TV Cream

TV: M is for...

Magic Ball, The

EARLY SHOT as cut-out cartoonery from the MR BENN mob, with likenesses clearly evident. Every episode involved young, archetypal cap-and-shorts schoolboy Sam visiting his Aunt’s junk shop in some idyllic Cornish village with his magic ball, which somehow triggered a historical escapade involving a different bit of antique crap on the shelves. And as was the law of the time, narrated by RAY BROOKS.

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Arthur Nibble

    September 25, 2009 at 1:25 pm

    Actually made by Granada International and shown on ITV, and I think the narrator was Eric Thompson. The fictional village was Haythornswaite.

  2. Enoch S.

    February 8, 2010 at 2:29 pm

    Yes, definitely Eric Thompson

  3. Droogie

    August 16, 2022 at 4:41 am

    I recently watched some of these on YouTube and was transfixed. Despite the limited animation and use of stock footage, the episodes have bucketloads of charm thanks to the wonderful narration of writer Eric Thompson and the psychedelic design stylings . Not sure what show the TVC reviewer thought they were watching here, but there’s no link to Mr Benn (this show was made by Cosgrove Hall ) . Both shows were made and screened in 1971 too, so no one was ripping the other off either.

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