Bosco was an Irish children's television programme during the late 1970s. It was produced by the Lambert Puppet Theatre.

The main character in the programme was Bosco, a small red-haired puppet with bright red cheeks. Bosco lived in a box, which he only left to go on excursions to places such as Dublin Zoo (the Irish language word for 'box' is bosca).

Any guests to the show would enter and exit through the 'Magic Door'. This was also used to exit the shot to any inserts in the show. The Magic Door told where people (or the camera shot) were going through song.

There were various short animations, usually stop-motion, as part of the show. The ploncksters were plasticine critters, which were continually engaged in fights or schemes against each other. Flaherty was a dog, continually plagued by an amateur crow magician in a series of shorts featuring stop-motion models. Freddy the Fox featured a host of well-modelled characters, with distinctive traits, such as Fiachra the Frog. There was also a cartoon featuring a potato family that lived in a supermarket. At night, the potato children would run amok.

Occasionally, characters from the Lambert Theatre's other show, Wanderly Wagon, would be introduced into the show.

The show featured arts and crafts segments, in the style of the BBC's children's programme Blue Peter. Another main part of the show was story-time.

The show ran for approximately forty episodes, but was repeated before (and later during) The Den daily until 1998.

During 2000, the Bosco puppet was stolen in a burglary of the Lambert Puppet Theatre's museum, and photos of it in various places around the world were sent to the media. This inspired an advert for Meteor in 2004.

External links

Satirical site 'watching Bosco's movements'