The Winjin' Pom

This is one of the funniest things I've seen on TV, but I only saw part of one episode. It appears to be an animal puppet show about a five intrepid Australians - a wombat, a wallaby, a redback spider, an emu and a fruitbat, called names like Sydney, Darwin, and Perth - who arrive in London, travelling around in an ancient British (Bedford?) campervan called "Winjin Pom", with realistic BMC starter-motor noises and a disposition to match. Our intrepid heroes lock horns in battle with a Mafia head called J R Chicago — an evil Hammond-organ-playing vulture. Great one-liners (When the campervan talks about the "British way", an Aussie retorts "You mean, living in the past and charging admission?") From a google search, I gleaned that rights to the series are up for grabs> I hope someone picks up the DVD rights - this social commentary was way too good to be lost to humankind. I also gleaned the underlying premise of the series: Members of the Gullagaloona Backpackers Club, they must first claim the half a million pounds left to them by their founder, Kerry Packhorse III. There is a deadline to claim the legacy, but their derelict and cantankerous camper van gets them there too late. "No worries, mate", they decide to do the world tour anyway!

I posted a comment before, but it did not appear, so here goes again! I saw several episodes of this when it was broadcast. 1991 sounds about right as my son was about 4 years old. It appealed to him, but it also has appeal to older children, and indeed adults.

The animation was unusual to say the least, puppets and a moving landscape when travelling in the background. The characters came out very successfully. Some of these were linked to a sort of reality (e.g. Ronnie and Reggie the London gangsters living as crows at the top of Nelson's column).

A mixture of gags and fantasy, it drew me in and I was following its crazy premises without even thinking about it. The Australian accents of the main characters sounded authentic to me, but I suspect they were just as effectively stereotyped as the poms. Animals were the main personifications, but the pom of the title is the continuously moaning camper van that the ozzies explore Britain in.

Please, if anyone can release this on DVD, I'd buy it without a moments thought.

Trig