Jigsaw History Jigsaw is an 80’s Children’s TV show that was originally hosted by Adrian Hedley and Janet Ellis. Later on Janet left the show to pursue her career with Blue Peter, and was replaced by Julia Binstead, who played Dot. The show was written and directed by Clive Doig, for BBC Bristol. Clive was the golden boy of children’s TV and produced many shows, such as Vision On, Eureka, Beat the Teacher etc. In 1980 Jigsaw was nominated for a BAFTA Harlequin Award for Drama/Light Entertainment. It didn’t win, but in the following year (1981) it did. Adrian Hedley went onto bigger and better things and has written and directed many Children’s TV shows, such as Zzzap!, Fimbles, Big Cook Little Cook and even Sooty! (2011). But he still does practice mime. David Cleveland, who played Sid Sleuth was the same person who played the Prof in the show Vision On. The style was very similar, but this time he was dressed in his white lab coat. John Leeson played many characters in Jigsaw, such as Jigg, Biggum and Ptery, but he is more famous for supplying the voice of K9 in Doctor Who, and was one of the actors that has played Bungle from Rainbow. Wilf Lunn, who nailed the mad inventor look and mannerisms, who previously starred in the series Vision-On, joined the cast of Jigsaw in a later series. In 2008 he released a comical autobiography entitled ‘My Best Cellar: An Autobiography Up to the Age of Eleven...and Other Stuff’. Here’s something that most people don’t notice (but I did) when the titles for the show start, you see blank jigsaw pieces making up the screen. Look closely and you can make out the letters J, I, G, C and one shaped like a Top Hat. Also in the titles, each letter of the word Jigsaw was mimed by Adrian, followed by a video clip. Both were related to the letter, such as: J  (Joker / Juggle / Jockey) I  (? / Insects / Ivory) G  (Giant / Girl) S  (Swim / Ski / Skate) A  (Apple / Ants / Aces) W  (? / Walrus) Story Each week the Jigsaw team (initially Adrian Hedley, Janet Ellis and Jigg) would ask the viewer to solve their puzzle, which consisted of clues to each letter of a six letter word. The clues were shown in the form of a sketch or a mime. Once all letters were found, the Jigsaw team asked the viewer to solve the puzzle by re-arranging the letters into a word. Once all clues had been shown and the word revealed, Jigg would pop-up and tell the viewer that they could send a stamped addressed envelope to the team if they wanted to know how all the clues made up the word (I wonder how many kids did this?) or if they wanted to chat to them. Jigsaw Characters Adrian Hedley Adrian Hedley was the main presentor, but he didn’t say much, as he was the resident mime expert who wore his trademark dungarees and top hat (not sure these were fashionable then either). We would watch in amazement as he mimed a clue, which would be recreated in the playground to your friends at school (to applause if you were any good). One of Adrian’s famous creations was Noseybonk, where he would wear a spooky looking mask, prancing around a place wearing it. It seems many viewers of the show will remember this portion of the show as it seemed to have scared a number of children (I for one, wasn’t one of them, I used to like it). Janet Ellis Joining Adrian was Janet Ellis who would oversee the whole proceedings and would make sure that the show continued without hitch. She would also look up the proverbs that Pterry used to spout, as he would say the number of the proverb. Jigg     (made and operated by Joe Barton,               voiced by John Leeson) Jigg was an orange talking jigsaw piece that used to float in mid air. He would encourage and help the viewer to solve the clues they set in the show. It seems that Jigg wasn’t very happy living in his jigsaw puzzle. He didn’t like the neighbouring pieces much, plus he was too close to the sun in the picture (a desert scene). So Jigg bounced off, for a life of his own, and eventually joined the Jigsaw crew. It seems that this is a common problem with jigsaw pieces, as many jigsaws have a single piece missing. Ptery     (made and operated by Joe Barton) Ptery (pronounced ‘P’ Terry) is a small Pteranodon who was found by Janet in the Natural History Museum. She thought he was just an exhibit until he spoke to her. He had been there for many years and decided it was time for a change of scenery, so asked if he could go with Janet (the smooth talker). I was surprised the guards at the museum didn’t stop her and ask her to return him. Ptery has a nasty habit of talking in proverbs. Biggum     (played by John Leeson) Buggum was a giant that would pop-in to the studios to see the Jigsaw team. We didn’t get to see much of him, apart from his socks and sandled feet. We can only assume that he was from Scotland, due to his accent. Sid Sleuth     (played by David Cleveland) On the trail of criminals was Sid Sleuth, a detective who resembled Sherlock Holmes in his deerstalker hat. He was often seen using his magnifying glass, spotting clues of a crime and following them straight to the suspect, where he tried to apprehend them (with varying degrees of success). But even Sid is not immune to crime, such as the time a thief tried to steal everything he owned (the cad!). The O-Men     (played by Sylvester McCoy and David Rappaport) The O-Men looked like two strange superheroes, and were summoned to appear from nowhere when someone said ‘oo’ words. Jigsaw Images (click to enlarge) Jigsaw  T-Shirts NONE Jigsaw Video Intro Jigsaw Episodes Series 1 (1979) 1. Spring 2. ? 3. ? 4. ? 5. ? 6. ? Series 2 (1980) 1. ? 2. ? 3. ? 4. ? 5. ? 6. ? Series 3 (1981) 1. ? 2. ? 3. ? 4. ? 5. ? 6. ? 7. ? 8. ? 9. ? 10. ? 11. ? 12. ? Series 4 (1983) 1. ? 2. ? 3. ? 4. ? 5. ? 6. ? 7. ? Series 5 (1984) 1. ? 2. ? 3. ? 4. ? 5. ? 6. ? Series 6 (1984) 1. ? 2. ? 3. ? 4. ? 5. ? 6. ? 7. ? © JedisParadise.com Jigsaw DVDs NONE Toys & Gifts T-Shirts Bargain DVDs