Memories of the The Den

Agricola

Menas wrote: »

Best line on that show was when Zuppy was making a nuisance of himself, Zig (or was it Zag) asked Ian could they let Zuppy out to play on the Stillorgan dual carriageway.

That's the thing thats missing from so much tv today and certainly non existent on kid's tv. The world has become so PC and sanitized since the days of endless innuendo on the Den. Like Pixar film, there was something there for adults to chuckle about too.

_Kaiser_

Vex Willems wrote: »

You missed out, big time!

I wouldn't have watch it for the cartoons, it was the bits in between the cartoons I enjoyed, in fact the cartoons got in the way.

What I really liked about it was that it didn't feel like a kids show, I remember seeing it after the puppets had left and there was a female presenter, it felt like they had really dumbed it down and I remember thinking thank god it wasn't like that when I was a kid!

Nah I'd disagree.. I saw enough of it when we came home to know that the constant roaring and shouting over each other and the Turkey with the Dublin accent (and I'm a Dub myself) wasn't for me.

Each to their own. As someone else said above, i thought of the bits you're all raving about as annoying filler between the things I actually wanted to see.

crazygeryy

efb wrote: »

Agreed- Dustin was a one trick pony flogged to death by RTE

Pajo was the original drugs kingpin on Sat mornings in his washing machine

nah i dont agree at all.for the age i was and back then he was a breath of fresh air and brilliant.good memories.
i loved it when dustin did the horse racing commentary to .it was hilarious.

_Kaiser_

Agricola wrote: »

That's the thing thats missing from so much tv today and certainly non existent on kid's tv. The world has become so PC and sanitized since the days of endless innuendo on the Den. Like Pixar film, there was something there for adults to chuckle about too.

I'd agree with this. Most kids TV these days is ultra safe and sanitised so no one could take any offence.. As a result it's mostly crap.

Strangely though I don't mind Peppa Pig or Ben and Holly (same company makes both ) so much.. There's some stuff in there that's squarely aimed at the watching parents (have a 3 year old myself)

Wang King

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Nah I'd disagree.. I saw enough of it when we came home to know that the constant roaring and shouting over each other and the Turkey with the Dublin accent (and I'm a Dub myself) wasn't for me.

Each to their own. As someone else said above, i thought of the bits you're all raving about as annoying filler between the things I actually wanted to see.

Thankfully, you were in a tiny minority.
I don't mean that in a bad way, its just that we all have wonderful memories of Dempsey, Zig, Zag, Dustin etc...we have fck all wonderful memories of Teenage turtles season 2, episode 5

Eutow

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

Always got a good laugh out of Dustin doing the flap flaps. If I remember right he hated doing them but had to do them sometimes as a sort of punishment for something. Was it also that he accidentally used to do them if he got overly excited about something and would then get embarrassed. Or have I totally messed the memory of the flap flaps up?

Children used to write in requesting Dustin do the flap flaps, or Ray and others would encourage Dustin to do it, by saying he looks cool or whatever. He would sometimes take a bit of persuading but he always would do it in the end. Ray and anyone in the studio would eventually burst out laughing and Dustin would always get embarrassed and run off screen for a short while.

Ruu

I remember the gang often going off and having interviews with politicians, during the NI peace process, they spoke with John Hume I think. It was a great way to get children involved in knowing the importance of these issues.

Then there was line dancing, let us never forgot that awful period in Irish history.

efb

crazygeryy wrote: »

nah i dont agree at all.for the age i was and back then he was a breath of fresh air and brilliant.good memories.
i loved it when dustin did the horse racing commentary to .it was hilarious.

He was kept on for far too long

branie2

Zig and Zag's storytime on a Tuesday evening, during Ian Dempsey's time.

foxy farmer

My abiding memory of The Den was Dustin poking fun at Mary Harney.
He said she was "like the back of a bus"

Irish Guitarist

Anyone that remembers The Den more fondly than the cartoons they showed must have been watching it during the nineties when shite like Teenage whatever Turtles and Power Rangers were all the rage. I was ten in 1986 when Dempseys Den started and remember brilliant cartoons like Transformers and Masters of The Universe. Zig and Zag always irritated me.

efb

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

It's well worth taking a moment to appreciate the genius of the Irish youth that watched The Den in it's day. This is perhaps it's most hilarious moment?

I remember sending countless drawings in and they never showed mine. It was a source of some pain.

Wtf- kids weren't that stupid in my day

Flange/Flanders

Don't forget the toy gran prix. Think Peter Collins used to do the commentary.

I remember when socky came along first, I was about 10. I used to hate him. There were Ted free zone stickers that you could get, I drew up my own socky free zone poster. Think I got the mother to send it in. Anyway, I missed the show about 2 days later and it turns out socky ran away for some reason that day. I was convinced it was my poster that caused him to run away. I felt unbelievably sh1t about it but it didn't seem to change me much, I'm still a prick!

razorblunt

Dem girls ... dem girls.

Wang King

razorblunt wrote: »

Dem girls ... dem girls.

My fave song !
Dey all luv me, dey all luv me;

KKkitty

A Tijuana gypsy stole my personal stereo, no more Dire Straits or Elvis Costello.

kfallon

Dustin doing random horse racing commentaries

foxy farmer

The 'briggan, the 'brack, the 'noggin, and the 'fermot.
I'm a builder down the Long Mile Road.

bodhrandude

I mentioned this before but I remember Zig and Zag doing the farmyard animals bit, where they mimicked certain animals, anyway one asked the other well what does a pig sound like and the other replied, "Could you kindly step out of the car sir." They apparently got taken off the air for two weeks for that one. I also remember another thing they used to do was birthdays, one boy who had just turned seven years old got a mention, the accompanying photograph was of a terrier and a six pack of Carlsberg Special Brew.

