Pogles' Wood

Another offering from the prolific Smallfilms company of Firmin and Postgate is this story of woodland folk (Mr and Mrs Pogle, son Pippin and pet squirrel Tog) who lived "deep in the middle of a wood" at the base of a tree with a magic bean plant. 

Originally called The Pogles the series featured a witch, but this character was dropped because the BBC thought it might scare tiny viewers (it was intended to be shown as part of Watch With Mother) and they asked Oliver Postgate to make all future episodes revolve around more everyday countryside matters. As a result of this the BBC never repeated the first six episodes which were shown as part of Clapperboard, a series that went out later in the afternoon and was aimed a older children. Once the content had been toned down and the title changed to Pogles' Wood two series of 13 episodes followed and were repeated until September 1973 in the originally intended Watch With Mother slot.

Published on January 19th, 2019. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.