Laughing Policeman, The

1 9 7 4 – 1 9 7 6 (UK)
26 x 15 minute episodes

This lunchtime children’s series from Yorkshire Television found PC 254 (Deryck Guyler at his charming best) holding court outside R. Peels Television and Repairs shop where he dispensed wisdom on the importance of using zebra crossings, recalled the finer details of a Mickey Mouse watch he had as a youngster and regaled viewers with a brief rhyme about the events of his day.

In between all this engaging patter, PC 254 referred viewers to a television set in the TV repair shop window where an assortment of colourful puppet cats, crows, foxes, teddy bears and skeletons sang songs such as Yummy Yummy Yummy, Tie A Yellow Ribbon, Daughter of Darkness and One of Those Songs.

In the second series, our bobby now found himself on the beat in a residential area, now assisted by young Adam who lived in one of the houses on his beat.

Fortunately, one of the houses had an old-fashioned bioscope for viewing videos of the singing and dancing puppets.

The puppets featured were provided by Roger Stevenson’s jokingly titled ‘Bow Street Puppets’. The series was produced by Jess Yates.

PC 254
Deryck Guyler