Gordon the Gopher, also known as Gordon T. Gopher, is an English

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

gopher Pocket gophers, commonly referred to simply as gophers, are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. The roughly 41 speciesSearch results for "Geomyidae" on thASM Mammal Diversity Database are all endemic to North and Central America. They are ...

who first appeared on Children's BBC (CBBC) between 1985 and 1987, listed on

television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

s by

Phillip Schofield Phillip Bryan Schofield (born 1 April 1962) is an English television presenter who works for ITV. He is currently the co-presenter of ITV's '' This Morning'' (2002–present) and ''Dancing on Ice'' (2006–2014, 2018–present) alongside Holl ...

on the

interstitial An interstitial space or interstice is a space between structures or objects. In particular, interstitial may refer to: Biology * Interstitial cell tumor * Interstitial cell, any cell that lies between other cells * Interstitial collagenase ...

in-vision continuity In broadcasting, continuity or presentation (or station break in the U.S. and Canada) is announcements, messages and graphics played by the broadcaster between specific programmes. It typically includes programme schedules, announcement of the ...

programme ''The Broom Cupboard''. He is a yellow

with red paws resembling lobster claws.

Career

Early work

Gordon's first appearances were on CBBC between 1985 and 1987, presenting television shows with

on the interstitial programme ''The Broom Cupboard''. In 1987, Gordon and Schofield, with

Sarah Greene Elizabeth Sarah Greene (born 24 October 1957) is an English television presenter and actress. She co-presented ''Blue Peter'' from May 1980 until June 1983, and hosted the Saturday-morning series '' Saturday Superstore'' and ''Going Live!''. E ...

, went on to present the Saturday morning show ''

Going Live! ''Going Live!'' was a British children's television series that aired on BBC1 from 26 September 1987 to 17 April 1993. It was presented by Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene. Other presenters included Trevor and Simon, Annabel Giles, Phillip ...

''. On one occasion, Gordon was famously attacked by a puppy that had been brought on to the show. In 1988, Gordon and Schofield were replaced on ''The Broom Cupboard'' by

Edd the Duck Edd the Duck (originally Ed the Duck) is a puppet duck which appeared on the CBBC interstitial programme ''The Broom Cupboard'' alongside presenters Andy Crane and Andi Peters. His movements were performed by Christina Mackay-Robinson, an assista ...

and

Andy Crane Howard Andrew Crane (born 24 February 1964) is an English television and radio presenter, best known for presenting Children's BBC between 1987 and 1990 and for his current work as a presenter on the Greatest Hits Radio network. Career Crane ...

. In 1991, Gordon had a series named after himself which was shown on CBBC on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

and

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

and ran from 3 January 1991 to 28 March 1991 only lasting a series of 13 episodes, appearing with his friend and colleague Phillip Schofield. The series was shown twice on ''BBC One'', the first time being in January to March 1991 and again from 26 October to 21 December 1992 continuing where BBC Two left off at lunchtime repeats in Summer 1991, ''BBC Two'' have also repeated the series at lunchtimes four times from 18 June to 23 July 1991, 20 September to 6 December 1993, 9 March to 1 June 1994, The Christmas season of 1994 from 22 and 23 December 1994 and 17 January 1995 to 28 March 1995. It has not been repeated since 28 March 1995 on the BBC. In 1990, he appeared on a children's programme called ''Scrooge – A Christmas Sarah''.

Later work

During his 2005 ''

Room 101 The Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Plenty are the four ministries of the government of Oceania in the 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', by George Orwell. The use of contradictory ...

'' appearance, Schofield made an attempt to place Gordon in Room 101 (i.e., consign him to the past), but in an audience vote Gordon was spared. On 26 February 2006, Gordon briefly appeared at the end of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's ''The 100 Greatest Funny Moments''. In December 2006, he returned to the screen in the ''Going Live!'' segment of the BBC special '' It Started With... Swap Shop''. Gordon also made a brief appearance with Schofield during a 1980s-themed edition of '' Dancing on Ice'' in February 2009. He also made a brief appearance on 5 February 2012 edition. Gordon appeared on ''This Morning'' on 13 September 2010 to celebrate Schofield's 25th anniversary of first presenting

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

. Schofield said "I miss him". In September 2013, Gordon appeared on an episode of '' Celebrity Juice''. In August 2015, Gordon appeared in an online short where he returned to the BBC and got a job as a cleaner. In this short, he was voiced by

Warwick Davis Warwick Ashley Davis (born 3 February 1970) is an English actor. He played the title character in ''Willow'' (1988) and the ''Leprechaun'' film series (1993–2003), several characters in the ''Star Wars'' film series (1983–2019), most nota ...

. In the September of that year he made a brief appearance in a special that aired on

CBBC (TV channel) CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 7–16 ...

called Hacker’s 30th Birthday Bash when

Hacker T. Dog Hacker The Dog (born 27 October), more commonly known as Hacker T. Dog, is a Border Terrier dog puppet who appears on the CBBC television channel in the United Kingdom. He is described as being born and living in Wigan, Lancashire. He is the hal ...

interviewed Schofield and reunited the two.

Puppeteers

Gordon was operated by several people in ''The Broom Cupboard'', but the person who did it longest was

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Career

Early work

Later work

Puppeteers

Influence

References