This ITV children’s animation series, written by Elizabeth Beresford, starred Bertie the Bat, who had a winsome face with large round eyes and elephantine ears; a skinny sub-human body with which he liked to strike athletic poses; and wings that either trailed behind him like a cloak or wrapped around him like a comfort blanket.
Beautifully animated by Julia Coutanche, the opening story told how Bertie visited the sky painter, a stringy man in dungarees who produced sunsets and stars before settling down with slippers and pipe in a powder blue armchair on the edge of a fluffy cloud.
Bertie – much given to out-of-tune renderings of cabaret standards – proved he wasn’t just any old bat by enlisting the sky painter’s help at decorating his wings and he was soon a Day-Glo op-art bat.
Bernard Cribbins was the perfect choice as the voice behind the adventures. Mellow and somewhat doleful of tone as narrator, he switched to a wondrously off-key screech when he became the voice of Bertie.
Narrator
Bernard Cribbins
Related Posts
Nuts and Bones 1 9 7 2 (UK) 26 x 10 minute episodes This kids puppet show from Yorkshire TV debuted on 30 March…
Adventures of Noddy, The 1 9 5 5 - 1 9 5 6 (UK) 33 x 15 minute episodes Enid Blyton's popular children's character was…
Man Alive 1 9 6 5 - 1 9 8 2 (UK) 586 x 30 minute episodes The BBC's long-running documentary series Man Alive looked…
Brambly Hedge 1 9 9 6 - 2 0 0 0 (UK) 8 x 25 minute episodes This BBC animated series of occasional…
Button Moon 1 9 8 0 - 1 9 8 8 (UK) 32 x 10 minute episodes "We're off to Button Moon, Follow…
Joe 1 9 6 6 (UK) 13 x 5 minute episodes Originally part of the Watch with Mother children's series, Joe was a lovely little…
Topper's Tales 1 9 7 8 (UK) 12 x 10 minute episodes Topper's Tales was a series of ten-minute stories for children written…
Lone Ranger, The 1 9 6 6 - 1 9 6 9 (USA) 26 x 30 minute episodes "His face masked. His true name…
