Here comes Bod (again)

Going with the flow: Bod
Steph Condron|Metro13 April 2012

Bod, the simplest of cartoon characters from the 1970s, is making a comeback.

The bald boy in the yellow outfit was one of the most popular stars of children's TV and is about to feature in a new book after a 25-year break.

The revival could see Bod back on the small screen with shows aimed at adults too.

In Bod's Way - The Meaning Of Life, he returns flouting his Taoist credentials and wearing a Yin-Yan pendant.

Bod was born in the 1960s in a series of books written by BBC producer Michael Cole for his children.

Mr Cole, who also created Fingerbobs and Fingermouse, followed Taoism - the Chinese philosophy which teaches a 'go-with-the-flow' outlook.

He was working on a new set of Bod books before he died of liver cancer last year.

Now his children, Alison and Lo, have dedicated their book to their father and are bidding for a TV series.

Alison, 44, said: 'My father had a very gentle focus on life, which can be seen in all the Bod books. We are really expanding on that and giving a bit more of the Taoist beliefs behind what my father had in all his work.'

Thirteen episodes of Bod were made in 1975 and 1976, and have been screened repeatedly since. Fans fondly remember its simple, repetitive animation, hypnotic theme tune and John Le Mesurier's droll narration.

Little happened in Bod's slow-paced world, which he shared with Aunt Flo, PC Copper, Frank the Postman and Farmer Barleymow.

In one episode, Bod throws an apple in the air and waits for it to come down. In another, the blank-faced boy thinks it's too hot and later helps Aunt Flo deliver letters.

In the new story, Bod is still wrestling with the meaning of life but has not forgotten how to laugh at himself.

On one page, he falls down a hole and the words read: 'There's wind's way; there's water's way; and there's Bod's way.'

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