EMU-TV Ep12 (1989) - FULL EPISODE
- 3 yıl önce
Featuring the song Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone by The Manhattan Transfer, as broadcast on Wednesday, 31st May, 1989. While I was tidying up some loose Emu ends this week, the extremely sad news broke of Carol Lee Scott passing away. Amongst the sorrow, though, it was heartening to see the reaction online: nearly every outlet reported the story, at least three national newspapers printed obituaries, brief clips were shown on the TV news, and #Grotbags was trending on Twitter - to think that I was worried whether anyone would mention it at all! Nevertheless, I feel the need to take another stab at this, in order to fill in a few gaps.
Firstly, thanks to these recent tributes, I now have three different contenders from various sources for Carol's date of birth. It's not unusual for someone to have an alternative 'professional' age, but until something comes directly from the family, I won't commit. (For what it's worth, I'm leaning towards December 1942 - either the 19th or 20th - but don't quote me on that.)
Anyway, while still in her late teens and going by her birth name of Carol Waterman, she got her singing career off to a start, mostly playing local venues:
In time, a job in the holiday camps beckoned. While working as an entertainer at Pontins, Carol expressed a desire to develop a cabaret act, and was encouraged to try the working men's club circuit up north, which she duly did. By all accounts, the routine could get quite blue - don't let anyone tell you that Carol was 'only' a children's entertainer!
I don't know enough about Carol's recording career to go into any sort of detail, so I'd best leave that to others. What I do know is that her first album, In Time, was originally only available at her live shows before later being made available more widely circa 1974; Your Place Is Here With Me came in 1976:
Back to the holiday camps, it seems that Carol's path crossed with Rod Hull's during the 70s, and they hit it off. In 1981, ITV was told to reform its Midlands franchise, and from the ashes of ATV, Central came into being. Due to start broadcasting on 1st January 1982, in anticipation of their launch, Central signed up Rod for their flagship children's show in what was seen as an almighty coup at the time. Of course, the result was Emu's World, and the Grotbags character was born.
If my sums are correct, there were 12 series and 115 episodes of the various Pink Windmill programmes from 1982-9. That includes four series in the coveted last-thing-on-a-Friday slot, and the total rises to 128 if you count 1991's animated show. I think it's fair to say that you didn't have to watch to know who Grotbags was - and although it didn't necessarily make Carol herself a household name, certainly the character entered the public consciousness. It wasn't uncommon to hear a parent telling their child to stop being naughty, "Or Grotbags will get you"!
But who invented Grotbags? That's a debate that came to the fore when a solo spin-off arrived for 29 episodes from 1991-3. There's no doubt that the original stories featuring the character came from Rod. There's also no doubt that much of the personality came, not from the page, but from within Carol. The name was a collaboration, with Carol suggesting Mrs Grot and Rod expanding on that. It reminds me a bit of this (and I'm certain Richard Herring would get a kick out of being used as a parallel for Rod):
Rod was naturally upset to be essentially written out of his own show, and ultimately he received a carefully-worded mention in the end credits. A lot of people think their friendship had ended, and it's well documented that, upon being told he wasn't getting another series a few years earlier, Rod announced to his co-stars that he was no longer their meal ticket. While that obviously wasn't a nice thing to say (though, to be fair, he'd also just lost his job), it's important to point out that he and Carol *did* work together again after that. In addition, I gather there was some sort of "An Audience With..." style comeback being planned at the time of Rod's death in 1999, and Grotbags was set to make an appearance. While not close, I believe they ended on good terms.
Following the end of her show, Carol continued to perform as Grotbags on stage, and made the occasional TV appearance in character (the most notable being the CITV 20th Birthday Bash in 2003). In later years she retired from showbiz, possibly in response to her husband (and agent) Bill Ling's ill health. I gather that he passed away circa 2013, and sadly Carol's fight against cancer came to an end earlier this week. Condolences once again to her family.
Firstly, thanks to these recent tributes, I now have three different contenders from various sources for Carol's date of birth. It's not unusual for someone to have an alternative 'professional' age, but until something comes directly from the family, I won't commit. (For what it's worth, I'm leaning towards December 1942 - either the 19th or 20th - but don't quote me on that.)
Anyway, while still in her late teens and going by her birth name of Carol Waterman, she got her singing career off to a start, mostly playing local venues:
In time, a job in the holiday camps beckoned. While working as an entertainer at Pontins, Carol expressed a desire to develop a cabaret act, and was encouraged to try the working men's club circuit up north, which she duly did. By all accounts, the routine could get quite blue - don't let anyone tell you that Carol was 'only' a children's entertainer!
I don't know enough about Carol's recording career to go into any sort of detail, so I'd best leave that to others. What I do know is that her first album, In Time, was originally only available at her live shows before later being made available more widely circa 1974; Your Place Is Here With Me came in 1976:
Back to the holiday camps, it seems that Carol's path crossed with Rod Hull's during the 70s, and they hit it off. In 1981, ITV was told to reform its Midlands franchise, and from the ashes of ATV, Central came into being. Due to start broadcasting on 1st January 1982, in anticipation of their launch, Central signed up Rod for their flagship children's show in what was seen as an almighty coup at the time. Of course, the result was Emu's World, and the Grotbags character was born.
If my sums are correct, there were 12 series and 115 episodes of the various Pink Windmill programmes from 1982-9. That includes four series in the coveted last-thing-on-a-Friday slot, and the total rises to 128 if you count 1991's animated show. I think it's fair to say that you didn't have to watch to know who Grotbags was - and although it didn't necessarily make Carol herself a household name, certainly the character entered the public consciousness. It wasn't uncommon to hear a parent telling their child to stop being naughty, "Or Grotbags will get you"!
But who invented Grotbags? That's a debate that came to the fore when a solo spin-off arrived for 29 episodes from 1991-3. There's no doubt that the original stories featuring the character came from Rod. There's also no doubt that much of the personality came, not from the page, but from within Carol. The name was a collaboration, with Carol suggesting Mrs Grot and Rod expanding on that. It reminds me a bit of this (and I'm certain Richard Herring would get a kick out of being used as a parallel for Rod):
Rod was naturally upset to be essentially written out of his own show, and ultimately he received a carefully-worded mention in the end credits. A lot of people think their friendship had ended, and it's well documented that, upon being told he wasn't getting another series a few years earlier, Rod announced to his co-stars that he was no longer their meal ticket. While that obviously wasn't a nice thing to say (though, to be fair, he'd also just lost his job), it's important to point out that he and Carol *did* work together again after that. In addition, I gather there was some sort of "An Audience With..." style comeback being planned at the time of Rod's death in 1999, and Grotbags was set to make an appearance. While not close, I believe they ended on good terms.
Following the end of her show, Carol continued to perform as Grotbags on stage, and made the occasional TV appearance in character (the most notable being the CITV 20th Birthday Bash in 2003). In later years she retired from showbiz, possibly in response to her husband (and agent) Bill Ling's ill health. I gather that he passed away circa 2013, and sadly Carol's fight against cancer came to an end earlier this week. Condolences once again to her family.