Jo and Petunia

Another very old, very beloved series of PIFs.

Jo and Petunia, the stars of four animated PIFs in the late '60s and early '70s, were a chalk - and - cheese northern couple who slightly resembled a dimmer Hyacinth and Richard Bucket. Their appeal lay in being so inept they'd show you what not to do at the beach, in the countryside or when driving down a mountain road. They appeared in "Coastguard" (1968), "Flags" (1970), "Country Code" (1971) and "Worn Tyres" (1973), being killed off in the last film when Jo's failure to check their car's tyres results in a fatal road accident. Peter Hawkins, who provided the voices of Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men and the original Daleks and Cybermen (among others) was the voice of Jo, while Petunia was voiced by Wendy Craig and later Brigit Forsyth for "Worn Tyres". The films were commissioned by the COI to Nicholas Cartoons, which was also behind the very successful children's show Willo the Wisp. "Coastguard" is probably the best known of the series, and was briefly revived in early 2006 for the COI's 60th anniversary. Digitally remastered and reworked, the new version cut some of the hilarious interaction between Jo and Petunia and turned Jo into a Burberry - clad chav, while Petunia now had an iPod and a copy of Hello magazine and the coastguard seemed to be too busy playing with his computer to worry about people in danger at sea. You can see all four of the films on the first Charley Says DVD. "Coastguard" and "Country Code" are available at the National Archives website: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/1964to1979/filmindex.htm, and there are detailed transcripts here http://625.uk.com/pifs/jp_coastguard.htm and here http://625.uk.com/pifs/jp_countrycode.htm, or you can go to The Mocks Factory and see their 2006 comeback: http://tmf.ecwhost.com/extra/media/PIF-PIFS-JOANDPETUNIA-COASTGUARD-2006.rm