Worzel Gummidge Down Under - The Complete Series 1 (DVD)

...that have never heard of Worzel Gummidge let me explain…(or check out my reviews about the early series…plug,…plug)

He is a daft scarecrow who first hit the small screen in 1979.
He was made by the Crowman, who has mystical powers which bring his straw filled creations to life, to scare the crows at Scatterbrook farm, (in Hampshire), but is soon causing trouble around the village, especially when he befriends Sue and John, ...
...Each episode tends to see Worzel in one scrape or another, usually involving Aunt Sally but sometimes one of his many other acquaintances….

Well, that's the basic story of the creation of Worzel Gummidge, the lovable but very daft scarecrow.

* Anyway, back to the review at hand…

This new ' down under' series, starring the lovable magical scarecrow, was released in 1987, (six years after the final Worzel ... more

Creators: Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall
Directors: James Hill and Graham McLean
Writers: Willis Hall, Keith Waterhouse, Barbera Euphan Todd and Fran Walsh.

** MAIN STARS…* Jon Pertwee as Wozel Gummidge

• Una Stubbs as Aunt Sally
• Bruce Phillips as the Crowman
• Jonathon Marks as Mickey
• Olivia Ihimaera-Smiler as Manu

** Firstly…for those that have never heard of Worzel Gummidge let me explain…(or check out my reviews about the early series…plug,…plug)

He is a daft scarecrow who first hit the small screen in 1979.
He was made by the Crowman, who has mystical powers which bring his straw filled creations to life, to scare the crows at Scatterbrook farm, (in Hampshire), but is soon causing trouble around the village, especially when he befriends Sue and John, two kids who just moved to the village.
Worzel has many different heads, made from Turnips and Swedes, which he changes depending on what he has to do that day… such as a thinking head for thinking, a counting head for counting, a brave head for bravery and so on…
He has been besotted with an Aunt Sally, who has no relationship interest for the scruffy turnip head, although is happy to see the daft straw man doing everything she wants him to do, regardless of what troubles it may cause… and believe me, the troubles escalated on a daily basis…
During Worzels early days he meet many colourful characters, mainly scarecrows and other dummies which seem to come to life, but especially Saucy Nancy, (played by Barbara Windsor), a ships figure head who, for some reason makes Aunt Sally jealous..?
Each episode tends to see Worzel in one scrape or another, usually involving Aunt Sally but sometimes one of his many other acquaintances….

Well, that's the basic story of the creation of Worzel Gummidge, the lovable but very daft scarecrow.

* Anyway, back to the review at hand…

This new ' down under' series, starring the lovable magical scarecrow, was released in 1987, (six years after the final Worzel Gummidge in England) and given a PG certificate, (probably due to the odd none PC word or action the dumb scarecrow uses).
The story follows the flea ridden sack of straw as he follows Aunt Sally, the heart breaking wooden doll and the love of his life, to the other end of the world… still besotted by her although her affections toward him have never changed from utter disgust.

Worzel Gummidge Down under, Series one contains 10 half hour episodes and introduce a few new characters, especially a new crowman and two new young friend for Worzel to boss around…and although, if you remember the first Worzels from 1979, it seems a little strange to not have the likes of Geoffrey Bayldons as the Crowman and Charlotte Coleman and Jeremy Austin as Sue and John once you got used to the new characters the show was just as entertainingly funny.

* THE BRIEF STORY…

When Aunt Sally is bought by an antiques dealer from New Zealand she is soon being shipped of to the other side of the world…
Unfortunately for her, Worzel finds out he packs up his spare heads and is soon following her to Zoo Nealand, as he calls it, leading to some very comical events for the pair and some very difficult situations for the population of Piwakawaka… the small village that the crazy characters end up in.

As soon as the pair arrive on the shores of New Zealand the troubles begin.

