The Rainbow Twangers “Plucking Song” episode – did it air?

Online messages claim an innuendo-laden episode of kids program Rainbow was aired on television during the 1970s featuring “The Plucking Song”

FALSE

Lovers of retro TV show Rainbow may have fond memories of its main characters, Zippy, George, Bungle and Geoffrey.But persistent Internet rumours suggest that – despite your fond memories – the show was actually laced with obvious and crude sexual innuendo. So much so that it could never be broadcast on television today when held up against current TV watershed policies.

An example of the rumour and the video is below.

This was aired on live TV in 1972

Such rumours come attached to a clip of the show that features many sexually-orientated double entendres, such as “playing with yourself”, having a “special friend to play with”, “playing with each other’s balls and twangers”, even a song called “The Plucking Song”.

In fact the innuendo comes so thick and fast, the viewer may be left wondered just how the producers got away with such obvious crudeness, and perhaps more perplexing, how did the viewer not notice it when they originally watched the show.

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The truth is that the “Plucking/Twangers” episode never actually aired on television, nor was it intended to air. It was a joke episode created for the people who created the show and for staff at Thames TV, back in 1979. It was filmed before the advent of the Internet, but at some point was uploaded online and since went viral, with people often mistaking it as a “normal” episode that actually aired.

It wasn’t a normal episode. And it didn’t air, at least not in the guise of a kids TV programme. Segments were aired in a “funny TV” compilation programme. Even in the comparatively more innocent 1970s it was unlikely to ever have been allowed to air on television.