How much do you know about The Magic Roundabout? | Quiz

Answer: Eric Thompson

Eric Thompson, father of actresses Emma and Sophie Thompson, was the brains behind the British version of 'The Magic Roundabout'. Rather than working off the scripts by original creator Serge Danot, Thompson made up his own scripts and stories and gave the characters the personalities we know and love.

He was one of the original presenters of the BBC edutainment series 'Play School', and went on to focus on directing after suffering a heart attack. Thompson died in 1982, and Nigel Planer (who fans of 'The Young Ones' might remember as hippy Neil) took over on narration and voice acting duties in 1991 when several new episodes of the series were released.

He also re-narrated some of the Thompson-voiced episodes.

Answer: Sugar lumps

Dougal was a grumpy long-haired dog, known as Pollux in the original French. He had a penchant for sugar lumps, which he would eat out of the ground. In the words of Richard Lewis' 'Encyclopaedia of Cult Children's TV', he resembled a piece of Shredded Wheat cereal.

His personality was based on the TV persona of British comedian Tony Hancock. In the French original, Dougal was English and spoke in broken French, and his love of sugar lumps came from the French stereotype of English people liking sweets.

He was played by Robbie Williams in the 2005 film, and Daniel Tay in the US version, where he was called 'Doogal'.

Answer: Mollusc

In fairness, Dougal actually has a point, as Brian is a snail, and snails are classified as molluscs. One concerned parent wrote to Eric Thompson to say that she had smacked her son for calling his sister a 'mollusc', and Thompson wrote a strongly worded letter back. (He also responded to a complaint that there were too many long words in the series with a letter containing the longest words he could find in a dictionary!) Brian's relentless perkiness frequently gets on Dougal's nerves and Dougal comes up with all kinds of rude names for him. 'You potty little clump' is my favourite.

Brian, incidentally, was played by Jim Broadbent in the 2005 film, and William H Macy in the US version. His name in the original series was Ambroise. He is a cheerful, friendly little creature who collects gravel and often gets on Dougal's nerves.

Answer: Spanish

In the original series, Dylan was called Flappy and was Spanish, because of the national stereotype of Spanish people being lazy. In the English series, he was named for singer Bob Dylan. He was a hippy, and spent most of his time chilling out under trees and playing his guitar.

He is also an artist, making a sculpture of Dougal in one episode. Zebedee and Dougal are surprised by his uncharacteristic behaviour, expecting a rabbit to be more lively. Dylan was played by Bill Nighy in the 2005 film, and Jimmy Fallon in the US version.

Answer: Florence

Florence, named Margote in the original French series, was Dougal's young owner, a sensible little girl with a bow in her hair. She was one of the saner characters despite her age, often acting as the voice of reason and telling Dougal off for his rudeness. Appropriately, she is a gardener and enjoys planting and watering flowers. Although there were a few other children who appeared in the opening sequence, called Paul, Basil and Rosalie, Florence was the only child character who featured in most of the episodes.

Florence was played by Kylie Minogue in the 2005 film. Kylie also played her in the US dub, but with an American accent.

Answer: A spring

Zebedee, named Zebulon in the French original, is a jack-in-the-box without a box and has a spring where his legs would be. He is also a fire wizard and the actual ruler of the Enchanted Gardens, which he and Florence can both reach by teleportation. He would appear with a 'boing' noise and would often say 'time for bed' (which parents would use as an opportunity to pack their kids off to bed!) while in the 2007 reboot, his catchphrase was 'it's time to party'.

His head was made from a giant pea, which was painted red.

He is voiced by Ian McKellen in the 2005 movie, where he has an evil blue twin brother called Zeebad (Tom Baker/Jon Stewart), who is an ice wizard.

Answer: Mr Rusty

While Mr MacHenry (Bonhomme Jouvence in the original French), a gardener, is an actual character in 'The Magic Roundabout', it is Mr Rusty (originally Père Pivoine) who owns the carousel itself. He plays the barrel organ and is also responsible for maintenance and repair work.

In both the 2005 film and its American dub, he is voiced by Jimmy Hibbert. The 2005 film and 2007 reboot also introduced a new human character: Mr Grimsdale, a baker and delivery man.

Answer: A flower

Ermintrude, known as Azalée, is an eccentric pink spotted cow in a blue hat, often with a flower in her mouth (though the flower appears less in the 2007 reboot). When Ermintrude talks, the flower moves from side to side. In the original, she had a habit of getting the characters' names wrong; in the English version, she calls everyone 'dear heart'.

She is an aspiring painter and opera singer, but her singing is terrible (though in the 2005 film, it helps to break the children out of the frozen roundabout).

In the 2007 reboot, she walks on two legs, rather than all fours like the original. Ermintrude was played by Joanna Lumley in the 2005 film, and Whoopi Goldberg in the US version.

Answer: A blue cat

Before the 2005 CGI move with its all-star cast, there was 'Dougal and the Blue Cat', a musical film released in France in 1970 and the UK in 1972. Buxton is the titular blue cat and Dougal's rival; Dougal has a dream about a female voice singing 'blue is beautiful, blue is best' and when he meets Buxton, he becomes jealous and wonders if the cat has anything to do with his dream. Buxton is actually plotting to take over the garden, and works for Madam Blue, the source of the blue voice, who wants to turn everything in the world blue and arrest anyone who isn't blue. Zebedee loses his moustache, which gives him his magic. Everyone except Dougal is arrested and locked in a dungeon, and Dougal dyes himself blue and rescues them.

He and Buxton have a fight on the moon, where Dougal's colour washes off, and when they return to Earth, Brian goes into the factory to get Zebedee's moustache back and is feared dead (although he makes it out alive). Buxton is also revealed to have dyed his fur; he is actually white.

Answer: Different types of drugs

A popular theory among some adult fans of the show was that each character represented a different type of drug. Dougal was thought to either be a cocaine addict, with his beloved sugar lumps actually being cocaine, or LSD; Dylan, who was constantly sleepy, represented cannabis; Zebedee, who was always jumping up and down, represented amphetamines; and Ermintrude represented opiates, as the flower in her mouth was thought to be a poppy.

The colourful psychedelic visuals of the magical world and the series' general quirkiness certainly helped, although Eric Thompson's widow Phyllida Law rubbished the theory, saying Thompson had never taken anything stronger than aspirin (not to mention that he didn't even create the show in the first place). Another theory was that the characters represented French politicians, as during a 1968 interview, one of Serge Danot's associates thought that Dougal had been named De Gaulle after Charles de Gaulle.