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Emu’s Brand New Pink Windmill Show/World

SADLY, THIS is what the majority of people remember Rod Hull for. Moving away from the inventive and funny Goodies/Kenny Everett madness of the Beeb’s EBC-1 show, Hull and Bird washed up on the other side with this less appetising cutesy pantomime romp. Set in a cartoon Pink Windmill (a studio set full of stage school kids), Rod and Emu performed various inconsequential whimsies, with frequent interruptions from green witch Grotbags (CAROL LEE SCOTT), who was constantly trying to kidnap Emu for some reason. Rod gave his arm a rest on occasion by slipping Emu into a wicker basket, and the entire cast gave our brains a drubbing with the “there’s somebody at the door!” chant. Occasionally the banal script was forgotten in the odd sub-Tiswas moment of studio anarchy, but not often. In the later ‘World, Grots acquired two rubbish camp costumed helpers – effeminately-voiced corcodile Croc and the even more effeminate gold-plated Robot Redford. Action switched from sketches to a more prolonged storyline in sub-Rentaghost mould, including blue-screen flying vacuum cleaners called “Hovergrots”. Fowl play indeed.

9 Comments

9 Comments

  1. Glenn Aylett

    August 22, 2009 at 8:17 pm

    There’s somebody at the door, there’s somebody at the door, was the memorable quote from the stage school kids in the show. But compared with Emu’s Broadcasting Company and a near fatal attack on Parkinson on the BBC, this was tame stuff and no match for the BBC shows. Perhaps Rod Hull should have taken advice from Morecambe and Wise and Mike Yarwood that switching to ITV isn’t always a good move.

  2. Dave Nightingale

    August 23, 2009 at 12:20 pm

    Also famous for Grotbags…and wasn’t Carl Wayne involved somewhere as Odd Job John?

  3. Michael S

    August 23, 2011 at 11:38 pm

    Well, the good news is that- despite loathing this show- it’s *not* what I think of when people mention Rod Hull and Emu.

    I have vague memories of really enjoying them when they were on the BBC, but I really despised the Pink Windmill Show.

    Annoying stage school brats running about the place, stupid formulaic plot, irritating sub-pantomime style plot, same boring studio sets every week, Grotbags’ annoying sidekicks and the whole thing was just gratingly camp.

    To be honest, I think it was so different and distant from their earlier stuff that I never really associated it with that, its one saving grace.

  4. Palitoy

    August 24, 2011 at 4:34 pm

    There is meat here for anyone wishing to argue the case for ‘the Pink Windmill Show’ being the UK’s answer to ‘He-Man and the Masters of the Universe’. Save for ‘Windmill’ (sorry) being live-action video. Both had a blonde-bobbed hero with a faithful animal friend who inhabited/defended a disctinctive stronghold laid constant siege to by an Occult villain with mutant or robotic henchmen… I don’t think Skeletor ever gave away prizes in plastic cauldrons though.

  5. Richard16378

    August 24, 2011 at 5:47 pm

    I remember one segment of The Pink Windmill show was a quiz hosted by Grotbags.

    The final challenge was for the winner to swap all the had won for a mystery prize, more often than not it was something daft like a lolly stick when revealed.

    Many winners the chance that it was something good, the best I remember was an acustic guitar.

  6. Chris Jones

    August 24, 2011 at 10:41 pm

    Indeed…it was a direct copy of take your pick.

  7. IanW1968

    December 21, 2013 at 12:13 pm

    There’s somebody at the fucking door.

  8. Mick

    March 8, 2014 at 1:58 am

    That Grotbags just needed a damn good seeing-to, that’s all she needed.

  9. Glenn Aylett

    November 4, 2018 at 3:21 pm

    Wasn’t there a Rod Hull and Emu show on ITV in the lunchtime slot, before he went to the BBC and found even greater success in the mid and late seventies? These eighties shows weren’t as good as the innovative humour of Emu’s Broadcasting Company, a Goodies style send up of BBC1, was replaced by some unfunny runaround.

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