The Adventures of Rupert Bear

The Adventures of Rupert Bear was based on the Mary Tourtel character Rupert Bear, produced by ATV Network, and aired from October 28, 1970 to August 24, 1977 on the ITV network, with 156 11-minute episodes produced over four series. Of the 156 episodes made only 74 are known to exist in their original colour film format, while there are a further 16 duped on black & white 16mm film. The remaining episodes are currently missing, whereabouts unknown.

The characters were all puppets, although the opening sequence memorably featured a toy version of Rupert Bear sitting in a live-action child's bedroom. Rupert's friends and flying chariot appeared straight from the Daily Express pages, although he was joined by some new friends including a sprite called Willy Wisp. One of the most memorable elements of the series was the catchy theme song, sung by Jackie Lee, which reached #14 in the United Kingdom charts in 1971. Infamously, the song includes the erroneous lyric "Rupert", even though Rupert has never had the definite article in his name.

A series of books were made about Rupert and his friends, these books were made before the show. They were published by the Daily Express. The author of the Rupert Bear books was Alfred Bestall. The series of books were made 1939 through 1951.

Credits

 * Rupert Based on the character created by: The Daily Express
 * Story adapted by: Anna Standon
 * Script Editor: Ruth Boswell
 * Narrator: Judy Bennett
 * Music and Lyrics by: Ron Roker, Len Beadle
 * Rupert theme sung by: Jackie Lee
 * Puppetry: Christine Clanville, Sheena Lane, Rowena White, and David Ross
 * Art Director: John Jelly
 * Assisted by: Terry Blackall
 * Editor: David Elliott
 * Photography: John Read
 * Director: Mary Turner