Basil Brush and the Airbed
Trailer
Synopsis
At the beach with his human companion Mr. Roy, Basil Brush steps in the moment a rubber dinghy needs inflating. With his signature «Boom! Boom!», the glove-puppet fox takes charge of the safety lesson — wind, tide, capsizing waves — and keeps every warning wrapped in a laugh.
Context & Trivia
This short film was produced by the Central Office of Information (COI), the British government body responsible for public communications campaigns, as a water safety piece aimed at young audiences. The choice of Basil Brush was deliberate: in 1976 the character was at the peak of his popularity through «The Basil Brush Show» on the BBC (1968–1980), ensuring children would recognise the messenger before he said a word.
Basil Brush is a glove puppet — an anthropomorphic red fox with the mouth as its sole moving part — designed by Peter Firmin in 1962. Ivan Owen provided the hand and voice throughout, modelling Basil's delivery on actor Terry-Thomas to achieve that distinctive posh accent, while maintaining his anonymity for decades to protect the character's illusion for audiences. Roy North, Basil's human foil from 1973 to 1976, appears here in one of his final pairings with the fox, making this short a closing document of a specific chapter in the puppet's performance history.
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Puppeteers
Ivan Owen
Voices
Ivan Owen
Direction
John Brooks
Cast
Ivan Owen, Roy North
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