Zokko!

Zokko! was a BBC television programme for children that ran for 26 episodes of 22 min duration between 1968 and 1970.[1] It was devised by newcomer Paul Ciani and veteran children's TV producer Molly Cox and was ground-breaking in being the first children's "television comic".[2][3]

Zokko!
Voices ofSheelagh Mcgrath, Gordon Clyde, Anthony Jackson
Narrated byMr Zokko!
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of episodes26
Production
Executive producerPaul Ciani and Molly Cox
Running time22 minutes
Release
Original networkBBC
Picture format4:3
Original release1968 (1968) –
1970 (1970)

Description

It featured a mixture of animations (e.g. Disney 'Fantasia' highlights/'Felix the Cat'/specially made sequences by Ted Lewis and Malcom Draper) and music hall jokes ('Knock-Knock' etc.). Viewers were asked to send in their own jokes.[2] The programme used short sequences using models set to music (e.g. marching band using World War I song "I'll Make a Man of You" with General Kitchener poster in background, and a rotating carousel packed with brass instruments), studio variety acts ('Sensational feats on the slack wire by Babu'/'Anna-Lou and Maria: a feather and fur fantasy'/'The Breathtaking Eddy Limbo'/'The High Jacks'/'Rope-spinning by Robin and Toni Templar'), film clips (e.g. specially made short films of a Tarzan spoof/snake charmer/imported stunt films 'Speed Ride' (rollercoaster/racing car stunts), magic (Ali Bongo - the "Shriek of Araby"), narrated comic strips (Big top thriller 'Susan Starr of the Circus'/Sci-Fi adventure 'Skayn and the Moon People' - pictures by Leslie Caswell), and specially shot films using pop songs ('Soundbox') by the likes of Georgie Fame, Alan Price, Harpers Bizarre, Randy Newman ("Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear"). The show was named after its original 'presenter', a flashing/talking pinball machine called 'Mr Zokko!' with a gaping skull shaped head (designed by Mike Ellis, the father of Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis, and grandfather of singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor) which introduced the clips and then scored them in its slow and sad robotic voice e.g. "Zok-ko, Score 7".

The programme is now regarded as "the first televised children's comic".[3] Apart from a compilation of highlights, only one complete episode remains in the BBC's archives. Two series were made in black and white. The second series omitted the pinball machine links, which were replaced by pop-art captions heavy on exclamation marks and question marks, linked with a similar electronically treated voice; "All for fun - fun for all - it's Zokko!" The main title theme was music by Brian Fahey and was released as a single.

References
  1. Bentley, David. "10 top Saturday morning children's TV shows you loved to watch when you were a kid". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  2. "Cox [née Cunningham], Marie-Thérèse Henriette [Molly, Mollie] (1925–1991), television producer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/65451. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  3. The Independent, 7 November 1991, p.35
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