Christmas is a time for the children, which means it’s also a time for endless kids’ TV specials. More than ever, in the age of the “DVD movie” stocking-stuffer. But this special has a little more to offer than just beloved “character brands” going through the tinselly motions. For a start – the SECRET ORIGIN OF ELTON JOHN!
Yes, it’s the Bob The Builder: A Christmas To Remember special, first broadcast in 2001 – NOT to be confused with the Bob The Builder: Snowed Under Christmas Special. In the latter the “machine team” learn a lesson about teamwork and friendship. In this they learn a lesson about GLAM ROCK.
The main plot of this special involves Bob’s twin brother Tom – never mentioned before or since, like all twin brothers in TV specials – who is a zoologist in the Arctic and wants to come and see Bob for Christmas. Will he make it home? The answer of course is YES, though – spoiler alert – only with the help of Chris Evans’ private jet, a curious choice of transport for a man devoting his life to saving the poley bears.
It’s not actually Chris Evans, of course, it’s Chris Evans playing a rock star called Lenny Lazenby, of “Lenny And The Lazers”. And here is the special’s OTHER plot, which is to do with this band playing a concert in Bobsville, but Lenny has laryngitis – OH NO! Who will step in. Perhaps the piano player “John”, who with a pair of starry specs and songwriting help from Roley the steamroller can achieve his destiny and become…
Ahem. Also worth watching out for if yr a fan of 70s rock: a scene-stealing turn from Noddy Holder as a roadie called BANGER. The best Bob The Builder episode? Very likely. It stands up to repeated viewings, and as the parent of two small boys God knows it’s had to.