Basil Brush Show
 Basil Brush (a mischievous upper-class fox, originally created
by Peter Firmin) started off as a guest on the David Nixon
Magic Show, accompanied by Mr Rodney (Rodney Bewes from The
Likely Lads) as his first straight.
Basil soon got his own show now accompanied by Mr Derek (Derek
Fowlds from Yes Minister and Heartbeat) whose chunky
sweaters and comparatively stern demeanour seemed to keep the
Deerstalkered One in check to some degree.
Basil was also accompanied at different times by Mr Roy (Roy
North), Mr Billy and Mr Howard.
 Derek managed to exert some
control over Basil and on occasion even managed to read more than
a page of the story, such as Buccaneering Basil and Blast off
Basil.
Basil's disrespect for authority appealed to kids, while
innuendo and topical gags at the expense of British Rail, Margaret
Thatcher and 'Mrs Lighthouse' (Mary Whitehouse) kept parents
amused.
The song at the end of the story at the end of each show - with
the same melody every time with different words - reunited Basil
and the current Mr. after the inevitable fallings out each week
caused by:
• Basil rustling the bag of jelly babies and offering one
during a particularly exciting moment of the tale;
• Basil unwrapping a toffee noisily and then getting his
jaws locked together by it;
• Basil's nose literally out of joint after getting it
tweaked at the end of one more interruption;
• Basil going "Yes, yes, yes" every ten seconds
and;
• The inevitable appearance of his toy dog that could do
back flips.
Basil's interruptions were probably the main reason for the
short tenure of each of the successive Misters.
 The Roy North
pairing was a mismatch from the start - Basil was in complete
control by now and Roy (looking like a soppy black-haired Peter
Noone) let him run riot.
No guest was safe from insult during this period and we only
ever got about two lines of the story per show.
Mr Billy (pictured below) was no
better - despite his excellent showing as Danny Taurus on EastEnders
- and the less said about Mr. Howard the better.
Basil reappeared in schools program Let's Read... With Basil
Brush (ITV, 1982-83) and Crackerjack (BBC), with his
last TV engagement Basil's Joke Machine (ITV, 1986).
A stroke in the late 1980s left Ivan Owen (the voice of Basil)
listless and depressed, meaning retirement for the cheeky fox.
Owen died in 2000 - having never once been photographed with his
puppet friend, so preserving Basil's 'reality'. Boom Boom!
In 2002, a new BBC series, with a slick children's sitcom
format, a new voice artist and a fatter, furrier new puppet, lost
the spontaneity that had made a flea-ridden puppet seem so alive.
Guest appearances on Blue Peter in early 2003 were more in
keeping with the Basil of old.
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