"It takes brains, you know. It takes brains!"

"It takes brains, you know. It takes brains!"

As anyone of a certain age what they remember about 'Fingerbobs' and it's a safe bet that at some point they'll mention That One With The Crow Putting The Stones In The Jug Of Water.

First broadcast on on 21st February 1972, 'Stones' was shown at 1.30 pm after 35 minutes of Malcolm Muggeridge asking The Question Why (which sounds as though it might get a little repetitive after the first thirty seconds or so).

This was a Monday, by the way, and also on that day on BBC One were the infamous 'Boomph With Becker' plus 'Sir Prancelot', 'Young Scientists Of The Year', 'Z Cars: Canal' and 'Steptoe And Son : Men Of Letters'. A pretty varied mix of stuff there!

There's actually a fairly tenuous connection with an earlier Galton & Simpson script and we'll get to that in a moment...

'Fingerbobs' is a cheap and cheerful show, relying on Rick Jones as Yoffy to hold the whole thing together, but he does a sterling job and he could never be accused of talking down to the kids.
This week Yoffy wants some stones, both to draw on with a felt-tip pen and as props in the story that makes up the later part of this episode.

Fingermouse is elected general dogsbody as usual and heads off past the ever-present winking ginger cat to the strange anonymous null-space that is the beach set. I never quite worked out the geography of the 'Fingerbobs' universe, but I'm assuming Yoffy's tabletop isn't that much of a hike away from the sea, otherwise I'd start to be concerned about poor old Scampi spending too long out of the water.

There are some uncredited feet and legs on display (does anyone want to make a guess at the owner of these?) but our canny rodent hero soon learns not to play with them and even gets to do a minor stunt that thankfully did not require the services of Terry Walsh in a mouse costume.

Enoch the woodpecker (who tends to get forgotten when people list the characters in 'Fingerbobs' and now I'm older he reminds me more of the logo on Woodpecker cider) gets to do some drilling with his beak,

fashioning some cart wheels that remind me of coconut ring biscuits. The chariot they construct looks a bit rickety, but it does the job, presenting Yoffy with a cargo of not-so-precious stones.

After a bit of drawing, we launch into the story of the crow and the jug of water which you probably all know backwards. Faced with a half-empy jug, the thirsty crow (who has rather bewitching multi-coloured eyes) thinks back to 'Hancock's Half Hour : The Big Night' wherein Tony's trip to the local laundrette saw him encounter Archimedes' Principle in Sam Kydd's washing machine.

So, the crow bungs some stones in and he can take a much-needed drink. Although I worry a bit about how the water seems to have got rather discoloured in the process and there are now some manky bits of grass floating about in it.

Yes, it's simple stuff, but done with an air of conviction. It's nice to have the DVD available and given the time it was made it's a minor triumph that it even exists.

Now, as for finding copies of 'Ragtime'...

(By Andrew Trowbridge)