Real Creepy Kids TV #7 - Rainbow (UK)

The Creepy Kids TV series on this blog is a collection of my own observations of children's television.  I choose to feature shows that A) I watched on tv when I was a kid, B) I saw on tv today while watching with my own kid, or C) Came up in the search results when I typed in "creepy kids tv show" on YouTube.  Today's feature came to my attention via YouTube and after a little research, I found out some information about how the now infamous "adult version" of this famous children's show came into existence.



According to Wikipedia, Rainbow is a British children's television series, created by Pamela Lonsdale, which ran twice weekly at 12:10 on Tuesdays and Fridays on the ITV network, from October 1972 to March 1992. It was intended to develop language and number skills for pre-school children, and went on to win the Society of Film and Television Arts Award for Best Children's Program in 1975.

The program was originally conceived as a British equivalent of long-running American educational puppet series Sesame Street. After more than 1000 episodes, the series came to an abrupt end when Thames Television lost its ITV franchise at the end of 1992. Since then, it has gained cult status and continues to get frequent mentions on radio and television.

Seems innocent enough, right? You can find dozens of clips on the YouTube channel of "nostalgiamaniac" if you really want to watch.  The show is educational, in a British sort of way, and had a long run of success.  But the clip that I found on YouTube was a little more disturbing.

In 1979, the cast and crew of this show probably got drunk decided that it would be fun to record an adult version of the show for in-house Christmas gift for the Thames TV staff.  It was never meant to be seen by the general public, but, like most celebrity sex tapes things people do when they are drunk and don't want them to be seen, the internet made sure that it was not kept secret.  So, get your twangers out, and you can even play with your balls at the same time if you'd like.