Added: 4 years ago
From: auspete
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  • well i remember ! great post i enjoyed it!

  • People not remembering is a common theme with Hoppity! I have had rebufs for years! lol Thank heavens for the Tinterweb! And this is the very first episode!

  • I had the same with supercar

  • Well im glad Im not the only one who thought they imagined the whole thing.LOL

  • i was begining to think i had imagined this program as i couldnt find anyone else who remembered it!!!

  • Creepy! This is the stuff childhood nightmares are made of!

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  • Thank you for this! I remember it well! My mum used to call me Sara because I used to swing on our garden gate!

    

  • @cherieferguson

    same here everyone i told thought i was mad lol

  • I wonder if the makers of this show had a clue about how much it scared the living shit out of most of its intended audience 50 years ago. Including me.

  • I watched this as a child and was simultaneously fascinated by it and terrified of the puppets. It was WEIRD even then!

  • me mam remembers this as a kid swining on the gate at the beggining 

  • thank you not seen this since this since i was tiny ! memories

  • loved this song when I was little...actually loved the whole thing..

  • Ohhhh myyyy word! I've not seen this since I was about three years old! I just heard the soundtrack of this played on a program and nearly fell off of my chair! So I just HAD to YouTube it. I don't remember much of the stories but I do remember my mum (on her last legs unfortunately) singing this to me! A HUGE thankyou for posting this!

  • I'm now 47. Born in Jan '64.  So yeahhhh...getting old. So now I'm going to spend another two hours looking at these goodies. Happy times :o)

  • This used to scare the be-jesus outta me!!

  • i remember this too - i love the one where the mother sings sarah to sleep too.

  • ooooo have u got any more, where the mother sang sara to sleep? What memories

  • Fabulous!

    I loved this show but no-one else remembered it.

    Just need to find another show now....think it was called Hubble Bubble. It was about witches.

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  • @susannickski

    I have always had the same trouble, no-one believed me about seeing it. It got to the stage where i thought i had been drinking even at that age...bring them on Sarah.... And no idea about the witches sorry

  • Is it just me who thinks that Aunt Matilda looks like David Walliams in drag, and also sounds like him too, in "Laydee!" mode? Television gold, this is - as a child I was always fascinated by the Big Three (this, Twizzle and Torchy). Thanks for uploading all these nuggets.

  • I can see that the Little Old Man puppet is the same puppet used for Berridge in Space Patrol. I also indefinately hear David Graham in this, he's using his Dr. Beaker voice.

  • OMG this was my favourite programme ever when i was a little girl...i even named my cat Hoppity xx

  • OMG this was my favourite programme ever when i was a little girl...i even named my cat Hoppity xx

  • Oh my god. I think I just found a new favorite show. It really reminds me of "The Lonely Doll" by Dare Wright

  • The programme used to scare me, when Hoppity came alive.

  • wonderfull memories , but we must have been scared shitless , creepy as !. my god ,dodgy customers , a daddy that brings stuff and tells little girl to keep it a secret and an old lady hidden away in the attic ..... ha ha ha

  • This programme has stuck in my mind for at least forty six years! I found it terrifying then and ghoulish now.

    I think there was also a doll who couldnt say "mummy".

    Thank you for uploading it.

  • Many thanks , never thought i would ever see this again

  • This was one of my favourites but no one remembers it. Now i have proof.

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  • I feel so young.

    My mum made me search this, and I love it!

  • Omg, this is brilliant used to be one on my favourties, thank for the memory lane visit :-)

  • Was this Gordon's wife ?

    No the wonder he screwed up the economy and let the Jew bankers go nuts.

    Hah!

  • Oh...my...goodness. I remember watching this when I was 2 or 3 years old. :D

  • Are these the real voices to the series I have to ask because some of the words used seem out of place for an early 60's program they seem more up to date than for this era. Only ask becuase I have seen some old favorites on here that have messd with and ruined with Voice over's. If not I appoligise just asking.

  • OMG! I cant believe this is on here! My kids think its really sad that I could sing the theme tune word perfect - mind I think that is sad too!

  • I really badly misremembered this programme, I always thought Sarah was a nice, sweet, well behaved girl and the evil doll did really bad stuff and got her into trouble, I used to howl at the unfairness of it all, but now I realise Sarah was a bitch and stitched Hoppity up! Still, it contains a valuable message about not winding people up!

