I loved this. I thought it was better than all the cartoon or puppet children's shows we watched on the BBC as kids. Hammy Hamster was real, he had persona. It might have been a different hamster every time for all I knew, but who cares when you're kids? Johnny Morris did the voice. He was good.
There was a gentle calmness about it all and Hammy was always cute, pottering about slowly with his whiskers twitching. You got the impression he was curious about everything and enjoying himself, even when they made him do those stunts like putting him in a little boat - you could see he was trying to get out all the time. Johnny Morris would have to ad-lib constantly to cover up Hammy's waywardness. It was funny. Hammy never cared much for the script, but that was his genius and that was the charm of the show.
I don't remember the story lines, but no doubt Hammy got into some kind of scrape every time with his friend Roderick - like getting stuck out on a branch and hanging on for dear life - but they made it back safely in the end.
I was disappointed when Hammy disappeared from our screens and hoped for years that they would show the repeats, but I never saw him again. No doubt once colour television took over Hammy was all washed up. I wonder what became of him?
We always kept hamsters when we were kids. Probably it was because of Hammy. This little guy influenced our lives, as much as any of the big Hollywood stars influence kids today.
Thanks to the makers of this for putting their fingers on something that really appealed to me as a child. There was nothing else like it.