Now although this article is a bit of an amusing poke at the time one particular episode made a 5 year old me cry at school. I should really point out that Come Outside was a show I enjoyed hugely and have nothing but fond memories for. It was a wonderful educational programme for young children which was so incredibly popular and very deservedly so. What's testament to that is the fact that despite the show finished in 1997. Repeats carried on for a further 15 years afterwards!
Also, let's not forget how the nation mourned the loss of Pippin the dog in 2008. The country wept, flags were at half mast and the Pedigree dog food company held a moments silence.
OK so I'll be serious for a moment. So if you don't know the show (Seriously one friend of mine whose the same age once admitted this to the shock of the entire group of people with us at the time) it featured the adventures of Auntie Mable and her dog Pippin. Who lived in a cottage in the middle of nowhere. Who would go on lots of random adventures exploring how things work. Did they catch the bus? Oh no... this is the 90's remember. It had to be taken up a notch. She had her own aeroplane in her front garden! A spotty polkadot one at that. No questions asked as to how or why.
Your typical episode would feature Auntie Mable and her curious mind. Pondering how crisps, bread, toothpaste etc etc were made. Hopping in to her plane with her dog and flying away (cue shot of obvious stunt double consisting of a bloke wearing a ginger wig flying the plane).
For the most part this was actually an educational and gentle programme that little ones could enjoy... until one particular episode in the second series. The episode in question titled 'Useful Holes' (no sniggering).
Most of the episode featured Mable talking about *ahem* useful holes. Such as the holes small animals like mice and badgers dig to live in. All well and good and innocent and lovely.
Towards the end of the episode the episode takes a bit of a random turn from lovely woodland animals to Auntie Mable ending up in a life or death situation. Talking about how one day, a useful hole saved her life (This is getting silly now).
Auntie Mable talks about the time she had a dog flap installed. So Pippin could run in and out of the back garden with ease. Instead of clawing at the door constantly and disturbing her.
So the story leads to how one day Auntie Mable was cooking some chips. You can tell it's before the country became more health conscious as she's not cooking them with fry light or an air fryer. But with a chip pan. Silly old Mable goes in to her walk-in cupboard to get the lid for the pan. When the door shuts, trapping her inside (Why would you have it built so you couldn't open it from the inside too anyway?).
Realising she can't get out and there's a chip pan getting way too hot on the cooker.
Pippin jumps through the dog flap. Running all the way to the fire station and in true Lassie style. Alerts the fire brigade something is wrong who completely understand what Pippin is trying to say and speed off to Auntie Mable's aid.
They arrive just as the pan catches fire and put it out and let Auntie Mable out of the cupboard.
Who quite amusingly, despite almost being cremated just moments ago comes out with the very British line "Let's all go and have a cup of tea!". A sweet end to a potentially disastrous situation.
But seriously. Who thought up that would be a great thing to stick in to a programme designed for pre-school kids? A lady being trapped and almost being burnt to a crisp had it not been for the fact she had a dog flap installed days prior and that the local fire brigade can understand dog speak.
Because this particular episode. Made little old me at the age of about 4 or 5. Cry.
You see I had an irrational fear of fire back then. Even if I saw it on the TV. I would leap behind the sofa and have a tantrum. So y'know, back then. I just loooooved London's Burning and Fire Kills adverts on the TV. I remember watching Come Outside one morning before school and it being that episode. Getting to the point where Auntie Mable gets locked in and realising the pans going to catch fire. My mother immediately turned it off knowing I'll get upset.
Cut to a few days later and I'm at nursery school and it's playtime. But it's raining. So the teachers decides we'll sit and watch some TV for a bit and brings out some VHS tapes. What VHS tapes do they bring out? Well none other than Come Outside! I immediately burst in to a hysterical fit of tears and wailed that I didn't want to watch it. Much to the bemusement of everyone.
So, I sat in the classroom being consoled by a member of staff while everyone else went off to watch the show. Chances are it wasn't even that episode but I was put off from watching it completely! The funny thing was and I literally only remembered this recently. When my mother came to pick me up, a teacher had to genuinely sit down with her and mention that I had gotten really upset at the moment they announced we were watching Come Outside and my mother is like "Ah, yeah...."
But I did eventually go back to watching it and enjoying it. Like the big 90's kid I was.
So there's a bit of an amusing story about me from the late 90's. But I'll say it again, despite that one moment. It was a great show. Lynda Baron played the kind Auntie Mable role so wonderfully. I'm afraid I still can't go without seeing her on TV in any form and going "Look! It's Auntie Mable!"
If you want to relive the nostalgia. There's always plenty of episode on Youtube. But first off, why not revisit the theme tune...
Look up,
Look down,
Look all around,
Up in the air,
Or on the ground,
Come for a walk,
Come for a ride,
There's so much to see,
So Come Outside!
