De Familie Knots


De Familie Knots was a Dutch children's television series, broadcast between 22 October 1980 and 27 February 1984 by the NCRV.

Concept

The TV series is set in a comics store, owned by the eccentric Knots-family. The family members are all played by only three actors.

Cast

  • Hetty Heyting - Tante Til, Oma Knots and Hansje.
  • Marnix Kappers - Neef Herbert, the Doctor, the PTT man, Vader Vogel, Buurvrouw Pronk and the voice-over.
  • Jan-Simon Minkema - Opa Knots, Arend Vogel and Onkel X.

Characters

  • Tante Til is a painting artist who holds the family together; her secret weapon is an intoxicating pink paint which she uses in splashes when one needs to be taught a valuable lesson.
  • Frederik is Til's husband; he lost his job as a window cleaner for the police since he fell off a ladder. Frederik reinvented himself as 'Onkel X', the family's private investigator. His catchphrase "Hands up, dude, what's your code?" drew the attention of a US-impresario; he ended up flying back and forth to Hollywood for acting-roles
  • Opa Knots is the founder of the comics store; he hates children and answers the phone by asking "Hello, whose mine speaking?".
  • Oma Knots is Herman's wife. She tends to be clumsy and spends all day brewing soup with varying degrees of success. Herman reprimands her by comparing her to a child.
  • Neef Herbert is a civil servant with an otherwise unbridled interest in toys and a matching appetite for Til's chocolates which he's not supposed to touch.
  • Hansje is the niece who works behind the counter of the comics store. At night she attends adult school to get her qualifications second time round.
  • Arend Vogel is an elementary schoolteacher who rents the attic. He is fancied by Hansje despite being a few years older. A dose of pink paint makes him realise that he lost touch with his long-haired progressive days.

Supporting characters

  • Buurvrouw Pronk, the woman next door who's curious for saucy gossip about the family. After a pink dream she gives up her copycat behaviour to care for the elderly.
  • Vader Vogel is the man Arend ran way from because they are alike. He attempts to make up with his son.
  • Aaf Klaver is introduced as Herbert's girlfriend; she ignites his political ambitions, but only to enhance her own status. The relationship falls apart after interference from Til.

Music

Each episode featured a song, written and composed by Eric van Tijn. The songs were performed by Heyting and/or Minkema and released on an album. A compilation, Knots Klips, was broadcast in September 1984.

In popular culture

  • Marnix Kappers resurrected his Herbert-specs in 1989 for a series of reports in a tourist-at-home programme.
  • In 2014 a documentary about De Familie Knots was partially filmed in Amsterdam comics store Lambiek and broadcast on TV one year later. This marked the first time that the near-entire cast was reunited.
  • Hetty Heyting sold her Til-dress for auction, but later bought it back. This enabled her to reprise the popular character for prominent features in the Sinterklaas-films by Martijn van Nellestijn. In 2017, Til appeared in a Scoot-Mobile-commercial.