Basil Brush

Basil Brush
First appearance	1962
Created by	Peter Firmin
Portrayed by	Ivan Owen
Information
Species	Red fox
Gender	Male

Basil Brush is a fictional anthropomorphic red fox, best known for his appearances on daytime British children's television. He is primarily portrayed by a glove puppet, but has also been depicted in animated cartoon shorts and comic strips. The character has featured on children's (and later adult) television from the 1960s to the present day.

A mischievous character and a raconteur, Basil Brush is best known for his catchphrase "Ha Ha Ha! Boom! Boom!", used after something he finds funny, and also for speaking in a " posh" accent and manner, referring to himself as a "fella". The character claims to dislike puppets, and says his most prized possession is his " brush", this being the traditional name for a fox's tail.

Basil Brush from 1962 to 1984

The original Basil Brush glove puppet was designed by Peter Firmin, in 1962, for a BBC television series, and was voiced and performed by Ivan Owen until his death in October 2000.

Ivan Owen took great care to ensure that he, personally, never received any publicity. Professionally, only Basil had a public persona, with Ivan himself remaining entirely unknown. This helped give the character believability, making Basil appear to be real, since - unlike Harry Corbett and Sooty, for example - the audience never saw the puppeteer.

Ivan modelled Basil's voice on that of the film star Terry-Thomas, giving the puppet a touch of well-cultivated class. This, plus a degree of sophistication in the humour (which often included topical political jokes) helped give Basil a broad appeal. So although Basil began as a children's entertainer, in the 1970s he became a mainstream act, attracting a family audience.

Basil first appeared on television in 1962, in a series called The Three Scampies, an out-of-work circus act. The human was Howard Williams, Ivan Owen animated and voiced Basil and Wally Whyton animated and voiced Spike McPike, a very aggressive Scottish hedgehog also made by Peter Firmin. In the mid Sixties Basil became a supporting act for the magician David Nixon, upstaging Nixon on the latter's tv show in 1966, to such good effect that the fox was offered his own show.

Basil thus acquired his own television series on the BBC, The Basil Brush Show, which ran for 13 years from 1968 until 1980, in which he was supported by various famous stooges: firstly, in 1968, by the actor Rodney Bewes, known on the show as "Mr Rodney"; secondly, from 1969 to 1973, by the actor Derek Fowlds (known as "Mr Derek"); then until 1976 by actor and singer Roy North ("Mr Roy"); then by "Mr Howard" (Howard Williams), who was in the original "Three Scampies; and finally by "Mr Billy" (Billy Boyle). By the mid 1970s the show was aimed at a family audience, so was usually broadcast on BBC 1 in an early evening timeslot on Saturdays (although in the early days it had aired during childrens programmes on Thursdays, prior to the evening news at 5:45pm), typically running for 13 weeks in each series.

The show was recorded in the presence of a studio audience, and usually ran approximately 25 minutes. The format of the show typically featured an opening introduction by Basil and his co-star (Mr Derek, or Mr Roy, etc), in which they would do a few jokes; this was followed by a comedy sketch, featuring them doing topical jokes about a then-current subject (for instance, a sketch set onboard an aeroplane flying them to a holiday in Spain, loosely based around the hit pop song Y Viva España); then a musical item, featuring a guest singer or group (these included some of the most famous singers of the day, top stars such as Demis Roussos in 1973, Petula Clark in 1979, and Cilla Black — big stars vied to get on the show, which had a huge audience); sometimes the guest singer would do a song, straight, but then also do a comic duet with Basil.

Finally, the show would conclude with 'storytime', in which Mr Derek or Mr Roy, etc, would read aloud from a serial story about the adventures of some fictitious historical relative of Basil's - for instance 'Bulldog' Basil, or Captain Basil and his journey to the stars (a Star Trek spoof), or Basil de Farmer the knight in shining armour (a Robin Hood spoof); or at least he would attempt to, whilst being continually interrupted by a string of jokes and humorous remarks from Basil. Often at this point, in the mid-1970s, Basil would get out his toy dog, which was a clockwork wind-up toy, and have it do humorous tricks at the side, almost off-camera, in order to distract the audience and thereby take the rise out of Mr Roy. Each week's story ended on a cliffhanger: to be continued the following week. Basil and Mr Roy would then finish on a song, based upon that week's serial story, whilst the closing credits rolled.

A dispute in 1980 led to the show's cancellation. Ivan Owen aspired to a mid-evening timeslot, which the BBC were unwilling to agree. In 1982 the puppet reappeared on television, on ITV, in Let's Read With Basil Brush. Basil eventually returned to the BBC, as co-host of the long-running children's television series Crackerjack, broadcast at 4:55pm on Fridays, during the 1983-84 Season.

Basil Brush also performed in the theatre, regularly appearing live in Pantomime at Christmas; usually co-starring at the top of the bill with a well-known singer or comedian. His pantomime co-stars during the 1960s included the singer Cilla Black. After the television show's cancellation in 1980, Basil ended his partnership with Mr Billy and teamed up once again with Howard Williams ("Mr Howard"); they toured in a live stage show, capitalising on Basil's celebrity - and continuing popularity - as a result of thirteen years on tv.

