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''Sam on Boffs' Island'' is a British educational television series, made by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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...
, and aimed at developing the reading skills of 6- to 8-year-olds.
First broadcast in 1972 as part of the ''
Words and Pictures'' strand, it was one of the first television appearances of
Tony Robinson
Sir Anthony Robinson (born 15 August 1946) is an English actor, author, broadcaster, comedian, presenter, and political activist. He played Baldrick in the BBC television series ''Blackadder'' and has presented several historical documentarie ...
. Robinson played the character Sam, who is magically transported to Boffs' Island when he is eating his breakfast cereal in the morning. Each episode featured a 'real life' segment designed to encourage young children to read through storytelling. Other segments were
animated
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...
.
The Boff characters are puppets, who were portrayed by several voice actors including
Charles Collingwood.
Miriam Margolyes
Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus.
The ...
(later to co-star with Robinson in ''
Blackadder'') played Sam's mother. The Boffs were
stop-motion animated except when they appeared simultaneously with Robinson, in which cases they were hand-operated.
The scriptwriter for the series was children's author
Michael Rosen
Michael Wayne Rosen (born 7 May 1946) is a British children's author, poet, presenter, political columnist, broadcaster and activist who has written 140 books. He served as Children's Laureate from 2007 to 2009.
Early life
Michael Wayne Ro ...
.
Smallfilms
Smallfilms is a British television production company that made animated TV programmes for children from 1959 until the 1980s. In 2014 the company began operating again, producing a new series of its most famous show, ''The Clangers'', however it ...
, the production company of
Oliver Postgate
Richard Oliver Postgate (12 April 1925 – 8 December 2008), generally known as Oliver Postgate, was an English animator, puppeteer, and writer. He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most popular children's television progra ...
and
Peter Firmin
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a su ...
, provided some still video sequences.
In all, 20 episodes were made, and the series was repeated throughout the 1970s as part of the BBC's schools service. It was also the series that brought together Smallfilms with
Sandra Kerr
Sandra Kerr (born 14 February 1942, Plaistow, Essex) is an English folk singer.
Kerr sings and plays English concertina, guitar, Appalachian dulcimer and autoharp. She was a member of The Critics Group from 1963–1972. With John Faulkner, she ...
and John Faulkner (thanks to Michael Rosen's work with Kerr and Faulkner in
Ewan MacColl's
Critics' Group). Postgate, Firmin, Kerr and Faulkner went on to make Bagpuss together.
External links
Broadcast for Schools: ''Sam on Boffs' Island''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sam on Boffs' Island
BBC children's television shows
British children's education television series
British stop-motion animated television series
British television shows featuring puppetry
British television shows for schools
1972 British television series debuts
Reading and literacy television series
1970s British children's television series