Pinky and Perky


Pinky and Perky is a children's television series first broadcast by BBC TV in 1957, and revived in 2008 as a computer-animated adaptation.

Original series

The title characters are a pair of anthropomorphic puppet pigs, named Pinky and Perky, who were originally going to be named Pinky and Porky but there was a problem registering Porky as a character name. This was solved by Margaret Potter, the wife of their producer, Trevor Hill, who also discovered them, when she woke him up one night announcing "I've got it! Pinky and Perky!" They were created by Czechoslovakian immigrants Jan and Vlasta Dalibor who moved to the village of Hundhill, leaving the pigs under the cupboard in The Bungalow. The characters of pigs were chosen because the pig is seen as a symbol of good luck in the former Czechoslovakia. The puppets, who had only very limited movements, looked very alike. Pinky wore red clothes and Perky wore blue, but this distinction was of little use on monochrome TV, so Perky often wore a hat.
Pinky and Perky spoke and sang in high-pitched voices, created by re-playing original voice recordings at twice the original recorded speed; the vocals were sung by Mike Sammes while the backing track was played at half normal speed —hence the expression "Pinky and Perky speed", when an LP record is played at 45 rpm or 78 rpm instead of the correct 33⅓ rpm. Pinky and Perky would often sing cover versions of popular songs, but also had their own theme song, "We Belong Together".
They had their own fictional TV station "PPC TV". They also performed comedy sketches usually with a human foil. Actor John Slater worked with them as a straight man for many years, enduring soakings from water pistols and similar pranks. Other human companions included Roger Moffat, Jimmy Thompson, Bryan Burdon and Fred Emney.
Their show included other puppets such as the Beakles, Topo Gigio, a mouse puppet who appeared in many later episodes, as well as a female pig. Other puppets included Ambrose Cat, Basil Bloodhound, Bertie Bonkers the baby elephant, Conchita the Cow, Horace Hare and Vera Vixen.
Pinky and Perky also performed guest slots on other shows, including several appearances on Sunday Night at the London Palladium.
The puppets also appeared on TV in the United States on a number of episodes of The Ed Sullivan Show: 532, 548, 573, 740, 780 and 908.
The pigs featured in series, such as Pinky and Perky's Pop Parade and Pinky and Perky's Island, for 11 years until 1968 on the BBC before transferring to ITV until 1972. There were no real people, sketches or stories in the shows at all. Instead, the puppets would be seen lip-synching and dancing to songs by the likes of Petula Clark. In this incarnation, each episode would end with the characters singing the Scaffold's hit "Thank U Very Much". At this point, there would be the only piece of spoken dialogue, which went along these lines:

Other shows and appearances

The characters enjoyed a brief revival in the 1990s, on the short-lived children's series The Pig Attraction. A children's annual was also produced in the '60s featuring their adventures.
The Pinky and Perky Show reappeared in an all-new CGI-animated television series on CBBC, beginning in November 2008 on BBC One. There are 52 episodes, each 13 minutes in length. Some of the old characters remained in the show, such as Vera Vixen and Morton Frog. Alongside them, there were a host of new characters, such as K.T. the studio manager cat, Wilberforce the tortoise security guard, and a pair of poodle receptionists called Tara and Tamara. There is also a steady stream of special 'celebrity' guests, many of which spoof better-known franchises, such as Doctor Who as "Dr. Roo" and Harry Potter as "Harry Trotter". The series was produced by Lupus Films, and line produced by Sally Marchant.
A DVD of the new look Pinky and Perky, featuring eight episodes from the new series, entitled Licence to Swill was released in 2009.

Comics

A comic strip based on the TV series was drawn by Jim Turnbull.

Discography

Singles

All singles were released on 7" vinyl format unless otherwise stated: