Special thanks go to Fintan O'Mahony for capturing the pictures and Maureen Simpson for providing me with more background information.
Wanderly Wagon was probably THE classic children's television programme from RTÉ, the Irish state broadcaster. Wanderly Wagon ran from 1968 until 1982 - but come to think of it, for many years it was the ONLY children's television programme on RTÉ. So what was it all about? Well, three intrepid human travellers set out in a magical flying wagon accompanied by a cloth dog, a smart cuckoo clock with a crow in it and a wooden fox who lived in a barrel fixed to the outside of the wagon. The travellers did venture outside planet Earth occasionally but only ever seemed to travel in Ireland when they were on Earth. When things were flagging a bit, everyone including the villains would break out into song.
So who were they?
O'Brien (Eugene Lambert)O'Brien was the character that children most identified with - he had a very serious sweet addiction and was usually afraid of most things scary. He did however manage to defeat villains on a regular basis. Always accompanied by his dog Judge. |
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Judge (Judge)O'Brien's dog was probably the smartest member of the team and definitely smarter than O'Brien! Judge frequently got O'Brien out of trouble and also had a nixer where he headed up the Safe Cross Code campaign in the 1970s. |
Godmother (Nora O'Mahony)Always the mother figure, Godmother was the one who got O'Brien out of trouble and provided the cooking on the wagon too! Godmother had to be rescued frequently as this formed the plot of many episodes. |
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Mr. Crow (as himself)Mr.Crow's job was to be the cuckoo clock on the wagon, however as a crow he was not particularly qualified to cuckoo the time so he usually caw caw'ed the time! |
Rory (Bill Goulding)Rory was essentially the father figure of the team - always wearing a western fringed jacket - Rory would defeat villains with the help of a song and some wisdom. Rory however left the team early deciding to help the moon mice repair the moon with the help of some cheese! Rory was the driver of the wagon, but O'Brien took this job over when Rory left. |
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 I always thought Sneaky Snake looked a bit like Mike Murphy! |
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The Wanderly Wagon Story
Eugene Lambert and his family are famous puppeteers based in Monkstown, Co. Dublin. The Lambert family were making children's puppet programmes for RTÉ from the early days - and so Eugene Lambert was a natural choice for RTÉ when they were planning a new children's TV series in 1968. The original idea was for a children's programme that would travel the country, so some in RTÉ management thought that a set of bicycles would be a good idea!
Thankfully someone in RTÉ came up with the idea of a magical wagon so the bicycle idea was never used. If the original concept was a show travelling around the country, then by 1970 (when I started watching Wanderly Wagon) this idea had vanished and instead the three travellers journeyed through a fantasy world rescuing princesses and generally doing good - almost like a non frightening version of Dr. Who!
Money was always scarce for Wanderly Wagon. Maureen Simpson, who is WW writer Carolyn Swift's daughter tells me this:
I am not sure exactly when RTÉ wiped the tapes - mostly I think they did it fairly shortly after transmission for "economic reasons". I know that programmes were made on the tightest budget - everything, down the last penny, had to be questioned- things like "electronic edits" and "o/b filming" (0/b = outside filming i.e. not recorded in studio), were major triumphs when the money people agreed! I really remember Mum getting excited when they agreed to these tiny bits of modern technology - things we take for granted now.
Wanderly Wagon made extensive use of Chroma Key technology during its run. Sets could then be drawn and the actors superimposed onto the drawing.
Bill Goulding left the show in 1974, and to this day remains a respected actor and voice over artist. The handle of Rory still sticks though. Certainly to my generation he will always be Rory even though it's been over 25 years since he wore that fringed jacket!
During the summer months when it seemed the whole of RTÉ shut down, Eugene Lambert and his family would tour the country with his puppet shows and usually he would appear as O'Brien and bring Judge along too.
Wanderly Wagon stayed on the air until 1982 - no mean feat since RTÉ always seem like to finish any series (except the Late Late) after about three years but this wasn't the last we heard from the Lamberts. Fortycoats &Co., a spin off from Wanderly Wagon featuring the occasional character Johnny Fortycoats and his flying sweetshop, lasted until 1990.