  • @astrophonix Call me crazy but it terribly reminds me of Robert the Doll, where Sara said somethnig similar like "Hoppity did it Mummy!" the same applies to Gene who said "Robert did it!" except that Hoppity wasn't as demonic.

    You look back and realise it's actually screwed up! xD

  • I seem to remember that Sarah Brown had a Cousin George in one episode, and he came to tea and ate so much that he was sick - making disgusting noises over the sink. Has anyone else this childhood memory?

  • @quarthex1

    Yes, I have. I remember watching this as a kid. Its a shame that so little footage exists.

  • This used to scare the witch's tit out of me when I was 5! Looking at it again I can see where a lot of demonic doll films come from. Brrrr...

  • Like othe reviewers, I vaguely remembered liking this and 'Space Patrol' as a child. A couple of years ago, I bought the 'Space Patrol' DVD box set and the only surviving episode of 'Sara and Hoppity' was included in the extras. It was amazing to see it again after 40 years.

  • Scarey now, but I loved it as a kid

  • This seems quite menacing now, but I used to watch it as a kid and love it.

  • can we please hear the song"when your asleep" often played in these programs but not heard by me for 50 years,hopefully not destroyed.

  • Astounded to discover the origins of a song lodged in my memory for as long is I can remember...(born 1960) A joy to see and hear it.. I had remembered it so well !

    Thankyou for sharing , it made my day

  • Can't have seen this for 40 yrs or more. Fascinating!! Hadn't remembered how spooky the programme was but have always remembered the theme tune word for word - so maybe it did have some haunting long-term effect!

  • This would be censored now for just about everything from he "old bat" in the attic, to dad creeping into Sarah's room and telling her to not say anything to anyone...... either the early 60s were "so innocent" or we've become a world of paranoid people where even the slightest faux pas will have the police down on us like a ton of bricks.

  • they look like Gerry Anderson creations

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  • I loved this! and twizzle too! The song is great and the ideas quite dark - a nasty aunt - not everything was cosy in the 50's/60's!

  • I remember watching this as a kid, but looking at it again, it's quite disturbing!!

  • Just found this. Very strange, not just because of the creepy puppets, but because of the psychological undertones. Eat your heart out, Chucky! Hoppity was here first!

  • Was Sarah based on the actress Sarah Miles in 'Term of Trial'?

    Also, have you noticed how the latter scenes in this episode cross over into 'Psycho' territory with the arrival of Miss Julie in the attic?

    One last observation, was Sarah's mother early drag?

  • i can remember watching this with my mum, And i can actually remember this episode Great Thanks.

  • It's a wonder I can sleep nights after being brought up watching scary things like this! thanks for posting it took me right back to my childhood. ...hope I can sleep tonight lol lol

  • now i know why i ended up strange watching this at 5 years old !!!!

  • "IT'S DADDY!"

  • For years and years I have had this song in my head. Everytime I asked people if they remembered this Childrens Programme, nobody had. I was begining to think that maybe it was all a dream., Whoever put this on YouTube, I thank you for putting me out of my misery. All these Puppets, look as if they were a tester of things to come ie Thunderbirds( Look at Daddy, does he remind you of anybody).. Also check out Paulus The Woodland Gnome on YouTube, now how many of you remember this?

  • Yes: Daddy did look a bit like Alan Tracey. Is that why Gerry hated the AT character? Doesn't look like Mr A had anything to do with this and it isn't credited to APF either.

    I remember the name of the series but nought else in it rings any bells. Perhaps I need to see a few more episodes ;o)

  • ...er, I do unfortunately!! hahah!!

  • Horray, at last, how I missed this programme, Hoppity is the best, the old guy sound like an old relative (Rhondda, Wales)

  • so marv memories do you have when the mother sings WHEN YOU'RE ASLEEP my fave part thanku xx

  • This brought back memories. I'd forgotten about it. I was about 5 and watched all these puppet things.

  • freaky shit !

  • Forgot to say Thank you! A great walk down memory lane.

  • @redrickshaw i like willy, how bout u?

  • I remember watching 'Sarah and Hoppity' when I was little-and hiding behind the sofa when my mum left the room. sarah is a very scary character! Do you think it really was Hoppity who told her to do all those things?

  • Ha hA hA - me too Icn896k - I couldn't find a soul who remembered it either. the days before the hoodies!

  • Finally...proof that this programme actually existed.

    I've mentioned it to people over the years and no one ever recalls the story about the goblin with one leg shorter than the other who lives in the coal shed.

