Rainbow
Rainbow was a British children's television series, created by Pamela Lonsdale, which ran from 16 October 1972 until 6 March 1992, and made by Thames Television. The puppet characters of Zippy, George and Bungle would take the role of inquisitive children asking about the episode's subject, with the presenter (initially David Cook, and from 1974 onwards Geoffrey Hayes) serving the role of a teacher figure, educating them about the subject. From the 1980s onwards, most episodes were more story-driven and frequently involved some kind of squabble or dispute between the puppet characters of Zippy, George and Bungle, and Geoffrey's attempts to calm them down and keep the peace. Violet Philpott was cast as the puppeteer of Zippy, with Peter Hawkins providing his voice.
No script was made for the pilot, which led to Hawkins attempting to rewrite gags, difficult for the preschool audience, and would lead to him departing the show after its first year, recommending Roy Skelton to take over. For the first two filmed series, the show was presented by David Cook, with John Leeson as Rainbow, renamed Bungle, and featured songs by the group Telltale. Philpott would leave the series after its first year due to suffering a back injury from Zippy’s appearances all being through a window. She was replaced by John Thirtle for the second series, and Ronnie Le Drew from 1974 onto the present day.