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The rapid growth of television ownership in the 1960s and 70s meant that
public information fillers could bypass parents and target children directly.
One of the most memorable and cherished child safety campaigns from this period
was the Charley Says series, produced by Richard Taylor Cartoons, also
responsible for animating the 50-episode Crystal Tipps and Alistair cartoon
series (BBC, 1972-74) and other public information fillers, including the
notoriously unsettling cold war warning Protect and Survive (1976).
Adopting the style of contemporary popular children's cartoons, the six films
produced for the Charley Says series warned children of pre-school age about
everyday dangers, including matches, hot pans on stoves and playing near water.
Strangers, which warns its audience never to "go anywhere with men or ladies you
don't know," is by far the most unsettling edition in the series. The shadowy
playground loiterer who invites the little boy (voiced by the seven-year-old son
of one of Richard Taylor's neighbours) to see some puppies has to be one of the
most chilling moments in children's television.
The series achieved wider cultural status when the voice of Charley the cat
was sampled in The Prodigy's 1991 hit single 'Charley'. It was further deified in
2005 when it was voted 95th on the Channel 4 television's special, 100 Greatest
Cartoons, and in 2006 it was judged the UK's favourite public information film
by readers of the BBC News website.
Katy McGahan
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Complete film (1:00)
