Charley Says is a series of six short cut-out animated cartoon

public information film Public information films (PIFs) are a series of government-commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the United Kingdom. The name is sometimes also applied, ''faute de mieux'', to similar films from other countries, ...

s for children, made in 1973. They were produced by the British government's Central Office of Information and broadcast in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in the 1970s and 1980s.

Overview

Most of the topics dealt with everyday safety issues children face, such as not going off with

strangers A stranger is a person who is unknown or unfamiliar to another person or group. Because of this unknown status or unfamiliarity, a stranger may be perceived as a threat until their identity (social science), identity and Character structure, chara ...

or not playing with matches. They featured a little boy called Tony (voiced by the seven-year-old son of one of the neighbours of producer Richard Taylor) and his cat, named Charley, voiced by

Kenny Everett Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English radio Disc Jockey, DJ and television entertainer, known for his zany comedic style. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the m ...

, who would "miaow" the lesson of the episode, which the boy would then translate and explain. Often Charley served as the boy's conscience, similarly to ''

Davey and Goliath ''Davey and Goliath'' is an American Christian clay-animated children's television series, whose central characters were created by Art Clokey, Ruth Clokey, and Dick Sutcliffe, and which was produced first by the United Lutheran Church in Am ...

'' or

Jiminy Cricket Jiminy Cricket is the Disney version of the Talking Cricket, a fictional character created by Italian writer Carlo Collodi for his 1883 children's book ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'', which Walt Disney adapted into the animated film '' Pinoc ...

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

's film ''

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel, ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a poor man named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...

''. When Charley and Tony did the right thing, they were rewarded with something for Tony and a fish for Charley, which he ate rapidly. However, on other occasions, Charley suffered the consequences of doing the wrong thing (e.g., in ''Charley's Tea Party'' he was scalded when he pulled a tablecloth and a teapot fell on him).

Production details

The films were produced by Richard Taylor Cartoons which also produced ''

Crystal Tipps and Alistair ''Crystal Tipps and Alistair'' is a British cartoon produced for the BBC that aired between 28 February 1972 and 1974 on BBC One. The title characters are a girl and her dog who are joined by their friends Birdie and Butterfly. The series has ...

'' and the '' Protect and Survive'' series. Six films were produced:
Charley – Falling in the Water

References in popular culture

The

electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...

group

The Prodigy The Prodigy are an English electronic music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboardist, and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured Rapping, MC and vocalist Maxim (musician), Maxim, dancer and occasi ...

famously sampled the episode "Mummy Should Know" for their UK 1991 debut hit single "

Charly Charly may refer to: People * Charly (name) Places * Charly-sur-Marne, in the Aisne department * Charly, Cher, in the Cher department * Charly, Rhône, in the Rhône department * Charly-Oradour, in the Moselle department Other * Operation ...

", which reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart. The sample was of Charley miaowing and Tony saying, "Charley says, 'always tell your mummy before you go off somewhere'". In 2005, the ''Charley Says'' series was voted #95 on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

TV special '' 100 Greatest Cartoons'', and in 2006 was voted the UK's favourite public service advertisement by readers of the BBC News website. In 2014, Electrical Safety First (formerly known as the Electrical Safety Council) launched a brand new ''Charley Says'' film. featuring the voice of award-winning comedian and actor

David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams (), is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little ...

. This was created to promote staying electrically safe in the home and not overloading power sockets. A second film was also created, on the subject of the dangers of buying counterfeit electrical goods.

Video release

The Charley Says films have been released in the UK (along with other public information films) as both a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

-video and a two-volume set of

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

tapes.

References

External links

The National Archives with the 6 Charley Says films to download.Electrical Safety First
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429183707/http://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/news-and-campaigns/campaigns/charley-says/ , date=29 April 2014 1973 animated short films 1970s in the United Kingdom 1980s in the United Kingdom British animated short films Public information films Stop-motion animated short films Fictional cats 1973 films 1970s educational films 1970s British films British educational films Catchphrases Quotations from television Quotations from animation 1973 quotations