Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings

Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings is a British children's animated series about the adventures of a young child named Simon, who has a magic blackboard. Things that Simon draws on the chalkboard become real in the Land of Chalk Drawings, which Simon can enter by climbing over a fence near his home with a ladder. The stories often revolve around the unintended effects that Simon's drawings have on the Land of Chalk Drawings, such as when an upset Simon draws a picture of his angry self, which goes on a rampage. The programme is based upon a series of four children's books by Edward McLachlan. It was produced in the mid 1970s by FilmFair Productions in London for Thames Television, and was originally a five-minute programme, broadcast around tea time in Britain. In the U.K., during the 1980s, the programme was shown during Pob's Programme on Channel 4. The programme also became familiar to American audiences in the mid-1970s when it was featured on Captain Kangaroo (where it was narrated by Bob Keeshan instead of Bernard Cribbins), later on Pinwheel, and after that, on Romper Room. In Canada, it was narrated by Ernie Coombs and shown on CBC Television, although TVOntario aired the British version.