''Shirl's Neighbourhood'' was an Australian afternoon children's television series which first aired on the
Seven Network
Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
on Monday the 2nd April 1979 and continued Monday to Fridays till 1983.
The half-hour show featured former
Skyhooks frontman
Graeme "Shirley" Strachan and co-host Liz Rule alongside a cast of characters including Norm The Kangaroo, Ol' Possum, Claude The Crow, Stanley The Snake, Greenfinger the Garden Gnome, Yippee the Bunyip, Igor the Spider, Bartholomew the Sheep and a band of monkeys.
Franciscus Henri appeared in the show as a regular, both as himself presenting musical segments and as "Professor Henri" in comical sketches. He left the show in October 1980.
Bruce Spence was a gardener early in the series.
Norm the Kangaroo was played by Don Bridges.
Don Bridges
/ref> The other characters were puppet
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...
s created and brought to life by Ron Mueck
Ronald Hans Mueck ( or /ˈmuːɪk/) (born Hans Ronald Mueck; 9 May 1958) is an Australian sculptor working in the United Kingdom.
Biography
Born in 1958 to German parents in Melbourne, Australia, Ron Mueck grew up in the family business of pup ...
.
Production
Shirl's Neighbourhood was produced by Jenifer Hooks and Richard Bence of Puppetstuff. It ran from 1979 till 1983 and clocked up over 900 episodes. Jenifer Hooks later went on to head Film Victoria and Cinemedia.
Regular segments were Possum's Patterns with Auntie Mae, Greenfinger's Garden with Laurie Ryan and later Bruce Spence. Fritz Martin appeared regularly with various animals and wildlife.
The show was very popular with kids and adults alike. This was due mainly to the character of Claude the Crow. Claude had a slightly more cynical view of the world than the other characters (like Oscar the Grouch
Oscar the Grouch is a List of Sesame Street Muppets, Muppet character created by Jim Henson and Jon Stone for the PBS/HBO children's television program ''Sesame Street''. He has a green body, no visible nose, and lives in a Sesame Street (fiction ...
from ''Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...
''), and adults could identify with this.
References
{{reflist
;Notes
National Film and Sound Archive – Bulletin 2
External links
Photograph of "Shirl" and "Norm the Kangaroo" (Monash University Archives)Darrin's Shirl's Neighbourhood Shrine Shirl's Neighbourhood at the National Film and Sound Archive
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1979 Australian television series debuts
1983 Australian television series endings
Australian television shows featuring puppetry
Television shows set in Melbourne
Australian children's television series
Australian preschool education television series
Seven Network original programming