There was much excitement here at TV Today towers earlier this week when we heard the news that RDF Media have put plans into motion to bring back legendary TV classics Worzel Gummidge and Rentaghost.
“Gadzooks!” I cried, nearly spilling my Starbucks soya latte, and then was even more excited to see that my Word spellchecker recognised the word ‘gadzooks’. See, there it is again…
As any self-respecting fan of quality TV should know, Worzel Gummidge (1979-81) was a vehicle for former Doctor Who Jon Pertwee, who took the title role of a walking talking scarecrow to great effect in adaptations of the books by Barbara Euphan Todd. The show played to Pertwee’s strengths as a mimic and voice artist as Worzel wore various heads with a different function, and the cast also included Geoffrey Bayldon and a young Charlotte Coleman.
Rentaghost was a perennial of the BBC’s children’s output from 1976 to 1984. It was a fun and frolicsome comedy series about a group of ghosts who hired themselves out for various tasks - as the title song says: “If you’re mansion house needs haunting, just call… Rentaghost.”
One could argue that this plan by RDF smacks of the vogue for programme makers to look to the past for shows to resurrect, seemingly unable to come up with fresh, original ideas. But to be honest, I don’t see a great deal of that happening on British television anyway - really, out of the total of show’s being produced today, I would hazard it’s a small percentage that are remakes of old shows.
And if resurrecting old concepts is such a bad thing, what then is the point of revisiting classics like Dickens or Austen to bring new versions to television when we already have multiple versions? Or is that okay because they are considered classics and it’s, you know, literature? Why can’t television, after all these decades, have produced it’s own classics of the medium that are worth revisiting? Doctor Who was brought back for a reason - because it is a true television classic. It’s part of our popular cultural heritage and ritual now, and these are things well worth dusting down from time to time.
I’m not necessarily elevating Rentaghost or Worzel Gummidge to the same stature as Doctor Who, but once a good idea, always a good idea. And there’s no denying that both concepts are good ideas with wide appeal….
A talking scarecrow, you say, who swaps his head to take on different personalities? Brilliant! And Worzel is exactly the kind of mischievous, naughty character that children have always loved, and would be a great vehicle for the right actor with a capacity for physical comedy and characters. And there’s probably enough material in Euphan Todd’s ten original novels for any new take on the character to go in a different direction.
And as for Rentaghost, who couldn’t resist an agency of ghosts hiring themselves out? To be fair, Rentaghost did get silly in the last few years of its run, but there was always something quite engaging about the series even when they had Dobbin, the teleporting pantomime horse (best not to ask). If the producers are clever, they’ll go back to the original concept, where normal chap Fred Mumford starts working for Rentaghost alongside the dapper dandy Mr Davenport and wacky jester Mr Claypole. Fred (played by Anthony Jackson) wasn’t a very good ghost - he didn’t even tell his mum and dad he’d died. And I shall be phoning my MP if we don’t have Mr Meeker turning up every five minutes to shake his fist and grumble “You spooks!”
Whatever the fortunes of these two shows and whether they make it to the screen or not, at least somebody is thinking of investing in new programmes for children - let’s face it, not many are.
Strangely, I used to watch Rentaghost as a kid but never really understood the concept that they had a business like that. I always thought they were a bunch of magical types who played pranks and terrorized neighbours -- primarily with a vanishing horse!
Worzel Gummidge was superb, though. That concept could really work again, although Pertwee will be a tough act to follow. I can already see the Una Stubbs and Barbara Windsor cameo's...