Emu’s World/Emu’s Pink Windmill Show

1 9 8 1 – 1 9 8 9 (UK)

Following the success of Emu’s Broadcasting Company on the BBC, Rod Hull and his unruly arm puppet returned in ITV’s Emu’s World with Rod and emu living in a pink windmill, joined each week by a bunch of talented young stage school students, billed as The Pink Windmill Kids.

Each week Grotbags the witch (played by singer and comedienne Carol Lee Scott) tried to steal Hull’s aggressive emu puppet so she could use its special powers to control all the brats in the world. She was assisted – most incompetently – by Croc (a crocodile) and Robot Redford (a robot).

Emu’s World morphed into Emu’s Pink Windmill Show with the format now including viewer phone-ins, musical guests, and a segment in Grotbags’ grotto where kids from the studio audience were offered the chance to win prizes.

The show also included Boggle’s Kingdom – a mini-series featuring Rod’s ancestor who was trapped in Tudor times.

Variously broadcast as Emu’s Pink Windmill Show, Emu’s World, Emu’s All Live Pink Windmill Show and Emu’s Wide World, this show ran until 1989.

The show is probably now most fondly remembered for Rod Hull’s catchphrase “There’s somebody at the door, there’s somebody at the door” every time a visitor rang the animated doorbell, which sneezed loudly when pressed.

A final series of Emu’s World aired in 1988, which retained Boggle’s Kingdom and introduced an outdoors obstacle course despite being cut to a 20-minute run time.

All series were produced and directed by Colin Clews for Central Independent Television and broadcast from the now-defunct East Midlands Television Centre in Nottingham.

Grotbags earned a spin-off series of her own in 1992.

Rod Hull declared himself bankrupt in 1994 and died on 17 March 1999 while adjusting his TV ariel. He slipped from the roof and fell through an adjoining greenhouse.

Carol Lee Scott passed away in July 2017, aged 74.

Rod Hull
Himself
Grotbags 
Carol Lee Scott
Robot Redford
Freddie Stevens
Croc
David L Tate (1)
Freddie Stevens (2)
Pink Windmill Kids
Children of the Corona Stage School

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