Basil Brush - Boom-Boom!

Back in the sixties, when programme budgets wouldn’t buy you a couple of seats at the Odeon today, puppets were a regular sight on telly. Apart from the Gerry Anderson adventures (Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds, etc) we had all sorts. As a young child, I had a soft spot for the jerky strings of Pinky and Perky. Catherine and I even owned the pair as glove puppets. I also recall loving Sooty and Sweep alongside Harry Corbett while finding Shari Lewis’ glorified sock, Lamb Chop, rather creepy. 

Ventriloquist Ray Alan was always good value, with the monocled ‘Lord Charles’ on his knee, and then there was Basil Brush. I’m pretty sure I remember seeing him in black and white as the guest of popular magician David Nixon but it was after landing his own BBC show that the eighteen-inch red fox became a staple of my viewing repertoire.

Designed by animation royalty Peter Firmin (Bagpuss, Pogles Wood, Clangers, etc) it’s fitting that Basil should have been given an upper-crust voice. Apparently his creator Ivan Owen modelled that voice on that master of the arch-cad, Terry Thomas, and part of Basil’s charm was his ability to combine a slightly posh outlook with an engagingly mischievous personality. Although ostensibly a children’s TV character, Basil could get away with more topical jokes which also appealed to adults, an ideal quality for a panto performer in the ‘80s. It’s amusing to reflect that an old-school puppet was one of the most successful entertainers to bridge the gap between cheap-as-chips variety and the era of alternative comedy.

By the early ‘70s, The Basil Brush Show had been elevated to Saturday teatime, gently easing me from Grandstand to Doctor Who. You sometimes saw very well-known internationally-renowned musical guests, like Demis Roussos, Marie Osmond and Cilla Black but it was the interplay between Basil and his human co-host which was the main attraction.

Like the good sci-fi Doctor, you can probably tell a 50-something person’s age by his identification with Basil’s ‘Mister’. For me it was definitely Mr. Derek.  When Derek Fowlds died recently, the obituaries focussed on his role as Bernard in Yes Minister or Oscar in Heartbeat. However, for me he will live on as Basil’s straight man. Yet Mr Derek was more than just a puppet’s sidekick. Even today their relationship in playful routines, comic sketches or the climactic story readings looks remarkably easy and affectionate. Anthropomorphising a sharp-snouted fox shouldn’t work but it did, thanks to Fowlds, Roy North and subsequent ‘Misters’ and, of course, puppeteer Owen.

Then there’s Basil’s catchphrase. In the Seventies, far more than now, a show lived and died on a familiar saying, be it “May your God go with you” (Dave Allen), “Nice to see you, to see you, nice” (Bruce Forsyth) or “Stupid boy” (Dad’s Army’s Captain Mainwaring). For Basil it was that barking laugh and post-joke “Boom boom” which sustained his popularity and has endured for more than fifty years. 

While the original BBC show ended in 1980 Basil would often crop up in unexpected places. I recall Fantasy Football League which Dad and I would watch religiously in Friday nights in the Nineties. Frank Skinner and David Baddiel were the undoubted stars, inviting viewers and guests into their studio ‘sitting room’ to discuss footie and the then innovative concept of a competitive fantasy team game. When Basil first sat at Statto’s breakfast bar he came close to stealing the show. He even demonstrated an admirable knowledge of the sport, and his selection of Norwich City winger Ruel Fox (boom boom!) proved particularly perceptive.  Basil was such a hit that he made several return appearances which probably led to a more prolonged comeback in the twenty-first century.

Sadly Ivor Owen died in 2000 but, now operated by Michael Winsor, Basil Brush has remained a regular on our screens. He has even proved surprisingly adept at quizzes. He won a celebrity Weakest Link in 2005 and came close in the special 1000^th edition a year later (but who on earth were his fellow contestants?!). In more recent times he has held his own on Pointless Celebrities then in 2017 I watched him deliver a barnstorming cash builder on The Chase. OK, so the eventual success of the team owed a wee smidgeon to Charlie Higson but who could have predicted that a glove puppet would harvest £8000 for the cause?

But that sums up the brilliance of Basil Brush. Children’s entertainer, football pundit, daytime chat show regular and quizzer extraordinaire, is there no end to his talents. His personality and human traits have enabled him to outlast the likes of Sooty, Gordon the Gopher and the repulsive Roland Rat. For as long as there is someone with the puppetry skill and voice to operate him, Basil could continue a career in broadcasting forever.