Roobarb and Custard

Animated chaos.

Roobarb and Custard were unleashed on an unsuspecting British public in 1974 with their debut series screening on BBC 1. Millions of viewers were tuning in for a daily dose of animated chaos as their new hero, Roobarb, tried valiantly to deal with some of life’s biggest little problems.

Rights & Brands represents Roobarb and Custard for publishing, merchandising and film rights.

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Sophie Thompson

Senior Brand Manager

Global Potential

The series was aired in 40 territories.

7 Million

Viewers tuning in over the first 3 weeks.

Original 1970’s

Designs and hand-drawn illustrations.

The Creators

The show was the creation of Grange Calveley. The ever-curious and optimistic Roobarb was, in fact, based on his own Welsh Collie who, on first arriving at the family home, excitedly ran around the lawn before “watering” the rhubarb to get his name! The sarcastic, low-energy pink cat next- door, Custard, was the perfect foil for Roobarb’s high jinks and, of course, they were joined by various other characters as the stories are played out in the wide-open spaces of the line-drawn garden.

The show’s distinctive style was directed by the legendary animator Bob Godfrey. Long before any computer-generated conformity, each animation cell was hand-drawn to give a distinctive shake or “boiling” effect. Every now and then during production, Grange would bunk off from his advertising agency job and meet Bob in The French House pub in Soho; paying art students from St. Martin’s in half-pints to colour the individual drawings. It was punk TV production at its beer-soaked finest. If Roobarb changes colour over the 30 episodes of the first series (he does), it was because the local stationers had run out of felt-tip pens!