Gabrielle and the Doodleman

Gabrielle and the Doodleman is a children's film, that was released in 1984 and directed and written by Francis Essex.[1][2] It was produced by the Elstree (Production) Company Ltd for the Children's Film Foundation (at that time renamed the Children's Film and Television Foundation).[3][4]

The story is about Gabrielle, a wheelchair bound little girl, who gets involved with characters from her computer game (she can be seen playing "Space Invaders" at the beginning of the film[5]), in particular "Doodleman", that help her through a difficult time. Matthew Kelly played a James Bond like character "Doodleman", with Eric Sykes as the Genie, Windsor Davies as the characters Ringmaster, Black Knight and an Ugly Sister. Prudence Oliver played the main character Gabrielle and Anna Dawson played the Wicked Witch.[6] Singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul, played the characters Miss Moneypocket (a Miss Moneypenny type character) and Dandini.[6] Gareth Hunt played Mike as well as the King and Baron Hardup. Comedianne Josephine Tewson played Mrs. Briggs and the Fairy Godmother. Bob Todd (real name Brian Todd) was Merlin and Ugly Sister and Pierre Picton, the last surviving clown from Bertram Mills Circus, played the Clown.[6]

De Paul wrote and performed the fitting electronic-tinged theme tune "You're Okay" which was sung by Matthew Kelly and she composed, arranged and played all the music that is featured in the film.[7]

It was shown on U.K. terrestrial TV channel ITV1 on 30th December 1988.<ref>page 105, TV Times, 17 December 1988 - 1 January 1989<ref>

References
  1. "Gabrielle and the Doodleman (1984)". Bfi.org. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  2. "Gabrielle and the Doodleman". Sky UK. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  3. British Film Catalogue: Two Volume Set – The Fiction Film/The Non-Fiction Film, edited by Denis Gifford, Routledge publisher, ISBN 978-1579581718
  4. The Children's Film Foundation: History and Legacy by Robert Shail, 2016, ISBN 9781844578603
  5. "Gabrielle and the Doodleman (1984)".
  6. "Gabrielle and the Doodleman (1984)". IMDb. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  7. Laing, Dave (2 October 2014). "Lynsey de Paul obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2017.


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