1 9 6 3 – 1 9 6 4 (UK)
Bleep and Booster was a ‘mini-show’ about Bleep (an alien from the planet Miron) and Booster (a human boy) contained within Blue Peter during the early 1960s.
Booster’s adventures began when he built a rocket in his back garden and zoomed off into orbit. Intercepted by Space Freighter 2000, he made friends with Bleep and his father, the moustachioed captain of the freighter.
Together, Bleep and Booster explored the mysterious planet, Truga, and were kidnapped by the wily Trugs.
After a dramatic rescue, Booster returned to Earth. But the space world was too tempting to leave for long and Booster was eventually picked up in a flying saucer and returned to Bleep’s Space Freighter.
All episodes were made in black & white, and the episodes have never been repeated on British television (so they won’t have a great deal of resonance for anyone born after BBC1 switched to colour – except through their otherwise baffling inclusion in the old Blue Peter annuals).
The characters of Bleep and Booster were created by William “Tim” Timym, the Austrian sculptor who later created the statue of Blue Peter dog, Petra and the famous ‘Guy the Gorilla’ statue at London Zoo.
He wrote the stories and drew the pictures, and Peter Hawkins (of Flowerpot Men, Daleks and Captain Pugwash fame) provided the narration and voices.
Timym also created Bengo.
Narrator
Peter Hawkins
Creator/drawings
William “Tim” Timym