I must be getting old as on occasion I am starting to sound like my father when he was subjected to my choice of music in the 1960s and 1970s! Unfortunately it’s not just music either.

When my grandchildren Ivy and Stan come for a ‘sleepover’ some of their favourite TV comprises really shrill, usually American, accents.

Surely my favourite TV programmes as a very young watcher were so much better? Or were they? ‘

‘Watch with Mother’ was a series of children’s programmes aimed specifically at pre-school children, which followed on from BBC Radio’s ‘Listen with Mother’.

It was first broadcast between 3.45pm and 4pm and aimed in a very ordered way to follow the viewers’ afternoon nap before any other siblings returned home from school.

The ‘with mother’ part was intended ‘to deflect fears that television might become a nursemaid to children and encourage bad mothering’.

Andy Pandy has been regularly broadcast since the mid-1950s and was joined by the Flowerpot Men in December 1952. In September 1953 Rag Tag and Bobtail first screened, and that in turn was followed by the Woodentops in September 1955.

Did you have a favourite from these trailblazers?

Andy Pandy was originally broadcast live but it was realised that if the programmes were filmed they could be repeated.

A total of 26, 15-minute episodes were filmed around 1952 and they were repeated continuously until 1969.

In 1970, 13 new episodes were made in colour. Do you remember the characters? A marionette who lived in a picnic basket, Andy was later joined by Teddy and Looby Loo a rag doll who came to life when Andy and teddy were not about.

She sang: ‘Here we go Looby Loo.’

As I write this her song has come to life in my mind as if it were yesterday.

All three lived in the same picnic basket and each episode ended with a variation on the song: ‘Time to go home, time to go home, Andy is waving goodbye.’    I think my two favourites were the Flowerpot Men and the Woodentops.

The former was the story of two little men made out of flowerpots who lived at the bottom of an English suburban garden.

A third character was ‘Little Weed’ who was something like a dandelion or sunflower with a wide smile on her face and she grew between the two large flowerpots.

I had forgotten but they were also sometimes visited by a tortoise called Slowcoach and in one particular episode the trio met a faintly mysterious character made out of potatoes, Dan the Potato Man.

Typically, while the ‘man who worked in the garden’ would be away having his dinner, the two flowerpot men Bill and Ben would emerge from their pots.

After a minor adventure, a slight mishap would occur, for which someone would take the blame.

The culprit would then confess, before the gardener’s footsteps would be heard coming up the path.

The Flowerpot Men would then disappear into their pots and it was: ‘Goodbye Bill, goodbye Ben, Bill and Ben, Bill and Ben, Flowerpot Men’.

Not to forget the little ‘Weeeeed’ in her high-pitched voice.

I used to be able to talk like a Flowerpot Man. Go on, give it a go no one is listening!

Looking back the fact that the culprit admitted responsibility for the minor misdemeanour is a good lesson for life.

If you get something wrong ,and we all do, hold your hands up.

You always get more respect for your honesty, well I think so anyway from my previous life.

I had no idea either that the group the Flowerpot Men, with their hit record from 1967 ‘Let’s Go to San Francisco’ had chosen their name from the show.   Rag tag and bobtail ran from 1953 to 1965 and occupied the Thursday slot.

The three main characters were rag a hedgehog, tag a mouse, and Bobtail a Rabbit.

Five baby rabbits appeared occasionally, well they would wouldnt they?

All the characters were glove puppets.

The stories were simple and there were no catch phrases but the series is still remembered with affection.

A total of 26 12-minute episodes were made and the repeat showings came to an end in December 1965 to be replaced by tales of the river bank which included characters such as Hammy the Hamster, Roderick the Water R*t, GP the guinea pig, a turtle, a wise old frog, granny rabbit, Berti and Herbi the hamster nephews, the owl and King Gus another dressed up guinea pig.

Years ago when the alternative or alternating policy group was established the members of which came from completely different political viewpoints I rather naughtily described them as a rag, tag and bobtail grouping!    The Woodentops was first shown on BBC in 1955.

It featured on the Friday slot of ‘Watch with Mother’ which looking back I never did.

She was probably pleased to have 15 minutes of peace and quiet from me.

The main characters are the members of a family living on a farm.

The aim of the programme was to teach pre-school children about family life.

Who remembers the characters? Daddy Woodentop, Mummy Woodentop, Jenny and Willy the twins and baby.

My favourite character though was Spotty Dog, the very biggest spotty dog you ever did see who moved around in a funny mechanical fashion.

Years later, one of my party tricks, after a few refreshments, was to imitate Spotty Dog’s walk all the way up Crellin’s Hill!

Although set on a farm each episode saw the whole family being introduced as they sat in front of a tall curtain, apparently on a stage.

Episodes finished in the same fashion with the word ‘goodbye’ superimposed above.

I didn’t realise that the music at the beginning and end of each episode was written by Edvard Grieg, and another thing I wasn’t aware of was that in 1983 the original puppets were stolen from the BBC.

They were spotted a year later in an auction room in London and returned. They are now in the Museum of London’s permanent collection.    I may return to look at some of the successful shows that followed on in the ‘Watch With Mother’ slot.

Which ones do you remember and which were your favourites? Get in touch the usual way!   I must finish with an apology to a friend of mine from last time I looked at some of the children’s shows and in particular one which came to the Isle of Man.

How could I forget Sooty and Sweep?

The show was created by Harry Corbett and was produced for the BBC from 1955 to 1967 and then for ITV from 1968 to 1992.

The show focused on the mischievous adventures of Sooty alongside his friends Sweep and Soo.

From 1975 and after the retirement of Harry Corbett it was taken over by his son Matthew.