''Hector's House'' (French ''La Maison de Toutou'') is a French children's television series using

glove puppet Glove puppetry () is a type of opera using cloth puppets that originated during the 17th century in Quanzhou or Zhangzhou of China's Fujian province, and historically practised in the Min Nan-speaking areas such as Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, the Chao ...

s. It was first broadcast in France on 1ère chaine on 27 October 1966 and ran over seven series and 78 episodes. It was re-voiced in English and broadcast on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

on 9 September 1968 and repeated throughout the 1970s. Each episode lasted 5 minutes and it was regularly given the pre-six o'clock time slot that brought children's programmes to a close. It was written and performed by Georges Croses with puppeteers Agnès Vannier and Georges Tournaire, using 60 cm (2') tall puppets on a garden set. The English version followed the French script faithfully with minor deviations.

Characters and setting

Affable, but sometimes pompous, Hector the dog (named ''Toutou'', literally meaning "doggie", in the original French version) lives in a house with a beautiful garden. He is a proud gardener and handyman, never far from his tool shed. The motherly, but mischievous, Zsazsa the cat (named ''Zouzou'' in the original) lives with him. Kiki the frog is a neighbour who constantly visits the garden through a hole in the garden wall and claims to be a meteorologist. Hector desires order and tranquillity, and is always thinking up ways to improve himself and his garden. He is willing to assist his two friends in their activities, but often finds them at odds with his own. Kiki and Zsazsa also often play tricks on him, but he always takes this in good humour and ends each episode

breaking the fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th centu ...

to address the camera with his catchphrase: "I'm a great big hatever he wasold Hector." Although named after the house, all stories occur in the garden and action within the house is only seen through the open windows. The humour employed is indebted to the French film comedies of

Jacques Tati Jacques Tati (; born Jacques Tatischeff, ; 9 October 1907 – 5 November 1982) was a French mime, filmmaker, actor and screenwriter. In an ''Entertainment Weekly'' poll of the Greatest Movie Directors, he was voted 46th (a list of the top 50 was ...

who often portrayed a man strangely at odds with his surroundings.

Credits

The programme was broadcast entirely without credits, featuring only a short introductory theme tune (with birdsong accompaniment) and, in the French broadcasts, a short static frame at the end (with the same bird).

French

Actor Jacques Morel voiced Toutou, Actress Lucie Dolène voiced Zouzou and puppeteer Agnès Vannier was Kiki.

English

Hector was voiced by Paul Bacon. Kiki was voiced by

Denise Bryer Denise Bryer (5 January 1928 – 16 October 2021) was an English actress, known for her voice roles on television and radio. Career Bryer was born 5 January 1928 in Kensington, London to Claude and Susie ( Mott) Bryer. Her father was a jewelle ...

, who also had roles in '' Noddy'', ''

Terrahawks ''Terrahawks'' is a 1980s British science fiction television series created by Gerry Anderson and Christopher Burr for London Weekend Television. The series was Anderson's first in over a decade to use puppets for its characters, and also his ...

'' and ''

Labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth () is an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the h ...

''. An urban myth circulated for some time that ZsaZsa was voiced by

Joanna Lumley Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley (born 1 May 1946) is an Indian-born British actress, presenter, author, television producer, activist and former model. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulo ...

, due to her similar voice and accent, but this has been denied by the actress.

Music

The theme music, of which two versions were aired, was composed by

Francis Lai Francis Albert Lai (; 26 April 19327 November 2018) was a French composer, noted for his film scores. He won the 1970 Oscar for Best Music, Original Score and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for the film '' Love Story''. The ...

Video and DVD

A number of VHS and DVDs have since been released with a selection of episodes across the series in no particular order. * VHS 1993 - 60min - Polygram Video "Pocket Money Video" * DVD 2001 - 30 Episodes - Contender

Episodes

The BBC episodes were not shown in the same order as the original French series.

Series One

Series Two

Series Three

Series Four

Series Five

Series Six

Series Seven

References

{{Authority control 1960s British children's television series 1970s British children's television series 1960s French television series 1970s French television series 1965 French television series debuts 1968 British television series debuts 1970 French television series endings 1975 British television series endings BBC children's television shows British television shows featuring puppetry French television shows featuring puppetry British English-language television shows