We especially enjoyed Beryl Reid, who pops up to play Worzel’s old mother (even though she was only a few weeks older than Pertwee). Sets were constructed and contracts signed, but just a few days before filming was due to begin, the plug was pulled and the finance lost. Credit must also go to Una Stubbs, who valiantly gives her all to the character of Aunt Sally, which never really develops, but she is an excellent foil to Pertwee.

Image shows from L to R: Worzel Gummidge (Jon Pertwee), Sue (Charlotte Coleman), John (Jeremy Austin).

Kristian Smith, executive producer, added: “It’s always the greatest joy and privilege to be in Scatterbrook and the Ten Acre Field. The show's popularity was such that for Christmas 1980, Waterhouse and Hall penned a stage musical, which premiered at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre before transferring to the Cambridge Theatre in London the following year.

The Guardian gave five stars, describing the shows as a “joyful, joke-filled eco-romp”, the Radio Times also awarded the “funny, poignant and heartwarming” films five stars, and the Daily Mail proclaimed Worzel “a TV wonder”, similarly giving five stars. Worzel is strictly forbidden from talking to humans, but after mistaking John and Susan for fellow scarecrows, his game is up. Guy Forks takes place on the build-up to bonfire night in Scatterbrook, where Worzel finds himself in peril after an argument results in him agreeing to swap jobs with his cousin, a Guy Fawkes effigy. They are executive produced by Kristian Smith for Leopard Pictures, together with Mackenzie Crook and Lisa Thomas for Treasure Trove Productions and rights holder Patrick D.

In reality, she’s as uneducated and ordinary as Worzel, but she has pretensions of grandeur, and rebuffs his endless offers of marriage, whilst he continues to follow her like a puppy, desperate to please, as they go on adventures together. Bayldon was also already well known, especially to younger viewers, as the star of Catweazle from 1970 to 1971. Whether getting his heart broken by the creaking fairground doll Aunt Sally ( Una Stubbs) or disobeying his maker, the eccentric old Crowman ( Geoffrey Bayldon), Worzel is lucky to have his young friends on hand to help rescue him from trouble. The core premise for the series is that Worzel is a scarecrow who can come to life, more often than not running amok, absent from his post in Ten Acre Field. Sadly, those days are long gone, and it’s hard to imagine we will ever seen another complete characterisation in the manner of Pertwee’s Worzel Gummidge ever again.