Hector's House
Hector's House is a French children's television series using glove puppets. It was first broadcast in France on 1ère chaine on 27 October 1966 and ran over seven series and 78 episodes. It was re-voiced in English and broadcast on BBC1 on 9 September 1968 and repeated throughout the 1970s. Each episode lasted 5 minutes and it was regularly given the pre-six o'clock time slot that brought children's programmes to a close.
It was written and performed by Georges Croses with puppeteers Agnès Vannier and Georges Tournaire, using 60 cm tall puppets on a garden set. The English version followed the French script faithfully with minor deviations.
Characters and setting
Affable, but sometimes pompous, Hector the dog lives in a house with a beautiful garden. He is a proud gardener and handyman, never far from his tool shed. The motherly, but mischievous, Zsazsa the cat lives with him. Kiki the frog is a neighbour who constantly visits the garden through a hole in the garden wall and claims to be a meteorologist.Hector desires order and tranquillity, and is always thinking up ways to improve himself and his garden. He is willing to assist his two friends in their activities, but often finds them at odds with his own. Kiki and Zsazsa also often play tricks on him, but he always takes this in good humour and ends each episode breaking the fourth wall to address the camera with his catchphrase: "I'm a great big old Hector."
Although named after the house, all stories occur in the garden and action within the house is only seen through the open windows.
The humour employed is indebted to the French film comedies of Jacques Tati who often portrayed a man strangely at odds with his surroundings.
Credits
The programme was broadcast entirely without credits, featuring only a short introductory theme tune and, in the French broadcasts, a short static frame at the end.French
Actor Jacques Morel voiced Toutou, Actress Lucie Dolène voiced Zouzou and puppeteer Agnès Vannier was Kiki.English
Hector was voiced by Paul Bacon. Kiki was voiced by Denise Bryer, who also had roles in Noddy, Terrahawks and Labyrinth. Zsa Zsa was voiced by Jane Wenham, who was unidentified for decades. This led to an urban myth that the character was voiced by Joanna Lumley, something she denied.Music
The theme music, of which two versions were aired, was composed by Francis Lai.Episodes
The BBC episodes were not shown in the same order as the original French series.Home media
A number of VHS and DVDs have since been released with a selection of episodes across the series in no particular order.- VHS 1993 - 60min - Polygram Video "Pocket Money Video"
- DVD 2001 - 30 Episodes - Contender