Bosco 966047 221792721 2008-06-26T03:21:04Z Cyclonius 1762282 {{Two other uses|the Irish children's TV character|the Warner Brothers cartoon character|Bosko}} [[Image:Bosco.jpg|150px|thumb|right|Bosco]] '''Bosco''' was an [[Republic of Ireland|Irish]] children's [[television]] programme produced during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was produced by the [[Lambert Puppet Theatre]]. Bosco was voiced by Miriam Lambert initially; in later years Paula Lambert took over the character. The main character in the programme is Bosco, a small red-haired puppet with bright red cheeks and indeterminate gender. Bosco lives in a box, only leaving it to go on excursions to places such as [[Dublin Zoo]] or the [[HB Ice Cream|H.B.]] factory. The roster of presenters included Jonathan (Ryan), Marian (Richardson), Frank (Twomey), GrĂ¡inne, Philip & Susie and also Mary Garrioch and Peter FitzGerald. Any guests to the show enter and exit through the 'Magic Door'. This is also used to exit the shot to any inserts in the show. The Magic Door told viewers where people (or the camera shot) are going for the day's adventure. There are various short animations, usually [[stop-motion animation|stop-motion]], as part of the show. The ''Plonksters'' were [[plasticine]] critters, which are continually engaged in fights or schemes against each other. Faherty's Garden starred the eponymous ''Faherty'' a dog, plagued by an amateur crow magician (Cornelius, who would often turn purple, much to his distress) in a series of shorts featuring stop-motion models. ''Freddy the Fox'' features a host of well-modelled characters each with distinctive traits, such as ''Fiachra the Frog''. There was also a cartoon featuring a potato family, ''The McSpuds'', that live in a supermarket (Savers). At night, the potato children, Sheila and Seamus, run amok. The ''Tongue Twisters'' were also regularly featured. Occasionally, characters from the Lambert Theatre's other children's series, [[Wanderly Wagon]], would be introduced into the show. The show featured [[arts and crafts]] segments, in the style of the [[BBC]]'s children's programme [[Blue Peter]]. Another prominent part of the show was story-time. A shared cultural experience for children in Ireland at the time, it ran for at least 300 episodes, but was repeated before (and later during) ''[[The Den (television)|The Den]]'' daily until 1998, when it was replaced by [[The Morbegs]].It was moved to [[BBC]] a year later and it was shown on [[BBC 2]] and [[CBBC]] until about early [[2000]].It is presently on shown on [[Cbeebies]] every Monday and Tuesday. ==Quotes== *"Knock knock, open wide, see what's on the other side, Knock knock, any more, come with me through the Magic Door." - ''the Magic Door Rhyme'' ==Trivia== *A DVD containing episodes of Bosco was officially released in November 2005. This was followed up by a second DVD which was released in the run-up to Christmas 2006. *Bosco was said to be born on August 25. *There was also a CD released in 2006 called Bosco - Songs & Stories which featured some of Boscos favourite songs. *For Christmas 2007, Bosco was back for a seasonal campaign at www.boscoisback.ie ==External links== * [http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/294871323 'Bring Back Bosco! Petition'] * [http://www.boscoisback.ie Bosco returns for a Vodafone Christmas 2007 campaign] {{RTEp}} [[Category:Irish television programmes]] [[Category:Puppets]] [[Category:BBC children's television programmes]] [[Category:Television programs featuring puppetry]] [[ga:Bosco]]