The postman has a letter for the Wanderly Wagon crew but how did the sender know where to find them?
Godmother plants daisy seeds in a flowerbox on the wagon while O'Brien waits impatiently for the postman to deliver a letter. He wonders who could have written to them when no one knows where they are. Godmother and O'Brien decide to go and explore the back of a nearby castle. No sooner have they left when the postman, played by Aonghus McAnally, arrives. He delivers the letter into a postbox on the side of the wagon before demonstrating an unusual power.
This episode of Wanderly Wagon was broadcast on 27 October 1978. Titled 'The Seventh Postman' it was written by Carolyn Swift.
RTÉ's best-remembered children's programme began broadcasting in 1967. Three adults travelled in a magical horse-drawn caravan with puppets Judge, the dog, Mr Crow, who lived in the cuckoo clock, and Foxy, who lived in a barrel fixed to the outside of the wagon.
Puppeteer Eugene Lambert and his family were the driving force behind "Wanderly Wagon". Eugene Lambert played O'Brien, a jovial character who loved sweets. Nora O'Mahony played Godmother who was the mother figure in the wagon. Bill Golding played Rory who was the swashbuckling handsome hero who had a wonderful singing voice. All of the Lambert children also worked on the show.
It was originally intended that the wagon would travel around Ireland, to feature in outside broadcasts from different towns and villages.
The arrival of colour television meant that the 'Wanderly Wagon' became the first programme in RTÉ to exploit the visual possibilities of chroma key. The colour separation overlay allowed the producers to make the wagon fly or travel under the sea.
'Wanderly Wagon' ran until 1982.
