Metal Mickey is a fictional five-foot-tall

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

, as well as the name of a

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

television show starring the same character. The robot character was created, controlled and voiced (using a

Vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder wa ...

) by

Johnny Edward John Edward Flux, (31 October 1945 – 23 October 2021) professionally known as Johnny Edward, was a British musician, writer and record producer, also known as the creator of the children's television character Metal Mickey. Career Musician H ...

. The character of Metal Mickey first appeared on British television in the ITV children's magazine show '' The Saturday Banana'', produced by

Southern Television Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited. However, in 1966, during the application pr ...

in 1978.

Humphrey Barclay Humphrey Barclay BEM (born 24 March 1941) is a British comedy executive and producer. Career Barclay was educated at Harrow School, before reading Classics at Trinity College, Cambridge, where his first foray into show business was via the Am ...

saw Mickey on

Jimmy Savile Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English media personality and DJ. He was known for his eccentric image, charitable work, and hosting the BBC shows ''Top of the Pops'' and ''Jim'll Fix It''. A ...

's ''

Jim'll Fix It ''Jim'll Fix It'' is a British television series broadcast by the BBC, presented by Jimmy Savile and running for almost two decades, between May 1975 and July 1994. Devised by Bill Cotton, the show encouraged children to write a letter to Savi ...

'' television show. Seeing the children chatting in the marketplace with the friendly robot led to the creation of the ''Metal Mickey'' television show. Within a month the pilot had been video-taped, and shortly after this the series went live with its first six episodes. 41 episodes were made in total, broadcast over three separate series between September 1980 and January 1983. The show attracted viewing figures of around 12 million at its peak.

Micky Dolenz George Michael Dolenz Jr. ( ; born March 8, 1945) is an American musician and actor. He was the drummer and one of two primary vocalists for the pop rock band the Monkees (1966–1970, and reunions until 2021), and a co-star of the TV series ''T ...

, formerly of

The Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees (TV series), Th ...

pop group, was brought in to produce and direct the series along with Nic Phillips and David Crossman. In 2001, the show was voted number 58 in Channel 4’s 100 Greatest Kids TV Shows.

''Metal Mickey'' television show

The television show was created under

LWT London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 ...

who described ''Metal Mickey'' as a show "with the appeal of ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'', the

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of extremely xenophobic mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in th ...

s and ''

Mork and Mindy ''Mork & Mindy'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 14, 1978, to May 27, 1982. A spin-off after a highly successful episode of ''Happy Days'', " My Favorite Orkan", it starred Robin Williams as Mork, an extraterre ...

''". It ran from 1980 to 1983. The series was set in the home of an ordinary British family, whose youngest child was a science

boffin Boffin is a British slang term for a scientist, engineer, or other person engaged in technical or scientific research and development. A "boffin" was viewed by some in the regular military or government services as odd, quirky or peculiar, th ...

, who had created Metal Mickey to help around the home. The family consisted of a mother and father, three children and a grandmother. The show was made by

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...

and shown on the ITV network, with the entire run of 41 episodes being written by comedy writer

Colin Bostock-Smith Colin Bostock-Smith (born 1942)"I was born in 1942, so I was exactly the right age for rock and roll when it all happened./ref> is a British television and radio comedy writer. Early career Until the age of 30, he was a journalist, noting in a re ...

. British comedy actress

Irene Handl Irene Handl () (27 December 1901 – 29 November 1987) was a British character actress who appeared in more than 100 British films; she also wrote novels. Life Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the younger of two daughters of an Aus ...

played the grandmother, whom Mickey affectionately called "my little fruitbat" (she in turn would call him "Fluff"). He also referred to his inventor as "Clever Clogs", his inventor's sister as "Stringbean" and their father as "Bootface". Handl was never at home with science fiction, either watching it or appearing in it. She famously told BBC presenter

Noel Edmonds Noel Ernest Edmonds (born 22 December 1948) is an English businessman, and former television presenter, radio DJ, writer and producer. Edmonds first became known as a disc jockey on Radio Luxembourg before moving to BBC Radio 1 in the UK, pres ...

, when he asked her whether she cried over the death of E.T., "Why should I cry over a bleedin'

Hoover Hoover may refer to: Music * Hoover (band), an American post-hardcore band * Hooverphonic, a Belgian band originally named Hoover * Hoover (singer), Willis Hoover, a country and western performer active in 1960s and '70s * "Hoover" (song), a 201 ...

attachment?" Metal Mickey's catchphrase was "boogie, boogie", and his favourite treat were Atomic Thunderbusters (which had the appearance of lemon

bonbon A bonbon, sometimes bon-bon, is a small chocolate confection. They are sometimes filled with liqueur or other sweet alcoholic drinks and sold wrapped in colored foil. Ingredients Through the Western world, bonbons are usually small candies but v ...

s). At the height of the series' popularity, fizzbomb sweets were marketed in the UK under the name Metal Mickey's Atomic Thunderbusters.

Cast

* Michael Stainton ... Father *Georgina Melville ... Mother *

Ashley Knight Ashley Knight (born 19 August 1959 in Sutton, Surrey, England) is a British actor notable for child roles including Young Claudius in '' I Claudius''; Jim Hawkins in ''Treasure Island'', and Ken in '' Metal Mickey''. His film appearances includ ...

... Ken *Lucinda Bateson ... Haley *

Lola Young Lola Young may refer to: * Lola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey, born 1951 *Lola Young (singer) Lola Emily Mary Young (born 4 January 2001) is a British singer and songwriter from London. She is best known for her viral 2024 hit " Messy", her fi ...

... Janey *

Gary Shail Gary Shail (born 10 November 1959) is an English actor, director, producer and musician. Career Gary Shail began work in TV and film in 1977 and is best known for his roles as Spider in the 1979 film ''Quadrophenia'' and as Steve, the punky tee ...

... Steve *Metal Mickey ... Metal Mickey *

... Granny

Production credits

*Directors:

Michael Dolenz George Michael Dolenz Jr. ( ; born March 8, 1945) is an American musician and actor. He was the drummer and one of two primary vocalists for the pop rock band the Monkees (1966–1970, and reunions until 2021), and a co-star of the TV series ''T ...

, David Crossman, Nic Phillips *Producer: Michael Dolenz *Writer: Colin Bostock-Smith *Designers: Mike Oxley, Rae George, David Catley, James Dillion, Phil Coulter *Music: Phil Coulter

DVD releases

The first two series of ''Metal Mickey'' have been released on DVD. The third series was due to be released in mid-2009.

Discography

Metal Mickey was credited as artist on several record releases, some of them on his own label "Mickeypops": *"

Lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker and sticky-pop. Lollipops are avail ...

"/"Eugene" (

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

, 1979) *"Metal Mickey Magic"/"Meet Metal Mickey" (Mickeypops, 1980) *"Sillycon Chip"/"Dubb Vahzun" (Mickeypops, 1981) *"Do The Funky Robot"/"Do The Funky Robot Again" (Mickeypops, 1982) *"Theme Tune From 'Metal Mickey'"/"Fruitbat Rap" (Hollywood, 1982) *"

I Wanna Hold Your Hand "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Recorded on 17 October 1963 and released on 29 November 1963 in the United Kingdom, it was the first Beatles record to be mad ...

"/"Eugene Machino" (Hollywood, 1983)

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0163467, Metal Mickey
Metal Mickey Official Site
1980 British television series debuts 1983 British television series endings 1980s British children's television series ITV children's television shows ITV sitcoms Fictional robots London Weekend Television shows British television shows featuring puppetry Television series by ITV Studios Television characters introduced in 1978 British science fiction television shows British English-language television shows

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...