De Familie Knots (free translation ''The Nuts Family''; Knots being a Dutch expression for

crazy Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or t ...

) was a Dutch children's television series, broadcast between 22 October 1980 and 27 February 1984 by the

NCRV NCRV (Nederlandse Christelijke Radio Vereniging) (English: Dutch Christian Radio Association) was a public radio and television broadcaster in the Netherlands, mostly transmitting on NPO 1 and NPO 2. On 1 January 2014, NCRV merged with KRO to for ...

Concept

The TV series is set in a

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

store, owned by the eccentric Knots-family. The family members are all played by only three actors.

Cast

* Hetty Heyting - Tante Til, Oma Knots and Hansje. *

Marnix Kappers Marnix Kappers (8 September 1943 – 10 October 2016) was a Dutch cabaret artist and actor, best known for his roles on '' De Familie Knots'' (1980), ''Zonder Ernst'' (1992), and ''Heerlijk duurt het langst'' (1998). Cabaret In 1966, Kappe ...

- Neef Herbert, the Doctor, the PTT man, Vader Vogel, Buurvrouw Pronk and the

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-Diegetic#Film sound and music, diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, th ...

. * Jan-Simon Minkema - Opa Knots, Arend Vogel and Onkel X.

Characters

*Tante Til (Aunt Til) is a painting artist who holds the family together; her secret weapon is an intoxicating pink paint which she uses in splashes when one needs to be taught a valuable lesson. *Frederik is Til's husband; he lost his job as a window cleaner for the police since he fell off a ladder. Frederik reinvented himself as 'Onkel X' ('Uncle X'), the family's private investigator. His catchphrase "Hands up, dude, what's your code?" (''"Hands up, makker, wat is je code?"'') drew the attention of a US-impresario; he ended up flying back and forth to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

for acting-roles *Opa Knots (Grandad; forename Herman) is the founder of the comics store; he hates children and answers the phone by asking "Hello, whose mine speaking?" (''"Hallo, wie spreekt mijn?"''). *Oma Knots (Grandma; forename Johanna) Johanna) is Herman's wife. She tends to be clumsy and spends all day brewing soup with varying degrees of success. Herman reprimands her by comparing her to a child. *Neef Herbert (cousin Herbert) is a civil servant with an otherwise unbridled interest in toys and a matching appetite for Til's chocolates which he's not supposed to touch. *Hansje (cosy name for Johanna) is the niece who works behind the counter of the comics store. At night she attends adult school to get her qualifications second time round. *Arend Vogel (free translation Burt Eagle) is an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

teacher who rents the attic. He is fancied by Hansje despite being a few years older. A dose of pink paint makes him realise that he lost touch with his long-haired progressive days.

Supporting characters

*Buurvrouw Pronk (Neighbour Pronk), the woman next door who's curious for saucy

gossip Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling. Gossip is a topic of research in evolutionary psychology, which has found gossip to be an important means ...

about the family. After a pink dream she gives up her copycat behaviour to care for the elderly. *Vader Vogel (Vogel Senior) is the man Arend ran way from because they are alike. He attempts to make up with his son. *Aaf Klaver (free translation Ave Clover) is introduced as Herbert's girlfriend; she ignites his political ambitions, but only to enhance her own status. The relationship falls apart after interference from Til.

Music

Each episode featured a song, written and composed by Eric van Tijn. The songs were performed by Heyting and/or Minkema and released on an album. A compilation, ''Knots Klips'', was broadcast in September 1984.

In popular culture

* Marnix Kappers resurrected his Herbert-specs in 1989 for a series of reports in a tourist-at-home programme. * In 2014 a documentary about ''De Familie Knots'' was partially filmed in Amsterdam comics store

Lambiek Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum, ), though since 2007, his son Boris Kousemaker is the current owner. From 1968 to 2015, it was located ...

and broadcast on TV one year later. This marked the first time that the near-entire cast was reunited. * Hetty Heyting sold her Til-dress for auction, but later bought it back. This enabled her to reprise the popular character for prominent features in the Sinterklaas-films by Martijn van Nellestijn. In 2017, Til appeared in a Scoot-Mobile-commercial.

Sources

External links

* http://www.hettyheyting.nl/famknots/knots-watis.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Familie Knots, De Dutch children's television series Dutch music television series Dutch comedy television series 1980 Dutch television series debuts 1984 Dutch television series endings Television shows about comics

Knots A knot is a fastening in rope or interwoven lines. Knot may also refer to: Places * Knot, Nancowry, a village in India Archaeology * Knot of Isis (tyet), symbol of welfare/life. * Minoan snake goddess figurines#Sacral knot Arts, entertainme ...