When We Were Very Bored... Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Dreamstone

'The Dreamstone' was a British animation created by Michael Jupp, and ran for 4 series. Rufus, the hero, was a daydreamer who became an apprentice to the Dream Maker, an old wizard responsible for using the titular stone to give people sweet dreams. Rufus was accompanied by his sensible friend Amberley, named after a village in Sussex, and Pildit, a Wut (a race of green creatures who flew around on leaves). Georgian singer Katie Melua - who had several songs written for her by Mike Batt - covered the theme tune, 'Better Than a Dream'. Zordrak's minions, the Urpneys, also had a song of their own, 'The Urpney War Song', featuring vocals from Ozzy Osbourne, Frank Bruno and Billy Connolly.

'Bimble's Bucket', about a magic wish-granting bucket, was also created by Jupp, but was not as successful.

Answer: Colin Dann

'The Animals of Farthing Wood' ran for several series between 1992 and 1995, and also had a spin-off magazine. Most of Colin Dann's books in the series were adapted for the TV series, with one notable exception being 'The Siege of White Deer Park'. This book was the animal equivalent of a serial killer novel, with a wildcat going round picking off various animals and even killing one of Fox's young relatives by dropping him to his death, and was thought to be too dark for adaptation. Nevertheless, the TV series did not shy away from gruesome deaths, such as baby mice impaled on thorns by a butcher bird, or a hedgehog couple being run over on a busy road.

Some of the characters who were male in the book - Weasel, Adder, Tawny Owl and Kestrel - were all female in the TV series, and Weasel was more of a comic relief character.

Answer: Press Gang

'Hartbeat' was the oldest of the three art programmes mentioned here. It was presented by artist Tony Hart, who also presented 'Vision On', and featured a little clay man called Morph. 'Left Bank 2', a tune played on a vibraphone and often associated with art, originally comes from 'Hartbeat'.

'Art Attack' came later and was presented by Neil Buchanan, who also appeared as the stereotypical beret-wearing artist Smarty Arty in 'Zap', a live-action comic. It ran on CITV from 1995 to 2007. A highlight of the show involved Buchanan creating a giant picture out of relevant materials (e.g. a car made out of tyres). It also had a talking bust called the Head.

'SMart', the BBC's equivalent of 'Art Attack', was presented by several presenters, including Mark Speight, Zoe Ball and Josie D'Arby, and ran from 1994 to 2009. Its spin-off shows include 'SMart on the Road', where the presenters carried out art projects around the country, and 'SMarteenies', which was aimed at younger kids.

'Press Gang' was a drama about a newspaper run by teens, written by Steven Moffat, who would later be known for his work on 'Doctor Who' and 'Sherlock'.

Answer: Sandokan

Admittedly, this one is a little more obscure. There were two 'Sandokan' cartoons, an Italian one ('Sandokan - The Tiger of Malaysia') broadcast in 1998, featuring human characters, and the one of which I speak here, which came out in 1992, and which featured anthropomorphic animals.

In this version, Sandokan was a prince who became a pirate, and travelled the seas on a quest to reclaim his throne from the Rajah of Sarawak. Most of his crew were cats themselves, with the exception of his sidekick Yanez, a former slave trader, who was a fox. Sandokan's love interest, Lady Marianna, was a deer.

Answer: KOMPLEX, a computer programme with the face of a toad

'In another dimension, another kind of place, a parallel universe is falling on its face...' 'Bucky O'Hare' started out as a comic in the 1980s, before the TV series came later in 1991. The comic was slightly darker than the TV series; Willy was able to teleport between Earth and Bucky's world and Bruce, who he replaced, was transported into another world, rather than being killed. Deadeye's accent was also changed from Scottish to Southern American.

KOMPLEX is the odd one out here as he was the main villain and founder of the Toad Empire, who were at war with the United Animals Federation, and brainwashed the toads into following him (although they willingly followed him in the comic). Toadborg, a giant toad cyborg, was his main enforcer. Jenny was Bucky's first mate and pilot, came from the planet Aldebaran and had psychic powers; Deadeye was the ship's gunner; and Willy was a young boy from Earth who accidentally teleported onto the ship with the help of a photon accelerator in his room, and replaced Bruce, a Betelgeusian Berserker Baboon, as the ship's engineer. The crew also featured a one-eyed android called Blinky, and Bruiser, Bruce's brother, who wasn't in the comic.

Answer: Jackanory

'Jackanory' got its name from an old English nursery rhyme that went 'I'll tell you a story/About Jack-a-nory/And now my story's begun/I'll tell you another/Of Jack and his brother/And now my story's done'. The famous faces appearing on it were too numerous to mention; Bernard Cribbins, Jon Pertwee, Joanna Lumley, Michael Palin, Dame Maggie Smith and Tony Robinson were just some of the many people who read stories on it. An adult version, 'Crackanory', appeared on the channel Dave on 2013.

