Fictional character
Gordon the Gopher
, also known as
Gordon T. Gopher
, is an English
puppet
gopher
who first appeared on
Children's BBC (CBBC)
between 1985 and 1987, listed on
television shows
by
Phillip Schofield
on the
interstitial
or
in-vision continuity
programme
The Broom Cupboard
.
[3]
He is a yellow
puppet
gopher
with red paws.
Career
[
edit
]
Early work
[
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]
Gordon's first appearances were on CBBC between 1985 and 1987, presenting television shows with
Phillip Schofield
on the interstitial programme
The Broom Cupboard
.
[3]
In 1987, Gordon and Schofield, with
Sarah Greene
, went on to present the Saturday morning show
Going Live!
. On one occasion, Gordon was famously attacked by a puppy that had been brought on to the show. In 1988, Gordon and Schofield were replaced on
The Broom Cupboard
by
Edd the Duck
and
Andy Crane
.
In 1991, Gordon had a series named after himself which was shown on CBBC on
BBC One
and
BBC Two
and ran from 3 January 1991 to 28 March 1991 only lasting a series of 13 episodes, appearing with his friend and
colleague
Phillip Schofield. The series was shown twice on
BBC One
, the first time being in January to March 1991 and again from 26 October to 21 December 1992 continuing where BBC Two left off at lunchtime repeats in Summer 1991,
BBC Two
have also repeated the series at lunchtimes four times from 18 June to 23 July 1991, 20 September to 6 December 1993, 9 March to 1 June 1994, The Christmas season of 1994 from 22 and 23 December 1994 and 17 January 1995 to 28 March 1995. It has not been repeated since 28 March 1995 on the BBC.
In 1990, he appeared on a children's programme called
Scrooge ? A Christmas Sarah
.
Later work
[
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]
During his 2005
Room 101
appearance, Schofield made an attempt to place Gordon in Room 101 (i.e., consign him to the past), but in an audience vote Gordon was spared.
On 26 February 2006, Gordon briefly appeared at the end of
Channel 4
's
The 100 Greatest Funny Moments
.
In December 2006, he returned to the screen in the
Going Live!
segment of the BBC special
It Started With... Swap Shop
.
Gordon also made a brief appearance with Schofield during a 1980s-themed edition of
Dancing on Ice
in February 2009. He also made a brief appearance on 5 February 2012 edition.
Gordon appeared on
This Morning
on 13 September 2010 to celebrate Schofield's 25th anniversary of first presenting
CBBC
. Schofield said "I miss him".
[4]
[5]
In September 2013, Gordon appeared on an episode of
Celebrity Juice
.
In August 2015, Gordon appeared in an online short where he returned to the BBC and got a job as a cleaner. In this short, he was voiced by
Warwick Davis
. In the September of that year he made a brief appearance in a special that aired on
CBBC (TV channel)
called Hacker’s 30th Birthday Bash when
Hacker T. Dog
interviewed Schofield and reunited the two.
[6]
Puppeteers
[
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]
Gordon was operated by several people in
The Broom Cupboard
, but the person who did it longest was Chris Wright who also operated Gordon for the whole run of
Going Live!
Warrick Brownlow-Pike
performed him for his appearances on
This Morning
and Hacker's 30th Birthday Bash.
Influence
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]
Gordon's famous leather jacket was a gift from
Adam Ant
, who made and decorated the jacket himself.
[7]
Ant had befriended Gordon while being interviewed on
Going Live!
in February 1990 to promote his new single, and described Gordon as "one of the most interesting people" he'd met.
Gordon was parodied by comedian
Brian Conley
as "Larry the Loafer," puppet sidekick of sarcastic children's TV presenter Nick Frisbee. The skit is one of Conley's most widely remembered, along with its catchphrase "It's a puppet!"
In 2006, Gordon was mentioned on
Little Britain Abroad
in the first
Lou and Andy
sketch. Lou tells Andy that he's planning to take Andy to
Disney World
. When Lou asks Andy who he's looking forward to meeting, Andy replies "Gordon the Gopher."
References
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]