    I even started to question my own sanity.

    Now I have the proof

  • same here. No one else believed me either !!

  • For years I ahve been singing diddlededum, diddledede. its great when someone else can remeber too. Do you remember the Pied Piper.

  • @lcn896k yep me too

  • @lcn896k I know how you feel. I have been talking about this for years and never found anyone who has ever heard of it. Nice to know you are not completely insane!!!!

  • @lcn896k - I have been in EXACTLY the same position! The bit where Sara hides spinach in her apron is my abiding memory - and that horrible Hoppity is the most evil toy I've ever encountered!

  • @lcn896k Its probably been erased by most peoples memories...... I remember watching with slight fear going on... dark side of the 60's lol

  • @lcn896k Its probably been erased by most peoples memories...... I remember watching with slight fear going on... dark side of the 60's lol

  • @lcn896k That's funny, I've been saying the same thing to people for years and they all think I'm crazy when I start talking about this thing with one leg longer than the other...I was beginning to doubt my own memory !

  • Where are the strings?

  • i feel like a kid again love this show i was hooked on it so clever better than the kids stuff now

  • How great to see this. My sister and I called our pet rabbits Sara and Hoppity after these puppets.

  • oh my god,

    i never imagined any one would remember this. i am 52 and as a kid .....this programe was my life.....thanx for the memories.....

    "The Coffinbagger"

  • When i ever mentioned Hoppity nobody seemed to have heard of it! how sad i know the song!!

  • They couldnt put this on now,it'd give kids nightmares.

  • Yeah, best to just let them watch soap operas and news and reality shows.

    Next.

  • @twoslices I couldn't agree more! I was always freaked out by this programme!

  • @twoslices shut up u arab

  • OMG!!...i'd forgotten all about this one...ahhhhh...nostalgia...

  • my sister and i loved this!!! we were always late back to school so we could see the end!! never thought i'd see it again it is over 40 years since we watched this hoppity is scarier now though

  • I think you are getting confused. This wasn't BBC 'Watch With Mother'. It was on at about 4.45, when ITV started its daily broadcasts. So you should have been finished with school and home by then.

  • I thought for years that i was the only person to remember sara and hoppity. I always used to get bored with the lullaby at the end.lol

  • well what can i say... ive seen horror films less tame.

  • Brilliant. I thought Sarah and Hoppity were lost forever. When will the boxed set appear?

  • Fantastic, never thought id see sarah and hoppity again, thanks for the opportunity,

    you and youtube.

  • Like twizzle, this programme used to scare the living daylights out of me.

  • Now don't know that one...do you think if I typed in 'Twizzle' I'd find something???

  • Haven't heard the theme tune for 45 years and I knew it word for word!

  • Haha! Well done you even admitting it!

  • Its funny, I dont remember the puppets being so scarey! lol I loved Sarah n Hoppity, I would swing on the gate singing away for hours, mum told me off for buckling the hinges (just kidding heehee) great to see again!

  • "I'm not sure I should swing on the gate, I might buckle the hinges!"

    "Tiddly dum!"

    "You're right, I'm sure Mummy won't mind if the hinges are buckled!"

  • scary 0.0

  • i was born in 1960 remember seeing this programme it used to scare the sxxt out of me cant remember why. oh well i was only a kid.

  • OMG! Fantastic!

  • can anyone remember a cartoon that used to be when we came home from school? a bald guy and a martian i think used to have a strange laugh, i cant remeber the name if someone can help me please?

  • I think that the cartoon that you're thinking of was the Terrytoons cartoon called Astro & Oscar, which was about a space alien named Astro Nutt who lived with a "milquetoast" Earth host named Oscar Miles.

  • P.S You can find "Astro Nut & The Kisser Plant" here on YouTube!

  • Oh cripes! I'm 4 yrs old again. 'Twizzle' and 'S & H'....Bliss. Anyone got 'Jimmy Green & his Time Machine' from a few years later? He had a friend called 'Lettuce Leaf'. I could sing you the song...."we'll sail to Mars, the moon & stars & back in his-tor-ee.."

    Thanks ever so...I must have a lie down now. x

  • Wow, thanks a million for this. Sara & Hoppity and Twizzle were my favourites and I never thought I'd ever see them again. And they've been a gateway into the past for your other material too. Keep posting ! ! !

