Roobarb and Custard were unleashed on an unsuspecting British public in 1974 with their debut series screening on BBC 1. Within weeks of being launched in a prime afernoon slot just before the evening news, in the era when there were fewer TV channels than fingers on Roobarb’s paws, the show was a hit. Millions of viewers were tuning in for a daily dose of animated-chaos as their new hero, Roobarb, tried valiantly to deal with some of life’s bigest litle problems.
Te show was the creation of Grange Calveley. Te ever- curious and optimistic Roobarb was in fact based on his own Welsh Collie who, on first arriving at the family home, excitedly ran around the lawn before “watering” the rhubarb to get his name! Te sarcastic low-energy pink cat next- door, Custard, was the perfect foil for Roobarb’s high jinks and, of course, they were joined by various other characters as the stories are played out in the wide-open spaces of the line-drawn garden.
Te show’s distinctive stle was directed by the legendary animator Bob Godfrey. Long before any computer- generated conformit, each animation cell was hand- drawn to give a distinctive shake or “boiling” efect. Every now and then during production, Grange would bunk of from his advertising agency job and meet Bob in Te French House pub in Soho; paying art students from St. Martin’s in half-pints to colour the individual drawings. It was punk TV production at its beer-soaked finest. If Roobarb changes colour over the 30 episodes of the first series (he does), it was because the local stationers had run out of felt-tip pens!
Created in 1974 by Grange Caverley, narrated by Richard Briers, directed by Bob Godfrey
humorous designs and hand-drawn illustrations from series 1
Global potential,
The series was aired in 40 territories
7 Million viewers tuning in over the first 3 weeks
Target group: 35+, millenials and Gen X who remember the original TV series from 1974/89
Playful and colourful designs with bold graphics
Roobarb a sensible, everoptimistic green dog with an overactive imagination
Surrounds the friendly rivalry between:
And their friends; birds, a timid pink mouse, the Sun and Moon. Tere’s gentle humor, small garden setings and suburban accents.
Custard the mischievous and lazy pink cat from next door
Te main target group focus is primarily adults 35+ years, millenials and gen X who remember the original TV series from 1974/1989. Te secondary target group is Gen Z who know the brand from the 2005/20017 TV series, however, the wider group will follow.
Te frames from the 1974 series episodes vary in colour tone and drawing stle. Te artwork has a low-res qualit to them. Te ratio is 3:4.
Te clean artwork features black vector outlines with a digital “marker” fill. Te colours should be consistent with the colours from the stle quide. Te clean artwork comes in either transparent or white background.
Pencil sketches
Black and white/greyscale pencil drawn sketches are available for some of the characters
Artwork Examples TV Frames (Restored - No blue tint)
Restored TV Frames
Artwork Examples TV Frames Action
Artwork Examples Clean Images
Sophie Thompson Brand Manager
sophie.thompson@rightsandbrands.com