During this period Basil also featured in his own cartoon strip in the children's comic "TV Comic", published weekly in Britain by Polystyle Publications Ltd.

The Basil Brush Show from 2002 to 2007

In 2002, after the death of Ivan Owen, Basil made a comeback - performed by a new puppeteer - in a children's BBC sitcom, again named The Basil Brush Show, in which his new comic foil, Stephen, is played by Christopher Pizzey. It was produced by The Foundation, part of the RDF Media Group. Child actors Georgina Leonidas and Michael Hayes also appeared on the show. Basil Brush now had a family, which included his destructive, hyperactive but cute nephew Bingo, and his criminal cousin Mortimer. Other friends were introduced as well, such as the moneymaking child Dave and the more sensible Molly, as well as Madison, a hippy who lived upstairs, Irish sidekick Liam (played by Michael Byers), and Anil, a crazy café owner and rubbish cook.

Several celebrities made cameo appearances on the show. These included Eamonn Holmes, Ainsley Harriot and Myles Broom . The original shows were recorded before a studio audience, comprised mainly of children, but the new programme used a post-production laughter track instead of an audience.

Interspersed with the main programme, there are now various animated shorts in which Basil and/or another character is seen making jokes. The more recent puppet looks different from the original 1960s/ 1970s puppet in a number of aspects, but the 'well-spoken' voice of Basil is similar to the original Ivan Owen version.

Basil Brush often breaks the Fourth Wall by having shots of the set and making references on how long the show is,and abusing the obvious way of walking across to other scenes.

Other appearances

Are You Being Served?

Mr Lucas claims to keep his pajamas in his Basil Brush stuffed toy, in the episode entitled 'Forward Mr. Grainger' from Season 4, broadcast in April 1976. There is also a mention of Basil in the episode titled 'A Bliss Girl' from Season 6, broadcast in December 1978, in which Mrs Slocombe is trying on a fox-fur coat: Mr Humphries tells her, 'You look like a cross between Nelson and Basil Brush'.

"Stick It Out"

Basil appeared on the 1993 Comic Relief song " Stick It Out" with Right Said Fred and other celebrity friends.

Fantasy Football League

That same year, 1993, Basil appeared on the BBC comedy series Fantasy Football League with Frank Skinner and David Baddiel – his first television appearance in a decade. Inevitably, Basil's fantasy football team for the series included Norwich City midfielder Ruel Fox.

Bruce Forsyth's Generation Game

Basil made a surprise guest appearance at the end of an act featured on the BBC game show The Generation Game in about 1993, where the game between the players was to identify six celebrities hidden behind disguises who sang a song about a dastardly plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Both teams of contestants identified Basil as one of the masked celebrities.

Blue Peter

Basil briefly appeared as a presenter for several Friday episodes of the popular British children's TV programme Blue Peter in 2003, in which he had his own joke segment. On 16 November 2010 Basil made a further guest appearance for one episode.

French and Saunders

Basil played Dobby the house elf in the French & Saunders sketch "Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan" for Comic Relief Red Nose Day 2003.

The Weakest Link

On 10 December 2005, Basil appeared on The Weakest Link and won the show, receiving £10,900 for his chosen charity, the Blue Peter 2005 charity appeal, "Treasure Trail" (in aid of Childline). This makes him the first puppet to win The Weakest link ( Roland Rat had previously appeared as a puppet contestant, but did not win). Basil returned to Weakest Link as one of the contestants on the show's 1000th UK edition, recorded on 1 November 2006. It was shown on BBC Two on 18 December 2006. Although he made it to the final round, this time he failed to win. However, the winner (Miss Evans) still decided to share half of her winnings with Basil's chosen charity. However, although Basil is a puppet, he did not appear in the puppet special that aired the following year.

Cinderella

Basil Brush starred in the Christmas pantomime Cinderella in 2007, including St Albans, where he would appear from a large box on wheels for various hilarious off-plot moments, and encouraged children in the audience to shout 'Boom Boom Basil!' after each use of his catch phrase. In December 2010 Basil Brush appeared in the Croydon Fairfield Halls pantomime production of Cinderella.

Basil's Swap Shop

On 20 December 2007, the BBC announced that Basil would be co-presenting a new version of Swap Shop with Barney Harwood on BBC Two. The new series is titled Basil's Swap Shop.

Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation

In February 2010, Basil Brush appeared on the Australian game show, Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation, parts of which were broadcast in 3D.

Mongrels

In July 2010, a conspiracy theorist fox referred to as "Basil" appeared on the "adult puppet show" Mongrels (TV series) in a throwaway gag scene (Never meet your idols).

Rolf Harris at The Royal Albert Hall

Basil appeared with Rolf Harris at his 50th anniversary concert for The Prince's Trust. Basil criticised Rolf about wanting to tie a kangaroo down, leading to a montage of clips from Animal Hospital, then they performed a duet of the song 'In The Court Of King Caractacus' together.

Celebrity Juice

Basil was the Newerer Magazine Head in the Celebrity Juice Series 6 Christmas special.

ITV News

On the 21st of December 2012, Basil appeared on the show ITV News as part of the "Text Santa" charity event.