Roobarb and Custard share an illustrious history as ground breaking kid’s animated characters; they were the first to bring a whole series of cartoon animation to British TV in the 1970s which would become cult retro entertainment.

Children’s TV characters Roobarb and Custard the animated dog and cat were created by writer Grange Calveley and animator Bob Godfrey early in the 70s. Grange had the idea for a cartoon series when he and his wife adopted a Welsh Border Collie when they moved into a new home complete with large garden, shed, an old conker tree and a patch of rhubarb growing out from under an old rusty bucket. When the dog moved in, his first act was to “water” the rhubarb, earning him his name and status as inspiration for a cult cartoon character!

Roobarb existed as Grange's doodled cartoon character for some time and was soon joined by the cat from next door that became Custard. Efforts to turn them into stars of books fell on deaf ears as did the idea of an animated TV series at first. Grange didn't quit and kept harassing the BBC until they agreed to watch a pilot featuring the animated children’s characters. Grange got together with Bob Godfrey and animator Peter Green to make a black and white pilot episode that eventually led to a 30 part cartoon series being commissioned for Children's BBC.

The stories for the children’s TV show were built around Roobarb the green dog (debates over Roobarb's true colour in the cult TV show surfaced immediately with some insisting it was yellow and others green, to confuse matters further the original Roobarb the Welsh Border Collie was white, brown and black!) and his enthusiasm for inventing things in the garden shed. The inventions were typically put down by the cynical animated pink cat Custard from next door and a flock of ever tittering birds that hang out in the old conker tree; a classic collection of animated animal characters for the 1970s TV screens.

Running to classic short animated series length of five minutes per episode the hectic and adgy animated style, bright colours and crazy humour resulted in a very British cartoon series that mixed the chaos children love with witty asides and references for the parents that began a cult cartoon legend.

In an inspired move the team brought actor Richard Briers on board with his distinctive vocal talents that somehow perfectly fitted with the animated cartoon mayhem on screen. That mayhem often spilled into the production team as well; like when Roobarb wore a suit of armour and the British cartoon sound engineers couldn't get the effects right on Richard's voice; Grange came up with the answer, asking Richard to wear a metal waste paper basket over his head during recording!

The enthusiastic green dog and sarcastic pink cat cartoon double team first aired on kids TV through the BBC on October 21st 1974; the first animated series anywhere in the world. With a high energy boiling animated style, manic theme music from Johnny Hawksworth and offbeat, witty scripts Roobarb the children’s cartoon series was an instant hit with kids and their parents.

Accolades came fast once the 1970s cartoons were launched with the first episode, "When Roobarb Made a Spike" selected as one of the best short films of 1973 by major animation festivals like Annecy and the National Film Theatre. In no time Roobarb and Custard the cartoon characters were found on Cadbury's chocolate bars, Marks and Spencer's bedding, Woolworth's slippers and, at last, a range of books about the cartoon cat and dog. You can see some of the Roobarb and Custard merchandise that has appeared over the years on this website too!

The 1970s animation series "Roobarb" ran for literally decades entertaining generations of young children and their parents becoming cult animation characters that everyone remembered the theme tune to; it was even sampled in a 1992 rave music single by the UK group Shaft, and has since been reference by The Streets (in the song Turn the Page) and comedian Peter Kay (in his Official BBC Children in Need Medley video).

In 2005 a new computer animated series was put together closely mirroring Bob Godfrey's much loved boiling style of animation to go with 39 new episodes written by Grange and voiced by Richard Briers. Introducing a range of new animated characters and technology to place Roobarb and Custard firmly in the present day, the British animation series "Roobarb and Custard Too" proved as popular as the original and has lead to a gradual resurgence in interest.

Today the famous children’s characters offer a Facebook and Twitter page, a fully animated cartoon website, a new range of books, t-shirts and DVDs, charity team ups with Sense and the PDSA, downloadable episodes on i-Tunes and lots more exciting projects for these two incredibly resilient kids cartoon characters that are Roobarb and Custard.