A Show That I Didn't Think Actually Existed

Apparently "Willo The Wisp" was a real show. I wasn't completely sure.

When I was a kid, TV Ontario, Ontario's public TV network (and a very good one, at that, though they're not as good now as they used to be) used to show a lot of cartoons imported from overseas, especially England. One of them was "Willo The Wisp," which is well-described at the review above; the star voice actor, Kenneth Williams, was best known from the "Carry On" movies. But the thing most people remember about it was Evil Edna, the talking television set.

The only episode I remember very strongly is the one where the residents of Doyley Wood discover that Evil Edna has turned Mavis, the overweight fairy, into a tree. (Subliminal message to kids: TV will turn you sedentary.) Edna refuses to turn her back, and no one can figure out what to do, until Arthur, the caterpillar, meets a travelling salesman named Mr. Wand ("Now there's a name to conjure with!"). Arthur isn't interested in any of Mr. Wand's products except an "electronic miracle": a video-game set that you hook up to a television set to play Pong.

Arthur buys the "electronic miracle" and hooks it up to Edna while she sleeps. When she wakes up, Arthur switches on the video set and Edna's face starts to display the two lines hitting a dot back and forth. "It's just a bit of magic," says Arthur. "I've turned you into a game of tennis." Edna agrees to turn Mavis back to normal in return for being unhooked from the video game. The end.

Now, where's "Dr. Snuggles?"