Telltale were a group of six musicians who regularly appeared on the first two series of the British TV series ''

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

'' in 1972 and 1973. Telltale began with Tim Thomas and Hugh Portnow who were working with the Freehold Theatre Company. In 1970, Thomas concentrated on forming a group of musicians and actors, and Portnow joined him a year later. Hugh Fraser, Chris Ashley and Fluff Joinson joined later, with the final member Ted Richards joining the group in the summer of 1972. Portnow, Fraser and Thomas also wrote the theme tune to ''Rainbow''. The band feature on a vinyl LP album released by MFP in 1973 called ''Songs from the Thames Television Children's Programme "Rainbow"'' (catalogue number MFP50087), which was produced by Anton Kwiatkowski. The group recorded a total of 14 songs for the album, including "Shapes" and "Walk in the Country". After series two of the show, Telltale were replaced by singing trio Charlie, Karl and Julian (

Charlie Dore Charlie Dore (born 1956) is an English singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and actress. Although best known as a singer-songwriter, Dore has a multi-faceted career that includes acting in film, TV and radio, comedy-improvisatio ...

, Karl Johnson and Julian Littman) in 1974. That trio were later replaced by Rod, Jane and Matthew, the precursors to Rod, Jane and Roger and the more familiar

Rod, Jane and Freddy Rod, Jane and Freddy were a singing trio who appeared in children's programming on the British TV channel ITV in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. They starred both in the long-running series ''Rainbow'' and their own 15-minute show. The trio ...

''Songs from the Thames Television Children's Programme "Rainbow"''

Side 1

#"Rainbow" ( Hugh Fraser, Hugh Portnow, Tim Thomas) #"Up and Down" (Chris Ashley) #"Walk in the Country" (Ashley) #"Autumn's Really Here" (Fluff Joinson) #"Shapes" (Fraser, Portnow, Thomas) #"Windy Day" (Portnow) #"Bookworm Song" (Fraser, Portnow, Thomas)

Side 2

#"Little Bit of Happy Music" (Fraser, Portnow, Thomas) #"Round and Round" (Thomas) #"Everything in the Garden Smells Sweet" (Fraser, Portnow, Thomas) #"Skyrider" (Joinson) #"Trees (A Tree, He Asks No Questions)" (Fraser, Portnow, Thomas) #"The Panto Horse" (Thomas) #"Travelling Song" (Thomas)

References

{{Rainbow (TV series) English folk musical groups