Overgrown children of all ages (well, specifically between about 25 and 55) were today rejoicing at news of the return of Mr Benn. That's Mr Benn the 70s children's cartoon character, not - as someone here thought - Uncle Ben, which is a type of rice.
For those too young - or, worse, too foreign - to know, Mr Benn was a suburban gent of a type that sadly no longer exists, respectable and bowler-hatted. To enliven his peaceable existence, he was in the habit of popping into his local fancy dress shop to try on outlandish costumes. Inevitably, in a case of cucullus facit monachum, donning the costume would catapult him into a themed adventure - going to the wild west as a cowboy, for example, or to outer space as an astronaut. Reassuringly, he would react to this change of circumstance with very British aplomb, until summoned to return by the fancy dress shop manager, at which point he would return to his suburban street and his suburban life until the following week's adventure.
Bucking the trend of taking innocent childish fun and making it dark and threatening, Mr Benn's all-new adventures will stay true to those of our youth. "We've kept the style much the same," said our hero's creator, David McKee, "but, of course, the technology is very different now." The first of the new episodes sees Mr Benn cast as a gladiator, and is to be broadcast on Nickelodeon's pre-school cable television channel Nick Jr on New Year's Day.
So which other 70s and 80s classics would we like to see back? My money was on Bod, until I read this disturbing appraisal.