'Silver Jackanory', the 25th anniversary version, featured stories around the theme of silver; from Helen Cresswell's 'Lizzie Dripping by Moonlight', read by Thora Hird, to 'The Man with the Silver Tongue', written and read by Rory McGrath. (We had the audiobook version, and comedy duo Trev and Simon's 'The World of the Strange Presents: Holiday '66' always made us laugh.)

Answer: Byker Grove

'Byker Grove' ran from 1989 to 2006, and launched the careers of several Newcastle actors, pop stars and other celebrities. Jill Halfpenny (Nicola) would later appear in 'Eastenders'; Charlie Hunnam (Jason) would go on to appear in 'Sons of Anarchy'; Donna Air (Charlie) became a presenter on MTV; Andrew Hayden-Smith (Ben) would appear in 'Doctor Who', and became a presenter on CBBC; and most famously, Ant McPartlin (PJ) and Declan Donnelly (Duncan) became a boy band, before moving on to working as TV presenters. They performed their single 'Tonight I'm Free' on the show; a remixed version later appeared on their debut album 'Psyche'. Jill Halfpenny's niece Chelsea later appeared on the show, and went on to appear in 'Emmerdale' and 'Casualty'.

Like 'Grange Hill', which was set in a London school, 'Byker Grove' handled several dark and gritty topics, from divorce and PJ losing his sight in a paintball accident, to racism and cancer (one character died of a brain tumour). Several of the characters came from dysfunctional families; some were adopted, and others had abusive, absent and/or alcoholic parents. Although the parts featuring the youth club set were not actually filmed in the Byker area, sites in Byker were used as backdrops.

Answer: Thunderbirds

'Thunderbirds', 'Captain Scarlet', 'Stingray' and 'Joe 90' were all made by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and featured puppets on barely visible strings, though these were later edited out. It told the story of the Tracy family, which consisted of patriarch Jeff and his five sons, Scott, Virgil, Alan, Gordon and John, and their organisation, International Rescue. Each son piloted a craft known as a Thunderbird. They all wore a blue uniform with different coloured sashes. Scott piloted Thunderbird 1, a rocket-cum-plane; Virgil piloted Thunderbird 2, a large green craft which could carry other vehicles; Alan was the pilot of Thunderbird 3, a spacecraft; Gordon piloted Thunderbird 4, a little submersible craft which was sometimes carried inside Thunderbird 2; and John, who rarely appeared, piloted the space station Thunderbird 5, and sometimes Thunderbird 3. Their close ally was the aristocratic British spy Lady Penelope, accompanied by her Cockney chauffeur Parker. The Tracys' archnemesis was the Hood, a bald Malaysian criminal with hypnosis powers, and the half-brother of Kyrano, Jeff's servant. A film version of 'Thunderbirds' was released in 2004, with boy band Busted providing the theme.

I never saw 'Joe 90', but was a huge fan of 'Captain Scarlet', which featured several colour-coded characters, including the indestructible hero. 'Stingray', which my brother preferred, was based underwater and featured the adventures of the titular submarine, piloted by Troy Tempest.

Answer: Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds

'One for all and all for one, Muskehounds are always ready...' 'Dogtanian' was a collaboration between the Spanish BRB Internacional animation studio, who also produced 'Sandokan', and the Japanese Nippon Animation. It was, as the name suggests, based on 'The Three Musketeers', with D'Artagnan becoming Dogtanian, a small beagle-like dog. One major difference between Dumas' book and 'Dogtanian' was that the characters of Athos and Porthos were swapped around; Athos (a Saint Bernard) became the outgoing party animal (no pun intended) of the group, while Porthos (a German shepherd dog) was the leader. Aramis, a springer spaniel, remained the same as he was in the original. Non-dog characters included Planchet, Dogtanian's dopey servant (a bear), and Milady de Winter (a cat).

'Around the World with Willy Fog' was made by the same studio and also featured anthropomorphic animals, and was originally based on 'Around the World in Eighty Days', though later series also incorporated 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' and '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'.

Answer: Play School

'Play School' ran from 1964 to 1988, when I was four years old, although there were reruns of the series as well. It had several presenters over the years, including Brian Cant, Floella Benjamin, Johnny Ball, Derek Griffiths, and Fred Harris, accompanied by a group of toys. The episodes would usually feature a trip through one of the shaped windows, which showed anything from the Natural History Museum to skiing in the Alps. The show would often feature songs, presenters making things (I remember trying to make lemonade after one episode) and stories as well. 'Play Away' was its spin-off, which featured many of the same presenters, and more outdoor-based segments.

'Play School' was eventually replaced by 'Playbus' (later 'Playdays'), a series which was another household favourite, and featured a different themed 'stop' for each day of the week.