Public information film
Encyclopedia
Public Information Films (known as PIFs) are a series of government commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the UK
. The US equivalent is the Public Service Announcement
(PSAs).
, but there are PIFs on many other subjects, including animal cruelty, protecting the environment
, crime
prevention and how to vote in an election or fill in a census
form.
Many of these films were aimed at children and were shown during breaks in children's programmes during holidays and at weekends. The general low-budget quality and the infamous static "crackle" before them gave them a Hammer Horror style aura. Some of them were quite terrifying and remained ingrained in the child's psyche well into adulthood, others were quite humorous and used comedy to show the dangers or ridicule the folly of those who ignore them (Joe and Petunia are a good example of a comic PIF). Many of them involved or were narrated by celebrities of the day.
, an amateur actor who set up Public Relationship Films Ltd when he discovered there was no specialist film company in the area. They were commissioned by the Ministry of Information, and Massingham's work has since gained a cult following for their quirky often humorous tone. After the war PIFs were produced for the Central Office of Information
, and again by private contractors, which were usually small film companies, such as Richard Taylor Cartoons.
They are still being produced although they are rarely shown in the same frequency as their peak in the 1970s, and while many have speculated that current PIFs are not as hard-hitting as those of the past, smoking
PIFs have bucked this trend.
Some advertisements and charity appeals have gained the status of honorary PIF among fans, including Cartoon Boy, a 2002 campaign about child abuse produced by the NSPCC
, while films such as the 1980s British Gas
advertisement about what to do in the event of a gas leak can be considered non-Governmental PIFs.
PIFs have a nostalgic cult following and a DVD
was released in 2001 called Charley Says: The Greatest Public Information Films in the World, comprising the contents of two earlier VHS
releases. A sequel
was released in 2005.
: an animated series of PIFs with a ginger cat
called Charley (whose warning growls were voiced by Kenny Everett
) who advised children against stranger danger
Green Cross Code
: played by David Prowse
who advised children about crossing the road safely. An earlier road safety campaign targeted at children featured the animated squirrel "Tufty", and a Tufty Club for young children was later founded.
Apaches
: a public information film shown in primary schools about the dangers of playing on farms. This PIF is notorious for being extremely graphic.
Robbie
: a film based around a child losing his legs after being struck by a train. A modern equivalent, Killing Time was shown in secondary schools during the 1990s but was later replaced for, apparently, being too graphic. Robbie replaced the notorious and extremely graphic The Finishing Line
. However, Robbie and The Finishing Line
are arguably not strictly PIFs, being produced by British Transport Films
.
Protect and Survive
: a series of films (never shown) advising the British public on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. They would have been shown constantly on all television channels in the build up to a war. Voiced by Patrick Allen
.
Lonely Water
: a 1973 film warning children of the dangers of foolhardy behaviour around lakes and ponds. The film was shot in horror movie style with a menacing black-robed figure, featured a memorably chilling voiceover from Donald Pleasence
("I'll be back-back-back...!) and allegedly frightened and traumatised a generation of children.
Front Seat Child: a chilling film from 1977 warning you not to let a small child ride in the front of your car (from the days when it wasn't illegal not to wear a seatbelt). We see a guy turn up at a park and learn throughout the course of the film that he took his daughter there in the car one day, she was in the front seat without a seatbelt and she was fatally injured on the way. We hear voiceovers describing how he has identified the body of his daughter and how the car was in good condition but a van pulled out in front of them causing the crash. It even mentions the fatal injuries his daughter suffered as a result. To make it even more chilling we see a young girl on a swing, the result of the guy remembering bringing his daughter to the park before the accident.
Joe and Petunia: a series of animated PIFs about a couple whose amazing stupidity caused dangerous problems for everyone around them. They appeared in only four PIFs ("Coastguard", "Water Safety - Flags", "Country Code" and "Worn Tyres"), but their popularity grew so quickly that it was decided to kill them off in the last one. However, they were "resurrected" when "Coastguard" was remade in 2007 with updated references: Petunia is reading Hello
and listening to an iPod
; Joe wears a Burberry
cap and phones the desktop PC-using coastguard on his mobile phone.
Drinking And Driving Wrecks Lives
: a series of 1980s - 1990s PIFs targeting drink-driving offenders. An equally well-known and successful road safety campaign was Clunk Click Every Trip
, fronted initially by Shaw Taylor
and later by Jimmy Savile
.
Amber Gambler
: about the dangers of racing through amber lights before they turn to red.
Reginald Molehusband
: a man who demonstrated the correct way to park safely. His reverse parking was "a public danger", bets were laid on his performance and people came from all round to watch, until the day he got it right - "Well done! Reginald Molehusband, the safest parker in town." This film is now classified as missing and is not in the archives of either the COI or the private company, which now owns most of its archive footage, although an audio recording still exists.
Clunk Click Every Trip
: a series of films about the importance of seatbelts, similar to crash test dummies psas.
Julie
: about the importance of rear seat belts, which ran for 5 years between 1998 and 2003 with a return in 2007, and was so successful it was repeated in France
. It was updated with the Think! logo in 2001.
Carry a Knife, Lose Your Life: A series of short adverts and films created to discourage people from carrying knives and to show the consequences of knife crime. The advert starts with two identical-looking people talking about an ambition in life they both share, then end with "But I never thought...". The ad then shows one person having reached their goal and pursuing a career based on their ambitions, whilst the other person explains how they thought would never get into trouble for carrying or using a knife.
and most artists on the Ghost Box Records label, especially The Advisory Circle
, whose most recent album, Other Channels
directly references or samples many PIFs, including Keep Warm, Keep Well. Additionally, their debut album features a few reprise
s with the suffix "PIF". Another example of PIF influence in music was that of the song Charly
by The Prodigy
, from 1991, which heavily sampled the meows of Charley Cat, hence why they called it Charley. The Comedian Chris Morris
satirised Public information films in The Day Today
in an episode where there was a constitutional crisis.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The US equivalent is the Public Service Announcement
Public service announcement
A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...
