Rod Hull was born in 1935 on the Isle of Sheppey, off the north coast of Kent. As an electrician with showbusiness aspirations, he and his wife moved to Australia in 1960, where he broke into the country’s fledgling TV industry and became known for physical comedy.
By the early 70s, he was co-presenting an early morning children’s show when an emu puppet was foisted upon him. Hull was reluctant, not wanting to be a puppeteer, but when he returned to England he brought the bird – or had his own made, depending on who’s story you believe.
In November 1975, Rod and Emu launched this kid’s show from Emu’s own studios at Emu Broadcasting Company (EBC1) – the smallest television station in the world.
EBC1 programmes were cheap rip-offs of other shows, such as ‘Dr Emu’ ( with terrifying dustbins in place of Daleks ), ‘Emu Trek: A Space Oddity’, ‘The Emudin Line’, ‘Open Emuversity’, ‘The Searching Beak Of Emu’ (a “documentary” series which spawned the memorable footage of Emu flipping Hull into a supermarket freezer), ‘Grandstand Of Sport’ and ‘The Eurovision Pong Contest’.
Billy Dainty also appeared in a number of supporting character roles and Barbara New played Betty the Tea Lady.
Hull reportedly grew increasingly resentful of Emu, feeling overshadowed by the puppet he could no longer escape. In 1981, he toned down the chaos for a more whimsical re-invention on ITV as a top-hatted Willy Wonka-style song-and-dance man (despite a limited ability to sing or dance).
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