Bertha: The Forgotten Gem Of Ivor Wood

Hi all you blog fans out there. I want to talk to you today about something which I adore very much, retro children’s television. With all the debate about dumbing down, I got to thinking about a show I used to watch, and occasionally watch now and again, named Bertha.

Bertha was a stop motion animation by Ivor Wood’s Woodland Animations. While the company’s big hitter Postman Pat got a lot more attention, I think it is something which needs to be highlighted. Bertha followed a factory machine and its workers. It is perhaps one of the most boring premises for a show ever, but somehow it is both charming and intriguing. Not only are there the usual stereotypical characters, the stories are in a way realistic but still have that zany element about them. Not only this, but it makes a lot of social statements about the society we live or lived in back in the 80s when it was conceived. For example, Mr Duncan is a Scotsman through and through, with a beard and understandable Glaswegian accent. Panjit is an Indian wearing turban, who works in the back warehouse. It is very controversial, the BBC would never have this on now.

I loved its story structure. They would announce what the machine was making then a whole story would be built around it, or be part of the solution to the problem, solved at the end of the show. There is this underlying message of togetherness and teamwork within the show. Everyone helps each other and there is a true friendliness about it. Somehow I can’t imagine a real factory being this gelled together.

The animation in the show was top class, very similar to Charlie Chalk, when looking at the models of the characters. Sadly the colours are rather bland, but it is to be expected when thinking about the programme premise and location. How can you make a factory look colourful and bright? Answer, make the machine, which is the focus of it green and make the Indian’s forklift yellow. This doesn’t really solve the problem; the colours are still rather bland even though the animation is spot on. As a side note, the narrator of the late Roy Kinnear is truly inspiring. Shelia Walker, the female voices is also brilliant!

Thinking about how little this show is remembered in the eyes of the media, it’s saddening really. It had so much potential but ran for around 13 or so episodes. I suppose the best series have very short life spans. I think it is time it got a rerun on some channel somewhere.

Hopefully this post has jogged a few memories for some, if you have any comments on this show, please feel free to leave them!

Television Blog, A blog about.... Well, Television

Hi there and welcome to the second blog! I hope you enjoyed reading the first one. I know there were a few minor contradictions there but they will be sorted in time, maybe a follow up article. Anyway, when thinking about Blu Ray, I got to thinking about the television, one of the biggest inventions in technology history. Remember those big TVs we used to have, the ones with the catheray tubes in them. The early ones were big boxes in the corner of the room that would not last very long until they broke down. Having to mess around with aerials because the picture would have lots of snow on it and you couldn’t see John Craven’s stylish haircut.

We have certainly moved on from those times. In recent years, since the dawn of the digital age, our televisions have gotten smaller and are able to produce better quality images. In going from analogue to digital, we’ve gone from dots to squares. That snowy picture now turns into squared junk. Whether this is an improvement or not is up for debate. We went from the old style television to the LCD and Plasma screens. Initially watching an LCD screen of around 19 inches is like watching a computer screen, until you eventually get used to it. A difference between a computer screen and a television screen is the annoying light at the front. At least on a computer you can switch it off. Some TVs don’t have that function then you get a major glowing light in the room when it is dark!

Not only have our televisions improved, the channels which are received have gotten more in number. Whether the quality of the programming has become better is debatable, but the technology has gone on leaps and bounds. The use of Freeview, Sky, BT, Virgin and Freesat has opened up a world of possibilities to the viewer. Although unfortunately a lot of the time, there is hardly anything to watch. Freeview used to be home to many odd channels, such as ABC1 but as soon as that moved to Sky, it went downhill and inevitably, ceased broadcasting. Whether it is the use of an aerial, which is a lie really as you need a digital one to pick anything up in decent quality or a dish, there are plenty of channels and shows out there to be discovered!

Televisions are also a lot cheaper than they used to be. Hundreds, even thousands for a small box is no longer the case. If you are not bothered on the make of the TV, you can get a 19” for just over £100. What we have to remember is, the more established makes of television are going to be more money but it doesn’t necessarily mean the image or quality of the product is any better than a cheaper model. Currys’ own brand, Logik gives off a good picture, I highly recommend them if you are on a budget. The only issue I’ve found with looking at these TVs is the constant reminder you need HD. In looking at the smaller TVs, they have HD in them but there is something which might catch you out. The top HD setting is 1080p, but some TVs only go up to 720p. Most would say this doesn’t matter as you wouldn’t notice the difference anyhow, but why would they be limited? Maybe it’s a technological thing, maybe those little TVs are not capable of such high resolution.

When looking for TVs, there are so many options. You have to consider the side ports, things like scart, HDMI and AV sockets. Make sure you get as many scarts and HDMIs as you can. It can get irritating trying to connect an adapter to plug them all in, it just looks messy. I’ve also tried disconnecting and reconnecting scarts for when I use certain machines but this is not the way to go as either scart socket in use can get worn out.

So I feel the need here to wrap up this pointless article as I could go on about television. Maybe a blog post in the future, focusing in more detail on certain aspects! Anyway, time to go fire up the DVD player!