Metal Mickey
Encyclopedia
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
, which was created, controlled and voiced by Johnny Edward
Johnny Edward
Johnny Edward , is a British musician, writer and record producer, also known as the creator of the children's television character Metal Mickey.-Musician:...
. A modernised vision of a 1950s space toy, Metal Mickey first appeared on British television in the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
children's magazine show The Saturday Banana
Saturday Banana
The Saturday Banana was a Saturday morning children's television show produced by Southern Television for ITV and presented by Goodies star Bill Oddie. Oddie also wrote and sang the theme tune...
, produced by Southern Television
Southern Television
Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...
in 1978. Humphrey Barclay saw Mickey on Jimmy Saville's 'Jim'll Fix It' and seeing the kids chatting in the marketplace with our friendly robot, he realised this was what he was looking for! The Metal Mickey TV Show was born... within a month the pilot was video-taped and shortly the series went live with its first six episodes. Thirty-nine episodes were made in all, 12 million viewers (Jictar rating)
Micky Dolenz
Micky Dolenz
George Michael "Micky" Dolenz, Jr. is an American actor, musician, television director, radio personality and theater director, best known as a member of the 1960s made-for-television band The Monkees.-Biography:...
, formerly of The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
pop group, was brought in to produce and direct along with Nic Phillips and David Crossman.
The Metal Mickey TV Show
The Metal Mickey TV Show ran from 1980 to 1983. The show was set in the home of an ordinary British family, whose youngest child was a science boffinBoffin
In the slang of the United Kingdom, boffins are scientists, medical doctors, engineers, and other people engaged in technical or scientific research.-Origin:...
, who had created Metal Mickey to help around the home. The family consisted of a mother and father, three children and a grandmother. The show was made by London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
and shown on ITV network.
British comedy actress Irene Handl
Irene Handl
-Life:Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the daughter of an Austrian banker father and French mother. She took to acting at the relatively advanced age of 36, and studied at the acting school run by the sister of Dame Sybil Thorndike...
played the grandmother, whom Mickey affectionately called "my little fruitbat". He also referred to his inventor as "Clever Clogs", his inventor's sister as "Stringbean" and their father as "Bootface". Handl was never at home with science fiction, either watching it or appearing in it. She famously told BBC presenter Noel Edmonds
Noel Edmonds
Noel Ernest Edmonds, is an English broadcaster and executive, who made his name as a DJ on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. He has presented many light entertainment television programmes, including Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Top of the Pops, The Late, Late Breakfast Show, Telly Addicts, Noel's Saturday...
, when he asked her whether she cried over the death of E.T.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
, "Why should I cry over a bleedin' Hoover
Vacuum cleaner
A vacuum cleaner, commonly referred to as a "vacuum," is a device that uses an air pump to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, usually from floors, and optionally from other surfaces as well. The dirt is collected by either a dustbag or a cyclone for later disposal...
attachment?"
Metal Mickey's catchphrase was "boogie, boogie", and his favourite treat was Atomic Thunderbusters (which had the appearance of lemon bonbon
Bonbon
The name bonbon refers to any of several types of sweets, especially small candies enrobed in chocolate.The first reports of bonbons come from the 17th century, when they were made at the French royal court. Their name arose from infantile reduplication of the word bon, meaning 'good'...
s).
Cast
- Michael Stainton ... Father
- Georgina Melville ... Mother
- Ashley Knight ... Ken
- Lucinda Bateson ... Haley
- Lola YoungLola Young, Baroness Young of HornseyLola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey, OBE is a British artist, author, and Crossbench peer.Young was educated at the Parliament Hill School for Girls in London and went then to the New College of Speech and Drama, where she received a diploma in dramatic art in 1975, and a teaching certificate...
... Janey - Gary ShailGary Shail-Career:Gary Shail began work in TV and film in 1977 and is best known for his roles as Spider in the 1979 cult classic film Quadrophenia and as Steve, the punky teenager in The Metal Mickey TV Show directed by former Monkee Mickey Dolenz....
... Steve - Metal Mickey ... Metal Mickey
- Irene HandlIrene Handl-Life:Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the daughter of an Austrian banker father and French mother. She took to acting at the relatively advanced age of 36, and studied at the acting school run by the sister of Dame Sybil Thorndike...
... Granny
Production credits
- Directors: Michael Dolenz, David Crossman, Nic Phillips
- Producer: Michael Dolenz
- Writer: Colin Bostock-Smith
- Designers: Mike Oxley, Rae George, David Catley, James Dillion, Phil Coulter
- Music: Phil Coulter