

When Louise and Dusty do their Little Miss Muffet routine, the backcloth is dreadfully filthy with a dirty great skidmark to the left of frame. Also, the attempt to cut the jam tart in half goes awry and it must end up all hairy, which requires some proper acting to convey how tasty it is when it gets scoffed at the end.

Alan's got a box full of M-things, reminding us how much larger loose change was in the 70s and that once upon a time it was perfectly acceptable to leave milk laying about in a hot studio before drinking it.

And Lisa liked the monkey.

Our video about 'Hickory House' can be seen here.

(Written by Andrew Trowbridge)