January 16, 2008
It all ended happy ever after for the production company responsible for the only TV programme to get close to being a modern-day morality play – In the Night Garden – after it had been taken to court by a former 'Tombliboo' who claimed he was abused for being gay and when he complained was told to ‘shut up and get on with it’ – even when the computer in his big, fatsuit had broken down and he couldn’t see – which is presumably in contravention of health and safety legislation.
He lost his case, putting the mildly psychotropic gang of Night Garden characters in the clear and prompting one – Makka Pakka to exclaim: "Makka Pakka Akka Wakka". Enough said.
However, Guru notes that Ragdoll, the company that produces the programme, has had bigger battles to face over the sexuality of its characters, let alone the dancers inside the hotsuits...
This is because it is also responsible for the great heap of post-modern (whatever that means) lardy larkabout den of controversy that is the Teletubbies.
Only six months ago, our tolerant chums in Poland called in psychologists to assess whether the handbag-carrying purple-clad demon was ‘actively promoting homosexuality’.
The Polish government clearly sees this as a priority as so many ‘macho’ men – ie, plumbers, builders and the like – have legged it to the UK that it fears for its masculinity.
Once upon a time in America (in 1999 to be precise), the clinically obese children’s TV character was taken to task by bonkers right-wing preacher, the reverend Jerry Falwell (now deceased), who alleged that the purple behemoth was a covert gay agitator, out to corrupt the nation’s young children by virtue of his colour (purple = gay), the triangle on his head (triangle = gay) and the fact he carries a handbag (well-known gay men only accessory, according to Falwell).
“A haaaaaand bag?” Guru can hear you cry. “A haaaaaand bag?” Of course, that immortal (or according to Falwell immoral) line was penned by the master of 'purple' prose Oscar Wilde – well-known Friend of Dorothy seven years before the birth of the Dorothy who most likely inspired the term.
Speculation over whether the any of the characters from In the Night Garden were actually born in ‘Aunt’ Tinky Winky’s haaaaaand bag remains to be confirmed.
But after taking a stroll In the Night Garden, it does look to Yours Truly like Igglepiggle and Upsy Daisy will soon be getting it on (if they haven't already) – with or without their aunt’s permission.
