The Magnificent Six and ½: Peewee's Pianola

This show was a bit of a recent surprise discovery for this 1960s oggleboxer. Like a lot of Brits currently in their 50's I am familiar with 'Here Come The Double Deckers' (1970), but I wonder how many can recall this earlier CFF offering from 1968. It is obviously a forerunner to that later series. Both shows feature a gang of kids getting into all sorts trouble, with lots of mud, water and cakes etc flying around the place, and the odd song routine thrown in. Two of the children, Brinsley Forde and Michael Audreson went on to appear in the more polished Double Deckers production. The supporting adult cast includes Deryck (Please Sir!) Guyler, the always posh and prim Damaris Hayman, and Janet Webb who used to appear regularly on the Morecambe and Wise Show. It is also worth noting the presence of young Len Jones (character Steve) who also voiced puppet Joe in Gerry Anderson's 'Joe 90'. If you don't know who Joe 90 is then you are too young to be reading this. Watch out for the slightly worrying moment when the kids are all sitting on a pianola being pulled down the road behind a tow truck, when a van zooms past overtaking them. Health and Safety would go nuts seeing that today! IMDB lists about twelve episodes of 'The Magnificent Six And A Half' but I don't know if that is the total number made. If you are curious then it's worth searching for this one. Look up episode 'Ghosts And Ghoulies' here on IMDB for a different review of this rather forgotten series.