Agricola

"The 'briggan, the 'brack, the 'fermot and the 'noggin
Down in the back, doin a bit a snoggin
Loggin'??? Floggin out in Sallynoggin
Go oooooonnnnnnnn outta dat, who are ya coddin' "



Or something!

Bobby Baccala

Dustin used to absolutely rip the piss out of Anne Doyle as well I remember him mistaking a Furby for her haha

Miley30

Used to love watching Teenage mutant nija turtles during the mornings before school, good times.

Roddy23

Magic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SflSO53fKT0

kfallon

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tBKsCVHIAk&list=PLFB3A22B03ED378F7

the_monkey

dunno if it's been mentioned yet, but I remember when Dustin 1st appeared, he was planned as a one off joke, Dustin Hoffman was supposed to be coming in, they were building it up and then Dustin the Turkey appears, it was class !!

laugh

Zag the inventor made a device to turn toe nail clippings into electricity.

RomanKnows

Didn't Podge and Rodge kidnap Santa in the run up to Christmas? Distraught kids all around the country convinced they wouldn't get any presents.

When the Sun Hits

When Socky broke down on air because of his Mother's death. Probably the saddest moment in Irish television.

the_monkey

When the Sun Hits wrote: »

When Socky broke down on air because of his Mother's death. Probably the saddest moment in Irish television.

Socky was a puppet ?

lertsnim

Dustin doing flap flaps was always a highlight.

KungPao

It was a great show. The Christmas shows were just great. I miss that warm feeling of being a kid and being amazed by Christmas specials like that.

I still have my VHS copy of "Nothing to do with Toast" with Zig and Zag.

Ed_Stephens

I remember an ongoing saga where Ray wanted a small modification made to his desk, Dustin brought in an army of builders who stopped for tea breaks every 5 minutes and when Ray complained about it Dustin organised a strike making speeches to his comrades, unreal kids tv. I also remember Snotser who was an electrician by trade trying to replace a light bulb above the desk, all you could see was his legs dangling from the bulb accompanied by electrocution effects. I thought Dustin made the Den, he'd usually turn up about 4 when we were getting home from school and he was just getting out of bed saying to Zig and Zag it's alright for you's boys, I've a days work done already. Then ask Zag hows the form, Zag answered I don't have a farm. Classic.

My earliest memories of the Den are of Zig and Zag, but I don't recall Ian Dempsey. I was six years of age when they left for Channel 4, but I liked how Zag was faintly adrogynous, playing with Barbies and generally blurring gender lines, which was quite something for a children's television show in the early 90s.

However not all my dealings with the Den were so happy. I remember hating their anti-line dancing campaign.

In Summer 1995 I was eight years of age, and there was a major killing of bream on Lough Derg due to pollution, dead fish swept right up to our garden, and some farm animals died from drinking the lake water. Local residents bagan a bumper-sticker campaign began called Save Our Lough Derg (SOLD), which drew nationwide attention.

That same Summer, line dancing had taken over the country, and Dustin and his comerades instituted a copycat campaign called Stamp Out Line Dancing. My sister and I wrote a number of outraged letters to RTE. Combined with the fact that we both liked country music, I'm afraid that was the end of my respect for Dustin the Turkey.

Turns out the tide was turning against The Den anyway, because not long after, Dustin grew overly political, and Ray went to Today FM and somehow morphed into a miserable old man. The show has very happy memories for me though, from Bosco at 2.30pm right up until the Turtles or Captain Planet at 6pm. Happy times.

RichardCeann

RTE should rerun one of the Christmas specials on the weekend in the run up to Christmas. That would set the mood nicely.

The one where they went to Lapland was the business.

When the Sun Hits

When Bosco was kidnapped and subsequently tortured for several months with a set of pliers. He was never really the same after that.

razorblunt

RichardCeann wrote: »

RTE should rerun one of the Christmas specials on the weekend in the run up to Christmas. That would set the mood nicely.

The one where they went to Lapland was the business.

They could even throw it on at 10pm for "de grown ups" and still get good viewers. I'd love that.

RichardCeann

razorblunt wrote: »

They could even throw it on at 10pm for "de grown ups" and still get good viewers. I'd love that.

They have a few available to watch in their archives.

http://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/922-christmas-tv-past/287763-zig-and-zag-christmas-crisis/

branie2

Remember the Dempsey's Den fan Club?

DEFTLEFTHAND

When the Sun Hits wrote: »

When Bosco was kidnapped and subsequently tortured for several months with a set of pliers. He was never really the same after that.

Apparently he borrowed money from Snotser and Rossa Morbeg at an exorbitant interest rate and couldn't meet the repayments. Nasty business all round, they ruined that poor kid.

Irish Halo

RichardCeann wrote: »

They have a few available to watch in their archives.

http://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/922-christmas-tv-past/287763-zig-and-zag-christmas-crisis/

Gutted it's only ~4mins :-(

I have the two videos (Nothing to do with toast & Million Quid Vid), Nevermind The Zogabongs and like seven of the comics/books.

Dtp1979

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Apparently he borrowed money from Snotser and Rossa Morbeg at an exorbitant interest rate and couldn't meet the repayments. Nasty business all round, they ruined that poor kid.

Jesus I hated the morbegs