The Navy Lark. Image shows left to right: CPO Pertwee (Jon Pertwee), Sub-Lieutenant Phillips (Leslie Phillips), Lt Cdr Murray (Number One) (Stephen Murray). Credit: BBC The Navy Lark. Image shows left to right: CPO Pertwee (Jon Pertwee), Sub-Lieutenant Phillips (Leslie Phillips), Lt Cdr Murray (Number One) (Stephen Murray). Credit: BBC If you are in the North America, look out for US/Canadian flag icons on popular product listings for direct links.

Overall, Worzel Gummidge is first-rate children’s television and great family entertainment. It may well leave youngsters of today cold, but for those of us with fond memories of the show, it doesn’t disappoint all these years later. You’ll find yourself saying, “Well, I’ll be bum-swizzled!” Worzel Gummidge offers a comforting, daft, and endlessly entertaining world, with enough moments of creepiness to keep you on your toes. If you get your thinking head on, you may well work out it’s a great festive gift. Having been rested throughout the 80s, Worzel Gummidge Down Under doesn’t feel like an unnecessary addition to the original series. There’s a new set of children, and a new Crowman (Bruce Phillips), as Worzel struggles to adapt to life in ‘Zoo Nealand’, having followed Aunt Sally into the cargo hold of an aeroplane after she is sold to a private collector. The antics of Pertwee and Stubbs anchor the show in charm and familiarity in a different, though equally rural setting, but ending it at two series, a decade after the original run, feels about right. Worzel Gummidge. Image shows left to right: Worzel Gummidge (Jon Pertwee), Crowman (Geoffrey Bayldon). Credit: Southern Television Worzel Gummidge. Image shows left to right: Worzel Gummidge (Jon Pertwee), Crowman (Geoffrey Bayldon). Credit: Southern Television A lot of the credit for the show's success must go to director James Hill. At the time of the series' conception, Hill was working with Pertwee's Doctor Who successor, Tom Baker, to get a feature film, Doctor Who Meets Scratchman (a story that, coincidentally, also featured scarecrows), off the ground. He and Pertwee got on famously and became lifelong friends. His stoic demeanour and strong work ethic guided the crew through an often gruelling production schedule, but he also established the aesthetic look of the series, with Worzel's grimy, believably earthy appearance contrasting with the bucolic beauty surrounding him.Aunt Sally was a role originally offered to actress and Carry On star Amanda Barrie, who turned it down. Pertwee asked Una Stubbs to take on the role: they had worked together in a 1975 production of Aladdin at the Richmond Theatre, and it was her dance and performance skills on that stage that caught his imagination. Like Pertwee, she was already a household name, having starred as Rita Rawlins in the hugely popular sitcom Till Death Us Do Part (and its various sequels) since 1965. This boxset from Fabulous Films brings together the complete collection of Worzel Gummidge episodes from the 1970s and 80s, which starred Jon Pertwee as the eponymous hero. Eager to take on the role, Pertwee encouraged Waterhouse and Hall to rewrite the script as a television series. They pitched the series to Head of Drama at the BBC, Shaun Sutton, and to Philip Jones at Thames Television, without success. All hope appeared to be lost, until Lewis Rudd at ITV regional broadcaster for the south east of England, Southern Television, heard about the show and enthusiastically commissioned it.

Sadly, Todd never lived to see the most popular iteration of her scarecrow reach the screen, passing away in 1976, just as final negotiations were getting underway. If you are in Australia or New Zealand (DVD Region 4), note that almost all DVDs distributed in the UK by the BBC and 2entertain are encoded for both Region 2 and Region 4. The UK and Australasia are in the same Blu-ray region (B). episodes were made between 1979 and 1981 over four series. A sequel series set in Ireland entered pre-production shortly thereafter. Sets were constructed and contracts signed, but just a few days before filming was due to begin, the plug was pulled and the finance lost. After a hiatus, a sequel series finally entered production in 1987. Siblings Susan and John arrive at Scatterbrook Farm, home of the Braithwaites, to little fanfare. It's been a poor harvest and their hosts aren't thrilled to have two amateur farmhands around the place during such lean times. No-one on Scatterbrook Farm is more troubled by the late harvest than walking, talking scarecrow Worzel Gummidge. Worzel is strictly forbidden from talking to humans, but after mistaking John and Susan for fellow scarecrows, his game is up.The production was obviously high enough in calibre to attract some of the greatest actors of the era in guest parts. We especially enjoyed Beryl Reid, who pops up to play Worzel’s old mother (even though she was only a few weeks older than Pertwee). Connie Booth (Fawlty Towers) turns up as a rival to Worzel’s affections as another Aunt Sally, though this one is much kinder to him. There are recurring guest roles for Carry On stars Barbara Windsor (Saucy Nancy) and Joan Sims (Mrs Bloomsbury-Barton). Worzel Gummidge. Image shows left to right: John (Jeremy Austin), Sue (Charlotte Coleman), Worzel Gummidge (Jon Pertwee), Crowman (Geoffrey Bayldon), Aunt Sally (Una Stubbs) Worzel Gummidge. Image shows left to right: John (Jeremy Austin), Sue (Charlotte Coleman), Worzel Gummidge (Jon Pertwee), Crowman (Geoffrey Bayldon), Aunt Sally (Una Stubbs) Contained within this release are all four seasons from 1979-81, plus the recently-released Christmas special, as well as the two seasons of Worzel Gummidge Down Under, where the production was remounted in New Zealand during the late 1980s. Leopard Pictures, part of Argonon Group, are again partnering with Treasure Trove Productions to bring these glorious stories to life for an audience of all ages. The films have been commissioned by Tanya Qureshi, Head of Comedy for the BBC, and Charlotte Moore, Chief Content Officer for the BBC.