  • Nightmarish yet mesmerizing. Character destroying stuff. The elderly geezer flogging the derelict Hoppity also co-starred in some of Ms Leigh's other deranged offerings I believe. That 'Diddly-dum-diddly-dee' is etched into my brain. Ms Leigh really should stand trial at The Hague for this.

  • Still scary. (Prrrtffff....) Told you

  • Ye gods! Haven't seen this in a long time, although I never forget the theme tune. Scarier puppets than I remember...

  • OMG - No wonder this country is such a state if the kids of the 60's were brought up on that scary stuff.

  • Sarah and Hopppity was my absolute favourite,thankyou so much for posting this.

  • Yes, I can clearly remember the theme tune too. It scared me too, didn't Roberta also do 'Space Patrol' which has the same atmosphere of sheer, unadulterated evil....

  • This brings back the terror of being 3 years old and having to sit through showings of it at my auntie's in 1963. The puppets scared the life out of me. To me they seemed ugly, evil toys that were somehow alive and THAT was just WRONG!!! Amazingly, I haven't heard the theme tune since being 3 and yet still knew the melody and words! And those voices... they used to crackle out of auntie's old, dark and contrasty Telly and straight into my nightmares! Deliciously chilling.....

  • Yes I'm 48 and I could remember all the words as well.....bizarre!

  • jackadoor excellent

  • tiddley tum...tiddley tea.

    i thought hoppity was utterly charming, and sarah was a lovely child.

    i also used to watch 'alfred hitchcock presents'....there was an episode where child/doll became interchangable.fascinatingly macabre.

  • lovely to see this again i was pre school when i use to watch this with my mum i'm enjoying every minute of it ,thank you.

  • Good grief! Memories of mightmares and rising panic. It's just as well there's no appearance for Gorgy George; or I'd probably have run away screaming from youtube...at the age of 50. Apparently Roberta Leigh had great difficulty persuading the BBC to commission this programme in the first place, then the series was pulled fairly quickly as a result of concern that children were being terrified! Easy to scoff now...but I think I was traumatised for many years!

  • Sarah's hair is like the girl in Rude Tube

  • Fantastic to see Hoppity again. Used to scare me!Do you think this was the precursor of Chucky?

  • I always fancied Sarah

  • Thank you so much for posting these videos. I used to watch them when I was small and it's great to see them again.

  • What a frightening old man - he's probably a paedophile. Sarah looks a bit like Julia Roberts & look at the CONK on 'Glen Close' with the sewing machine !'Auntie' is the QUEEN !& if they starved Sarah now she would ring CHILDLINE ! Dad David Gower saves the day.Hoppity is a psycho tho'; he shouldnt get jelly !

  • Is Hoppity supposed to be some sort of evil demon sprite that goes around trying to get the children who own him to do evil naughty things?

  • What a great posting, many thanks, memories have taken me back to the large brown comfy armchair, snuggled up to my mum, loving every second of Hoppity. Thank you!

  • My mother always told the story of how I would run screaming from the room shouting 'Don't like SarahHoppity mummy, don't like it'. I never knew what it was - though watching this I do remember the faces. I was born in 1961

  • I last watched this back in 1971. What macabre looking puppets, Hoppity looks like something out of a nightmare! If this was shown today it induce nightmares, how my parents let me watch this I will never know!

  • Oh My God. I now have proof that I can remember being one year old. It's uncommon but this is proof. I can remember this, can remember being aware of it and of watching it, and the date is there. I was one. YouTube is amazing.

  • Like some of you as soon as I saw this title the songs came straight back to me even before I heard them again ...but until I came across the title Sara & Hoppity had gone from my memory !

    I realise now how much this worried me at the time because you knew Hoppity was going to cause trouble. He really is borderline evil. The puppets look really scary now. The weird thing for me is is the one that's stuck in my mind was Miss Julie although I don't remember the name.

  • What an absolute b*****d that Hoppity is!!

  • "How can he dance with only one leg?"

    "It's a falling over dance"

    lol!!!!!

  • I'm 50 now but I can remember like yesterday how much this scared me! Not surprising these characters all look pretty horrible, specially when speaking with these wierd voices!  Thanks

  • Brilliant - thanks so much for posting! Do you remember the song "when you're asleep you're the most beautiful girl in the world"? It was from Sara and Hoppity, but I haven't heard it for 40 years, and I'd love to hear it again!

  • dont you just love you tube,,ar the memories,58 child here

  • I think sara had a bad back or some spinal problem.

