You and Me

I was born in 1980 so don't remember the first ten years. I do remember this being set out in a few different ways. 1st: There was a hamster and a crow (puppets) who introduced the show, and we saw footage of kids with their parents doing the shopping, going to the library etc. With the animals doing the commentary. 2nd: There was a human presenter (think his name was Sam) with a puppet dragon called "Duncan" who were in a fake shop, but this memory is very sketchy. 3rd: 2 puppets called "Cosmo & Dibs" in a market with presenters like Gary Wilmott (I recall a crazy woman called Liz, who may have been Liz Smith! But again not sure) I think this was filmed locally (Birmingham) and had a reggaefied version of the theme by UB40. I need to see this again. 20 years is a LONG time.

Where do I begin with this? Oh yeah, I know hiding behind the sofa in abject terror just like my primary school self. The object of my fears? A demonic, gravel voiced black demon......otherwise known as Crow!

Alice, Crows hamster companion was lovely, a veritable Mother Theresa type when compared to that Crow! Each week as I listened from behind the sofa or if I was feeling particularly brave, watched through my fingers, our hosts presented a film about something mundane about oranges or shipping which was somehow riveting to us kiddiewinks (even more so to me as it kept that horrible Crow off the screen!) before Crow and Alice would wish us goodbye and just to add to my toddler terror Crow would stick his face right into the camera to bid us farewell. I was tempted to scream something in return but the specter of a good telling off and grounding from my mother mixed with fear of Crow always persuaded me otherwise!

Thankfully a few years later Crow and Alice ware pensioned off (Alice I hope relocated to a nice Hamster nursing home hopefully stacked up with Manuel's mistaken Hamster-Rat, Basil. Crow hopefully became one of those birds you see flattened to the nearest motorway) and in came a somewhat untidy Dragon named Duncan.

Now Duncan was much more Ian friendly, indeed to the point where I was happy to meet the snappy jawed fellow at Willis Ludlow in my hometown of Hull. Sadly my appreciation of Duncan saving me from Crow wasn't met by the BBC who gave poor Dunc' his marching orders to be replaced by the.......actually I haven't got a clue what they were all I know is they were called Cosmo and Dibbs.

Cosmo and Dibbs, for want of a better explanation were a brother and sister pair of alien monkeys from who knows where! Cosmo strangely going by the Geordie gravel voice she sported was a girl. One can only presume like most she had a 40 a day cigerette habit. Now what was unusual was her brother Dibbs a more timid, shy type was not a Geordie at all but rather a Cockney. Obviously Cosmo and Dibbs mother must have got around a bit although any rumors that she also gave birth to the Brummie Pig from Pipkins are unfounded!

Sadly in with our alien monkeys came a rearrangement of the theme tune provided by cod reggae cover band UB40 who I cared even less than Crow for. Still at least they didn't release the song and claim it as there own. That was left to everyone's favorite Mancunian rip off artists the Galllaghers who took the rather basic lyrics of the show and plonked them in the middle of their own even more basic lyrics and promptly had the hit single "She's Electric"

All in all You and Me was harmless pre-school fun unless you have a morbid fear of psychotic crows.......or UB40!Pre-school public information!

I'm surprised that this show started in 1970, thankfully I am not old enough to remember episodes from that long ago, my memories are circa 1983. It was a show that I enjoyed quite a lot and always looked forward to. It was set in a (fake) market as I remember and Cosmo and Dibs hung around the fruit and veg stall, I'm not certain if they owned this stall or not. They would be taught things by a human friend that they encountered like counting or the alphabet. Cosmo had a Geordie accent and sounded like a heavy smoker although she/it never had the accompanying cough. Dibs had a London accent and was apparently a male version of whatever they were. In fact it is hard to say, they looked a bit like monkeys but I don't remember it ever being clear. The only other parts of the show I can remember are that they would do an outside bit that Cosmo and Dibs didn't take part in. I remember one where Michael Rosen took his son to see Arsenal play, I can't remember if they won or not as that was by the by. Anyway I have good if hazy memories of this show.

A programme intended to teach preschool children starts with a deception. The hamster and crow as co presenters from 1974 series. Put a crow with a hamster and watch as the crow eats the hamster. This never once happens in the show. Children being shocked by the realities of the natural world and crying as Alice the hamster was torn apart is the probable excuse why this piece of education was never featured. They were also stop animation figures too which may have something to do with it.

The series in the 1970s was more of a documentary style showing features about moving house in the first episode or oranges in a subsequent one. The human presenters were voice overs in these segments before cutting back to Alice and Crow as commentators.

The show moved away from information style education to entertainment education when in 1979 the crow and hamster were sacked and replaced with a dragon. Like all dragons Duncan the dragon ran a shop. A messy shop which was not a good example for children. If the dragon can have an untidy room so can children would be the logic against parents. Duncan was a puppet instead of the earlier stop animation which means he was able to acquire a curly haired human compatriot. The show's atmosphere was more lively and entertaining than the earlier years and the documentary pieces were largely replaced with dragon and man performances as educational inserts. Still it didn't feel like any other children's' show. The content was for 5 year old but the style and atmosphere had more gravitas than many news programmes.

The dragon was evicted after only 2 years. A new approach to make it more relevant to children consisted of a new reggae song by UB40 and the introduction of inner city puppets Cosmo and Dibbs and their friends often at a market stall. Their human co presenters never asked what kind of species these various coloured foam Muppet style creatures were. It remains unclear what on earth they were. These foam puppets were more engaging than the wooden dragon and their interaction by having 2 or more, Baxter and Spike of them gave the show the popularity it had lacked.

The puppets all had distinct personalities. Gravel voiced Cosmo was the assertive one and confusingly with the voice was the girl puppet. Her brother Dibs was the cautious but timid and often mournful character.

The show provides a sociological study in its change of production starting with an educational programme designed for school: information, adult voice overs and its 2 animated characters in a news blank background. Then the dragon with human partner in a complete set as a means to make it more entertaining. With the final casting the show tries to reflect the experience of its audience by setting it in a market place, in an inner city with a variety of people which many children would have experienced unlike talking to a dragon.