Just a quick blog post. But it was really cool to meet James Mackenzie a few weeks ago. Who is best known for playing Raven in the original version of the CBBC show between 2002-2010. We met in a shopping centre in Wolverhampton. No it wasn't a chance meeting, there was a comic con going on there!
I actually wonder if I would have recognised him if I just happened to walk past. Although James hasn't changed much at all. He does wear glasses now and I have to say was a lot more smiley and cheery than Raven's moody persona.
But Raven was definitely a show I watched a fair bit back in the day. It was basically Game of Thrones meets Knightmare meets Crystal Maze. At least for the first few series. It did run for 8 years and there were a number of spin off's that came about towards the end but I never really saw those. But I do remember the awesome Way of the Warrior challenge at the end of each show which no one ever seemed to win. I have to admit that a few times in recent years, Raven quotes done in the best Scottish accent myself and my friends can muster have been uttered during drunken nights out. I live life very much in the fast lane.
I am aware that Raven has recently returned with a new actress in the role and with James making sporadic appearances as "Raven of old". But I'm going to be honest, I haven't really seen it. I have to admit that I'm past the point of watching kids TV by quite some years now and I'm getting in to that rose tinted spectacled view of "kids TV was so much better in my day!".
I did ask James if he'd be happy to record a chat with me sometime soon if I emailed him and he said yes. He has already done a few which can be on Youtube. So I'll have to think up of some different questions. We'll have to see what happens...
Following on from my last blog post about 90's CITV comedy sci-fi show Snug & Cozi. As mentioned, I am pleased to announce my next podcast interview with Richard Vobes who wrote the show and starred as Snug.
Richard tells us the story of how the show came to be and how ITV picked up the show. As well as the troubles in production along side some of his fondest memories of the programme, including a car wash and a double bed!
Richard also updates us on his current activities with his podcasting and his The Bald Explorer series on Youtube.
On this blog I sometimes like to fly the flag for those nostalgic relics of kids TV past which have fallen by the wayside in the memories of the nation. One of those shows, is crazy sci-fi comedy. Snug & Cozi.
Snug & Cozi was a children's slapstick comedy which aired on CITV for two series between 1996 and 1997. The two title characters were spacemen who crash landed on earth and tried to adapt to human life. With the help of their earth friend Emily, who discovered them and hid them in her fathers shed. Obviously her father must have hated gardening then, to not notice two full grown men living in the shed the whole time.
You could describe the pair as bumbling, inept and down right clumsy. Causing chaos wherever they go and speaking a strange gibberish language. Slapstick shows seemed to be all the rage on Kids TV in the 90's. With Zzzap! and Chucklevision never being off the air.
A total of sixteen episodes were made. All of which were ten minutes in length and featured the two crazy spacemen getting in to a variety of farcical situations. From flooding their home with soap suds during bath night. To making a birthday cake containing sticks of dynamite instead of candles.
The show actually aired when I was three years old, so it's amazing I remember it. I say remember but it's more vague recollections. Years ago I did ask on forums if anyone remembered a show with two clumsy bald men, one with a moustache and no one had a clue what I was going on about. It was only when some time later someone messaged me asking me if I remembered a CITV show called Snug & Cozi and I said I didn't. Until they shown me an episode on Youtube and it all came back to me. This was the show I remembered!
In fact the Youtube uploads are all by the very man who not only played Snug in the show. But also created the entire thing. Richard Vobes. Who I have been in contact with ever since, over the last ten years. We've never met in person but exchanged many emails about his time on the show. As well as the various other CITV shows the two characters appeared on to promote it. Such as Scratchy & Co and Timmy Towers. The fact Richard has worked alongside the late great Mark Speight makes me very jealous!
Not only that but Snug and Cozi even released their own album of pop tunes! You can listen to one of the tunes here.
Richard has told me in previous conversations that the show was very much Laurel & Hardy in spacesuits. Seeing as I am a fan of those too. I can definitely see the influence. It's nice that particular style of humour was re-introduced to a new generation of children.
I can still remember one of the very first things I asked Richard back in 2009. I had this vague picture in my mind of Snug & Cozi entering a carwash on a bed. Naturally I thought I'd dreamt the whole thing up and gone mad. It sounded bizarre. Thankfully I wasn't, as Richard confirmed that yes, that really did happen. The scene in question, has since made an appearance online.
Richard, who has a love for writing, performing and comedy. Wrote and created the show while working as a street performer, mime, juggler and TV extra. Not only did he write a pilot show. He actually made one on film, out of his own pocket. Roping in his friend Nigel Cooper to play Cozi. Before sending the tapes off to various TV companies in the hope that someone would buy the idea. Amazingly, Scottish Television, who are part of the ITV network did. Part of me wonders if such a thing would happen now, whether a TV company would accept a pitch like that. One day, I wouldn't mind seeing the original pilot programme.
What's interesting to learn, from my many discussions with Richard. Is that his time having his idea made for TV wasn't always a happy one. With his vision of the show not being what the final product ended up being. Before being axed suddenly after just two series. A great shame. Due to the short run, the show has sadly been largely forgotten and doesn't pop up on nostalgia websites very often.
What's more positive though. Is since then, Richard has a new found love of producing videos and podcasts for the internet. Until the title The Bald Explorer where he explores Britain's history and heritage. You can find out more here https://baldexplorer.com/ and you can also follow Richard on Twitter.
Why not go on Youtube right now and enjoy some silly fun with Snug & Cozi? To get you started. This episode is a favourite of mine.
Also Richard has very kindly taken the time out to record a chat with me about his time working on the show. The podcast interview will be available very soon!
