foreign children's TV

[justineo]

I grew up in the 60's and early 70's and remember quite a few dubbed childrens TV programmes like Robinson Crusoe, Heidi, Belle and Sebastian.  Can anyone remember anymore and are there any similar sorts of programmes broadcast today?

[Shire]

The two I remember are Silas, which was about a boy with a black horse, and Jack Holborn, about a boy that went to sea. I think the same actor played the main character in both series.

[gerry]

There was a childrens programme that was shown in the 80's on BBC1 called "The Legend of Tim Tyler".I'm pretty sure that was what the programme was called.The character was a young boy called Tim Tyler & he lost his laugh (i can't remember why).There was a baddie called The Baron & Tim became friends with a nun & an old sailor.It was badly dubbed.

[GarryD39b]

I remember a series from the 60's early 70' called the Flashing Blade can't remember too much about it except a lot of sword fights etc.

[Radiospy]

I remember 'The Singing Ringing Tree' Which was part of the BBC's 'Tales from Europe'

[lindapinda]

Yes i loved all those,and of course there was also White Horses,which along with Robinson Crusoe had a great theme tune!

[Mattk]

the flashing blade seemed to go on forever ! seemed to last the entire summer hols

singing ringing tree was that eeerie hungarian thing wasnt it ? wasnt meant to be spooky but scared the bejeezers out of me !

[sddsddean]

What was the one about 2 French Mirage fighter pilots? There was the dark haired 'serious' one and the blonde 'jokey' one. I just can't think what it was called!

[tonymclark]

The Singing Ringing Tree was German and is available on DVD in it's original colour feature film form. There is an optional sound track of the BBC narration.

The Flashing Blade ( French )is also available, though the last episode is sub-titled as the BBC have lost the dubbed version years ago.

As part of Tales from Europe we also had "Golden Hair","Ruplestiltskin", "Snow White and the Seven Dwaves" and "The Tinderbox". 

As others have pointed out, there was "Belle and Sebastian" ( also on DVD ), and "Belle, Sebastian and the Horses", "White Horses" and "The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe" ( on VHS ), the music for the British version is so memorable ( and available on CD ).

There was a puppet show I remember called "Putrick and Patrick". And the animated "Mole".

As with The Magic Roundabout and Hector's House, a lot of progammes were bought in possibly because the BBC Children's Department was merged with Education and Family Entertainment in the early 1960's as they continually over-spent on their Drama programmes ( it is also why Doctor Who was produced by the Drama Department, there was no Children's Department to handle it ! ).

Rubovia and Noggin the Nog were produced in Britain.

[justineo]

Great answers!. ta

[ludwig]

I have fond memories of all of those.

Not strictly in the same category, but do you remember 'The red balloon' which seemed to be shown alot around that time.
A french film about a kid who befriends a balloon which has a life of it's own. Set in Paris, I don't think there was any dialogue. At the end the balloon kets 'killed' by a gang of nasty kids.
I loved the film but always found the ending really sad.

[tonymclark]

There is another French import that I remember, also narrated by Eric Thompson, in the late 1970's, it was an adaptation of Babar, the Elephant. This version was performed by actors in costumes ( aren't they all, I hear you cry ), but the performers wore masks too. The human characters reminded me of Cybermen as they had a fixed expression. The costumes, masks and sets were all fashioned after the illustrations in the original books.

I always remember that if Babar's trunk had to move in a scene, then one of his arms would be static by his side. And, likewise, if both arms performed, his trunk didn't have much life.

[Joe Shmoe]

I barely remember one called Oscar, Kema ant the laser.Which was about a boy a duck and a laser. I think it was Made in germany. I loved the legend of tim tyler, with it's out of sync overdub.

[justineo]

Just found a site called Jedis paradise, sorry cant do link, have a look.

[spudqueen]

tonymclark - glad you remember the (Chezcklosovakian) mole, no-one except my brother and I seemed to remember that!

ludwig - The Red Balloon was last on TV about 20 years ago, I taped it and have watched it a few times since.

[spudqueen]

justineo - what a fantastic site, really took me back, I was singing all the theme tunes! :>)

[pagan wicca]

i remember the singing ringing tree it was quite frightening.i loved the music in Robinson Crusoe and the theme of the flashing Blades.I would love to watch Silas again.

[NeilKG]

Does anyone remember a children’s TV programme from the late 80s that I think was called Pepino? It was about a (I think a Swiss) boy called Andy who had gone for a holiday in Sicily and initially was picked on by the local boys (e.g. laughed at him for using an umbrella).
This all changed however when he helped prevent a donkey get trapped in a fire (I think that’s right). The gang of boys then accepted him and he was initiated using a secret handshake. The episode ends with all the boys getting wet and the final shot is frozen while ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon is played.
It was broadcast on BBC2 and was an S4 Cymru production? It definitely had Welsh connections as it was dubbed in English but with Welsh accents!
Well there’s a bit more I remember but I suspect if you haven’t got it by now there’s no point in my trying any further. But thanks for reading this and trying to help

[patsy13]

I remember foreign fairytales from I think scandanavian countries, I used to rush home from school to watch but I cant remember the names.

[patsy13]

I used to love all the foreign fairytales in the 60s. I used to rush home from school to watch them but I do not remember what they were called, I think they came form either Scandanavian counrties or eastern europe