Rainbow
  
We all remember the old Rainbow, with its catchy theme tune, and the image of a rainbow forming above houses with children looking out of them smiling is one which will stay in our minds for years to come.
Geoffrey Hayes was the human element to Rainbow and stayed with the programme for many years, along with: Bungle, a big, grinning clumsy-looking bear; Zippy, an oval headed creature with a painful looking zip as a mouth; and George, a pink creature with a big mouth who looked a bit like a hippo, but much wetter. Wetter than water, in fact.
Geoffrey would always look after the others, and supervise them while they did things, often with an educational theme, such as reading stories or making things. The whole thing was set in this house with colourful decoration, including rainbow colours, although quite what the programme's obsession with rainbows was I'm not sure.
Also featured, were the annoying musical trio of Rod, Jane and Freddy, who sang songs and played the guitar in some episodes.
Rainbow was very popular, but, unfortunately, a new edition was made which saw all the existing characters changed, another blue, female character added, and, worst of all, Geoffrey had vanished! After all he had done for the programme and they give the poor sod the sack. Honestly, some people. Is there no gratitude in this world? Poor Geoff, last I heard of him he was stacking shelves in Texas (the store, not the state). It also had different music, so I refused to watch it (the fact that I was, by that time in Secondary school just didn't come into it).
Rainbow was on ITV and made by Thames. It lasted for over 10 years, making it one of the longest running kids' programmes ever, and is fondly remembered as a good educational programme for children of all ages.
  
KIDS' PROGRAMMES OF THE 1980S PAGE
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