** DOWN UNDER SERIES 1.…

* Brief rundown of what's on this DVD…

* 1... As the Scarecrow flies…
When a dodgy antique dealer sells Aunt Sally to the towns museum of Folklore in New Zealand the wooden figure is on her way to the other side of the world…much to Aunt Sally's joy and Worzels horror

* 2... The Sleeping Beauty….
The crowman is not happy when he hears of a travelling scarecrow-maker who is meddling with the key ingredients that make scarecrows scary… mangle-worzel

* 3... Full Employment…
When Worzel steals the drum belonging to the military minded Rooney, (played by Gerald Bryan), and then is involved in a mishap with the postmans motorcycle the crowman is not happy.

* 4... Worzels Handicap…
Worzel causes chaos on the golf course whilst the Crowman is pre-occupied with another scarecrow.

* 5... King of the scarecrows…
A newly made Scarecrow called 'Dangnation take it', (played by Brian Sergeant) mistakes Worzel for a king because he named him.?

* 6... Ten heads are better than one…
Worzel meets a new friend, Trudi von Crochet, (played by Lee Hatherly) after he steals a chest full of turnip heads, much to the horror of the Crowman

* 7...Worzel to the rescue…
There's magic in the air as the Crowman and the travelling scarecrow maker, (played by Wi Kuki Kaa), pit their magic skills against each other.
Meanwhile, during a thunderstorm, Worzel cowers in a disused barn.

* 8... Slave scarecrow…
Worzels nightmares about zombie scarecrows seem to be real than he wants, especially when he wakes one day to find himself in the company of the travellers and there unscrupulous helpers.

* 9... The travellers unmasked…
With the daft scarecrow in being held by the travellers the crowman enlist Aunt Sally's help to get him back, but is her motive honest..?

* 10... A friend in need…
The Crowman's not happy with Worzel for stealing his gramophone but soon mellows when he discovers why he took it…

** Sadly, there are no extras on the disc… to see some outtakes of the filming would be simply brilliant…

* IN CONCLUSION….

My daughter likes to watch Worzel and has got all the original stories from the 1979-1981 era on DVD… so when I mentioned the down under series she asked me to get them for her… which I did…
As I had not really watched the entire 22 episodes myself I was soon intrigued by how this new series would pan out… considering the six year gap between series.
I was pleasantly surprised at how they writers had tried to keep to the original idea, although some things have changed, like the theme tune for starters and most of the characters have been replaced by new faces, but the idea and the layout is as good as it ever was… a scruffy scarecrow, besotted by a wooden pompous ball throwing target, befriends a couple of bored kids and causes trouble where ever he walks, whilst trying to avoid his creator… great original format so why change it..?

The main two characters are as good as they ever were, with their stupid outlook on life and just shear selfishness, disrespect for others and total disregard for anything apart from themselves… (and that's mainly Aunt Sally…)

Pertwee does it again with his brilliant character and his excellent portrayal of the straw man with attitude, giving out some great one liners and many none PC remarks… then with the magnificent Una Stubbs re-appearing through out the series, giving Worzel the run around, forcing him into doing some rather bizarre things to prove his love for her, you know your in for the usual banter from the pair…

I have to admit, it took me a while to get used to the new faces, especially Phillips as the Crowman and the two gullible kids, Mickey and Manu, (although they don't appear in the series until episode 4... Worzels Handicap), but as the episodes unfolded I soon forgot that these were new faces, almost believing they had been in the series from the very firs episode (1979)… the acting being so pleasurable to watch.

In all, a fine first series with 10 brilliantly funny and family friendly episodes, although some people may find some of Worzels 'none PC' attitude a little on the questionable side, but to those people I have to say…"lighten up, he's a scarecrow and scarecrows don't even have a brains…let alone opinions on politically correct themes"

If you have never heard of him or have never seen this show before then you don't know what your missing… but if you've already seen the first series of Worzel then this is just as good and you'll enjoy the stories… although it does take a bit to get used to the new faces if you got used to the old ones…

If you're interested then this series, and others, are available on www.amazon.co.uk for less than £8.00... 

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