Rainbow (TV Series) - Characters

Characters

Rainbow featured the following characters, each with their own character style:

• The presenter - first David Cook, then the best known presenter Geoffrey Hayes, who brought the other members of the Rainbow household to order or gave them something to do.

• Bungle - a brown furry bear with a squashed face, who is inquisitive but also clumsy and complains a lot about the other characters, especially Zippy's antics (a costume; played by John Leeson, Stanley Bates, Malcolm Lord and Paul Cullinan). The question regarding why Bungle always wraps a towel around his waist to protect his modesty after a shower, in spite of the fact that he walks around nude for the rest of time, has never been addressed. (He also donned pyjamas at bed time.).

• Zippy - loud and domineering, but usually very funny (albeit not to the other characters in the show) who is actually a rugby ball (though with a body attached). (puppet; originally voiced and operated by Peter Hawkins, then voiced by Roy Skelton - both well known for voicing Daleks and Cybermen in Doctor Who) - and operated by Ronnie Le Drew. Zippy's mouth is a zip, and when he becomes too bossy or irritating, this would be zipped shut to prevent him from continuing: on at least one occasion he unzipped himself, though he appears unable to do so on other occasions.

• George - a shy, pink and slightly camp hippo. (puppet; voiced by Roy Skelton and operated by Malcolm Lord, Tony Holtham and later Craig Crane).

• Sunshine and Moony - optimistic sunshine (yellow with a red hat) and his more gloomy friend Moony (brown with a tuft of yellow hair) were the original 'stars' of the programme, but soon became little more than foils to the more popular Zippy; they were phased out by 1973, in favour of greater roles for Bungle and (especially) George.

• Rod, Jane and Freddy - a group of musicians who regularly feature on the programme. Originally known as Rod, Jane and Matt when they debuted on the show in 1974. Matt's position being held by Matthew Corbett (of The Sooty Show fame) and from 1977 by Roger Walker, before Freddy Marks took over in 1981.

• Telltale - a six-piece group who provided the music in the early days of the show being replaced by Charlie Dore and Julian Littman and then Rod, Matt and Jane.

• Zippo - Zippy's cousin, identical in appearance to Zippy but slightly brighter in colour, who would make the occasional guest appearance. Originally portrayed as an eloquent Frenchman, but a later episode depicted him as an American-accented rapper with loud, flashy clothing.

• Georgina (a.k.a. Georgie), a cousin of George. Georgina is physically identical to George, except for her longer eyelashes and floppy hat.

• Dawn - the next-door neighbour, played by Dawn Bowden, who was introduced in the shows later years, first appearing in 1990.

• Aunty - played by numerous actresses, is the aunt of one of the characters, probably Geoffrey.

A few episodes also include some sort of a Geoffrey-type figure for Zippo called Vince. He seemed to be some sort of a brother to Geoffrey.

Generally speaking, George and Zippy represented two 'types' of child, George being the quiet and shy type, while Zippy represented the hyperactive and destructive type. George was usually vindicated, but Zippy got his comeuppance. While they were apparently young 'children' (aged around 7 or 8), Bungle was an older 'child' (aged around 12-13), and differed from them in being a costume, rather than a hand puppet. Geoffrey's relationship to them was unclear, other than being a kind of father figure (although he is referred to as 'Uncle' Geoffrey in at least one episode). Apart from Jane and (in the early days) Sunshine, females rarely appeared on the programme, despite some ambiguity concerning the often effeminate (and permanently pink) George.

In 1989, Rod, Jane and Freddy left the show to concentrate on touring, pantomime appearances and their own separate TV show (which had run parallel with Rainbow since 1981). This meant that Dawn Bowden was introduced as a regular female character in place of Jane, while the songs were generally provided by guest singers, notably Christopher Lillicrap. The show would also often include guest stars, to make a change from Geoffrey telling all the lessons - this way, the characters would be told stories and lessons by a fresh face.