Fans were recently delighted, after it was reported that beloved BBC children's classic The Magic Roundabout was being reinvented for a new generation.
The stories of Zebedee, Dougal the dog, Florence, Brian the snail, Ermintrude the cow, Dylan the rabbit and Mr McHenry the gardener, hold a fond place in the hearts of many people who grew up with the beloved stories.
But did you know that Dougal was never meant to be a main character? And that the series was originally created by one of the painters of the Eiffel Tower?
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As The Magic Roundabout celebrates its 57th birthday, Daily Star takes a closer look at some behind the scenes facts about the show.
The show was created by one of the painters of the Eiffel Tower
While The Magic Roundabout is considered one of the most famous British children's TV series, it was in fact based on a French programme called Le Manège Enchanté.
It was created by Serge Danot, a former decorator who was already famous, as he had helped to paint the iconic landmark The Eiffel Tower.
The Guardian reports the despite the programme being full of colour, there is one notable absence - the colour green.
The reason? Because Serge was supposedly not a fan of the colour green.
Le Manège Enchanté was an instant success when it first aired in 1964, with the series broadcasting more than 700 episodes.
One year later, it was adapted and reinvented for British audiences by the father of a future Hollywood film icon in the mid-sixties - and the rest as they say is history.
The Magic Roundabout was adapted by the father of a Hollywood icon
In the mid sixties, The Magic Roundabout was brought to British audiences with a little help from the brilliant mind of Eric Thompson - the father of Harry Potter and Love Actually star Emma Thompson.
However, despite using the animations from the French series, the stories were completely made up by Eric.
The star, who was presenting BBC2's Play School at the time, was reported to have thought the stories "simplistic and dull," so he instead made up the stories while his narration was being recorded.
It still featured characters from the original French series though, including Pollux, with the lovable dog being renamed Dougal.
After introducing Zebedee in the first episode, who helped restore magic to Mr Rusty's barrel organ, a whole host of familiar faces came to life on our TV screens.
These included Ambroise who became Brian the snail, Azalée who became Ermintrude the cow and Flappy, who was later renamed Dylan the rabbit.
The Magic Roundabout was soon broadcast on the BBC for the first time on October 18, 1965 and became an instant hit with children, who would watch the programme during its tea-time slot before the Six O' Clock news.
Dougal was never meant to be a main character
Dougal is one of The Magic Roundabout's most recognisable characters, and it is impossible to imagine the show without him.
However, he was never intended to be a main character, with the widow of Le Manège Enchanté creator Serge telling The Guardian in 2004: "At first he didn’t say anything, he just made a strange noise.
"But after the first few programmes viewers began writing asking to see more of the dog, so he became the main character."
She continued: "Serge gave him a heavy English accent, which French people found enormously amusing.
"He went, ‘Bow- wow-wow’ [French dogs go, ‘Ouah, ouah’]."
Dougal was based on a famous comedian
According to the BBC, Eric Thompson once revealed that his reinvention of beloved pooch Dougal was based on a famous comedian.
It is reported that Dougal's personality was based on the comedian Tony Hancock, who is famous for programmes including Hancock's Half Hour.
This has since been reiterated by others who spoke to Eric Thompson in the seventies, with a former Manchester University student saying that he met the star when he came to talk to the English Society about his production of Journey's End.
John O'Dwyer told The Guardian: "He was quickly sidetracked into talking about The Magic Roundabout. One nugget of information was that he based the grumpy character of Dougal on Tony Hancock."
The show is tipped to return
The Magic Roundabout was broadcast on the BBC for more than 12 years between 1965 to 1977.
It has since made a return to our screens - first with a briefly lived series on Channel 4 in 1992, and then in a 2005 animated film, which featured the voices of stars including Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Lee Evans and Tom Baker, to name a few.
However, it was reported earlier this year that Method Animation would be bringing the beloved children's series back, and would be combining the "characters, personalities and spirit of the original" with "the techniques of the present."
Producer Camille Oesch said in a statement: "In England, The Magic Roundabout was not just an iconic programme of the 1960s it was a cultural reference in animation, but the context today isn’t the same as in the 1960s so we have to find a path between the two."
It is expected that the new series will air in 2024, but a broadcaster for The Magic Roundabout is yet to be confirmed.
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