EBC1: Emu's Broadcasting Company

I got to thinking about this TV gem after watching a profile made by Australian TV about Rod Hull and his uncontrollable Emu. As a youngster of 10 years I used to love Emus' Broadcasting Company or EBC 1 as it was called in the show. It had some truly funny 'programmes' which were part of a weekly schedule - just like a real TV station! I remember one called 'The Searching Beak of Emu' which basically involved Rod and his totally mad Emu travelling up and down the land demolishing supermarkets (stacks of baked beans, ransacking freezer chests etc.) much to the delight of the staff. There was a weather forecast with Rod and Emu on the roof in yellow mack and wellingtons as it was always raining, you had to write in for the only copy of the EBC Times which Emu would rip to shreds every week! The whole thing was irreverent and great fun. The support was excellent too with Barbara New (tea lady) and the late Billy Dainty, for me it was super television.

I also remember the weekly series within the programme, The Emudin Line (Emu would lower a whisk into the water from inside a boat and it would travel along at a fair rate of knots) and the terrifying Dr Emu and the Deadly Dustbins. Thank goodness the dustmen's strike in the winter of discontent ended before the dustbins could take over the world.