Popular kids’ puzzle show Jigsaw began on this day in 1979. As a means of entertaining while educating youngsters, Jigsaw was a great example. It taught kids all about letters and words through sketches, crazy characters and puzzles that viewers could attempt to solve at home. It enjoyed six series, running until June 1984.
Here then, are seven memorable wonders of the Jigsaw world!
It’s Co-Presented By Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Mum
Janet Ellis! Co-presenting with Adrian Hedley, Janet had already become mum to Sophie, who was only 10 weeks old when filming commenced in June 1979.
Back in the day, presenters were much more relaxed on kids’ TV. Having sat through countless modern-day kids’ programmes, I’m amazed by how awkwardly self-conscious today’s presenters are – not to mention, patronising. Janet and Adrian made it look effortlessly easy without talking down to the audiences, also taking part in various linking sketches.
While Adrian would stick around for all six series, Blue Peter came a-calling for Janet, and so, she left after the fourth batch of episodes. She was replaced by Julia Binsted, who played a strange kind of humanoid computer character called Dot. And incidentally, at the same time, the original jaunty theme music was changed to a strange tuneless concoction that sounded like an electronic farting contest.
It Features K9
Having taken a sabbatical from voicing the tin dog in Doctor Who, John Leeson signed up to Jigsaw. His vocal talents were utilised as Jigg, the central talking jigsaw piece who would pop up on the screen at various points. I’m not sure if the producers sped the tape up or whether Leeson had been at the helium balloons.
Leeson also voiced the 60 foot giant Scottish giant, Biggum, and from time to time, got to appear in person!
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na… O-Men!
As well as K9 and Teka from The Horns Of Nimon, Jigsaw features the Doctor himself!
Sylvester McCoy teamed up with the late David Rappaport to play the O-Men (geddit?), two incompetent superheroes in eyeball-frazzling yellow costumes. The O-Men would be summoned, Candyman-style, whenever any character mentioned six OO-words in a row. The pair would suddenly burst on to screens, chanting “Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na… O-MEN!!”
McCoy had previously appeared in Vision On, which was directed by Clive Doig, and he’d feature in another Doig creation called Eureka.
It Features A Wilf Of Inventions
The late Wilf Lunn was a regular presence on Jigsaw. Lunn was this kind of mad professor type, a genuine eccentric who would often be decked out in a straw boater hat, bow tie and snazzy waxed moustache.
Lunn’s role on Jigsaw was to showcase an array of weird and wacky inventions, and these ranged from the oddball to the somewhat hazardous – especially if they ended up being blown to kingdom come.
It’s Got A Wacky Extended Family
As well as the O-Men, Dot, Jigg, Biggum and a certain source of Nightmare Fuel (read on), Jigsaw populated its world with all kinds of supporting characters. There was Pterry, a proverb-spouting pterodactyl; Ray Cathode, a silver walking, talking humanoid TV (as played by Tommy Boyd) and Cid Sleuth, a Sherlock Holmes-type detective who was on the hunt for clues to the puzzles.
It’s Accompanied By Impossible Books
To tie in with Jigsaw, three puzzle books were published. Each one contained a series of puzzles and brainteasers, and each volume would get more challenging.
I bought the second and third books. The second was reasonably easy to do, but I remember struggling with the third volume. This is most likely because I have no brain. But it left me stumped, as I’d frequently try and work out the answers to these difficult puzzles.
To cater for clueless simpletons like me, there was a piece of blurb in the book that said something like: “If you find these puzzles too difficult, the second easier volume is also available!”
Noseybonk
Arguably the most memorable aspect of Jigsaw is the most terrifying.
Noseybonk was a dinner suited man who pottered around annoying everyone in sight. No one was safe from Noseybonk. Play a game of crazy golf and he’s there. Plant some vegetables and flowers in a greenhouse, and he’s there. Have a picnic – guess what? He’s there.
What clinches the fear factor is that mask – a grotesque, boggle-eyed, leering visage that doubtless caused countless kids to have screaming nightmares. It’s the sort of mask that would be used in a horror slasher movie today. There’s a movie which features a psychotic Winnie The Pooh, so it must be only a matter of time before Noseybonk is reimagined as an evil serial killer.
Ask the average forty or fifty-something about Jigsaw, and it’s a fair bet that he or she will shudder in horror. At the time, no one thought anything of Adrian Hedley donning a creepy phallic-nosed mask and tuxedo to goof around in the public eye. No doubt these days, if Jigsaw were ever to be repeated, it would probably come with one of those trigger warnings.
The problem was that if you wanted to win the weekly competition, you had no choice but to concentrate on the Noseybonk sketches. Each week, he would look at a certain object, and viewers had to write in with the first letter of that object in order to win a prize.
And in case you were wondering? There’s also a family of Noseybonks!
(Screengrabs credited to BBC)
