The Magic Roundabout TV Show Facts

Apr 16, 2006

Ever wonder what your parents watched when they were younger? Have you seen the new movie Doogal? Well, that's what your parents probably watched (the TV show), especially if they're from England! It was a cartoon that would come on just before the news and was an absolute hit in the '60s and '70s.

The Magic Roundabout - Main Characters

Brian - This snail has been known to lose his temper. He agrees to everything that Dougal says so he's obviously not the leader of the group.
Dougal - Dougal's the shaggy dog who's addicted to sugar. He's known to be sarcastic and sometimes rude, but of course, everybody's got a soft side! He is of course the leader of the pack and he believes everything revolves around him.
Dylan - Now every show has to have an oddball. Dylan, the spacey rabbit, is the hippie of the group. You'll usually find him sleeping or playing his guitar.
Ermintrude - The pink cow is the only other character to steal the show. She has a crush on Dougal, which is pretty obvious.
Florence - Florence is a real girl, not an animal. She is caring, loving and really sweet. That's why she always worries about Dougal.
Zebedee - He's the jack in the box who announces his arrival with a 'boing'. He's the reason the magic returned to the roundabout. Zebedee brought all the children to play there and he's the one who makes everything right when it goes wrong. Every episode ends with Zebedee saying, "Time for bed".
Mr. Rusty - The operator of the roundabout.

The Magic Roundabout - Fun Facts

Doogal was an original series created in 1963 by French author Serge Danot. The series first aired in 1964 on French television.
For the English version, translations were done by Eric Thompson but he made the stories up according to the pictures. He didn't follow exact translations.
In the UK, this show had cult status - people were addicted to the show. It was on TV everyday for five minutes at 5:55PM.
The show ran until 1977 in the UK and 1971 in France. Now you can catch The Magic Roundabout crew in the flick, Doogal.
In 1970 a feature length movie was created by Eric Thompson and Serge Danot called Dougal and the Blue Cat.
The show was made using stop animation. This means it was made using real toys and the animators would take a picture of a scene and then move the characters and then take another picture. From there they would turn it into the cartoon. Each five-minute episode required 7,500 pictures!
Eric Thompson is the father of Emma Thompson, the actress from the movie Nanny McPhee.
Eric Thompson said he was most like Brian, the snail.
There were approximately 500 episodes of The Magic Roundabout made.
The series was seen in black and white for the first few years because the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) didn't use color until 1969.