  • Oh my goodness. I can't believe this! I remember all the words - Dear Old Hoppity! I saw Twizzle yesterday, and Torchie too. I was born in London in 1959!

  • Born in 1958 - its been bugging me for ages - no one had heard of sara and hopperty - although I called it Sarah Hopperty! I even sung the song - No wonder I turned out like I have - more scary than I remember it though twizzle too !!!

  • I don't particularly like the 60s. It just seemed all namby-pamby. 80s is for me!

  • i was born in 1952. love all these memories, so funny, yet makes me alittle sad...

  • this is wonderful. I have found Torchy, the wooden tops and now hoppity. I'm off to find twizzle,bill and ben and poggles wood.

  • Wow. What a blast from the past. I loved this, Thanks. I just found HRPufnstuff and Twizzle too. So many memories. Saturday morning TV was the highlight of the week. Ha Ha. I wanna remember them all - any suggestions? (Born 1962) "Oh!! Those were the days...!!!" ...my friend.

  • This brought back so many memories, i remember the song so well! It was great to see it again thank you.

  • I was born in january 1961, in Newcastle,England, and this show is my earliest memory. I must have only been a couple of years old when I used to whatch this.I've never forgotten the theme tune, and most of the words(although I always thought she was on a swing,not a gate).The doll always scared the hell out of me, so, to me, this was a kids horror show, only to be matched by Dr.Who, when I was acouple of years older.

  • Oh how cool! I've also remembered this so well, Sara swinging on the gate........and no else remembered! I'm sane after all lol!

  • thank you thank you thank you ... NO ONE i spoke to about this remembered it ... now i can prove it was REAL .. ha ha ... LOVED this when i was a kid ...

  • i like the song the mother used to sing to an small child in bed "when your asleep you mean every thing good to me",i,d love to hear it again.

  • This episode was made when I was just born, but I remember later episodes on Watch With Mother! Hoppity affected me for life! I still say Diddlee Dum Diddlee Dee when in a naughty mood!

  • I was three, and I remember this!

    I can do the falling over dance now. Am I hoppity?

    An age of innocence. Where else can a naughty goblin toy be allowed?

    And when daddy creeps into your bedroom late at night and offers you some jelly and cream and says eat it up quickly!

    Well!

    Tiddly - Tiddly - Tum. I promise never to be naughty again.

    Seriously. What a blast. thankyou for posting this.

    I took the P*ss but I enjoyed the video.

    Hope I didn't offend.

    Colin

  • Oh god i can remember this.

  • Completely fantastic, auspete. Thank you so very much for this. This was made when I was -2, but I remembere it, I assume, as repeats, in the AndyPandy period on telly in the early 60's. You're an angel.

  • This should of been called "Sara has a bad hair day"

  • no wonder we grew up fucked up

  • I remember the theme music. Seeing stuff like this makes me feel like a dinosaur!

  • Me too!

  • Many thanks for posting this! Still, all these years later I sing the Sarah & Hoppity song, much to the annoyance of my other half!. It's really weird seeing something you haven't seen for over 40 years.

  • Absolutely fantastic! Brings back many memories - my sister and I often sing the theme song for a laugh when we get together - she's 47 and I'm 50! I can't wait to show it to my nine-year old son (when he's finished on his PlayStation!) Thank you for posting it.

  • Hoppity was my fav as a toddler, the naughty child in all of us lol. This is a gem.

  • Excellent stuff! But if you have a clip of Gorgey Georgie, I implore you to reveal it now!!

  • I don't, I'm sorry.

  • The old man is moonlighting, he's Mr. Bumpledrop from Torchy The Battery Boy, gotcha!

  • diddleum diddledee the horror the horror

  • yes i remember this very well from the good old days i watched it on southern television back in the sixties i wish there were more episodes that survived they bring back so many magical memories of those days

  • This is fantastic. I loved Sara and Hoppity and nobody seems to remember them. Where on earth did you get this film? I've searched the internet and there seems to be no other recorded evidence of them.

  • I remember this and the theme song especially ! fab !

  • I've been looking for the theme tune to this for years - now here it is :) This was my sister's favourite, mine was Twizzle!

  • did not remember seeing this i was only two one in 1960 but do remember the song great to see it can you get them on video

  • This is the only one that's been released. Space Patrol and Torchy got the full DVD release but not this one.

  • Memories came flooding back thanks