(PSAs).
Subjects
The films advise the public on what to do in a multitude of situations ranging from crossing the road to surviving a nuclear attack. They are sometimes thought to concern only topics related to safetySafety
Safety is the state of being "safe" , the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be...
, but there are PIFs on many other subjects, including animal cruelty, protecting the environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
, crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
prevention and how to vote in an election or fill in a census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
form.
Many of these films were aimed at children and were shown during breaks in children's programmes during holidays and at weekends. The general low-budget quality and the infamous static "crackle" before them gave them a Hammer Horror style aura. Some of them were quite terrifying and remained ingrained in the child's psyche well into adulthood, others were quite humorous and used comedy to show the dangers or ridicule the folly of those who ignore them (Joe and Petunia are a good example of a comic PIF). Many of them involved or were narrated by celebrities of the day.
History
The earliest PIFs were made during the Second World War years and shown in cinemas; many were made by and starred Richard MassinghamRichard Massingham
Richard Massingham was a British actor who is principally noted for starring in public information films made in the 1940s and early 1950s.-Life:...
, an amateur actor who set up Public Relationship Films Ltd when he discovered there was no specialist film company in the area. They were commissioned by the Ministry of Information, and Massingham's work has since gained a cult following for their quirky often humorous tone. After the war PIFs were produced for the Central Office of Information
Central Office of Information
The Central Office of Information is the UK government's marketing and communications agency. Its Chief Executive, currently Mark Lund, reports to the Minister for the Cabinet Office...
, and again by private contractors, which were usually small film companies, such as Richard Taylor Cartoons.
They are still being produced although they are rarely shown in the same frequency as their peak in the 1970s, and while many have speculated that current PIFs are not as hard-hitting as those of the past, smoking
Tobacco smoking
Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the resulting smoke is inhaled. The practice may have begun as early as 5000–3000 BCE. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes...
PIFs have bucked this trend.
Some advertisements and charity appeals have gained the status of honorary PIF among fans, including Cartoon Boy, a 2002 campaign about child abuse produced by the NSPCC
NSPCC
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is a United Kingdom charity campaigning and working in child protection.-History:...
, while films such as the 1980s British Gas
Centrica
Centrica plc is a multinational utility company, based in the United Kingdom but also with interests in North America. Centrica is the largest supplier of gas to domestic customers in the UK, and one of the largest suppliers of electricity, operating under the trading names "Scottish Gas" in...
advertisement about what to do in the event of a gas leak can be considered non-Governmental PIFs.
PIFs have a nostalgic cult following and a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
was released in 2001 called Charley Says: The Greatest Public Information Films in the World, comprising the contents of two earlier VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
releases. A sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
was released in 2005.
Famous public information films
Charley SaysCharley Says
Charley Says was a series of very short cut-out animated cartoon Public Information Films for children, shown in the United Kingdom in the 1970s and 1980s for London's Central Office of Information.-Overview:...
: an animated series of PIFs with a ginger cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
called Charley (whose warning growls were voiced by Kenny Everett
Kenny Everett
Kenny Everett was an English comedian, radio DJ and television entertainer. Born Maurice James Christopher Cole, Everett is best known for his career as a radio DJ and for the Kenny Everett television shows.-Early life:...
) who advised children against stranger danger
Stranger danger
Stranger danger describes the danger to children presented by strangers. The phrase is intended to sum up the danger associated with adults who children do not know. The phrase has found widespread usage and many children will hear it during their childhood lives...
Green Cross Code
Green Cross Code
The Green Cross Code is a brand created by the UK National Road Safety Committee to raise awareness of pedestrian road safety in the UK...
: played by David Prowse
David Prowse
David Prowse, MBE is an English former bodybuilder, weightlifter and actor, most widely known for playing the role of Darth Vader in physical form. In Britain, he is also remembered as having played the Green Cross Code man...
who advised children about crossing the road safely. An earlier road safety campaign targeted at children featured the animated squirrel "Tufty", and a Tufty Club for young children was later founded.
Apaches
Apaches (Public Information Film)
Apaches is the title of a Public Information Film made in the UK in 1977. Produced by the Central Office Of Information for the Health and Safety Executive , it was shown extensively in the Southern, Anglia and Westward areas, before being shown either on film or videocassette in primary schools...
: a public information film shown in primary schools about the dangers of playing on farms. This PIF is notorious for being extremely graphic.
Robbie
Robbie (Public Information Film)
Robbie is a 13-minute long film made by British Transport Films in 1979 and revised in 1986. Although it is not strictly a Public Information Film, it is often considered to be so by fans of the genre...
: a film based around a child losing his legs after being struck by a train. A modern equivalent, Killing Time was shown in secondary schools during the 1990s but was later replaced for, apparently, being too graphic. Robbie replaced the notorious and extremely graphic The Finishing Line
The Finishing Line
The Finishing Line is a short film produced in 1977 by British Transport Films, warning about the dangers children face on railway lines. Although it is not strictly a public information film, it is often considered to be so by fans of the genre...
. However, Robbie and The Finishing Line
The Finishing Line
The Finishing Line is a short film produced in 1977 by British Transport Films, warning about the dangers children face on railway lines. Although it is not strictly a public information film, it is often considered to be so by fans of the genre...
are arguably not strictly PIFs, being produced by British Transport Films
British Transport Films
British Transport Films was an organisation set up in 1949 to make documentary films on the general subject of British transport. Its work included internal training films, travelogues , and "industrial films" promoting the progress of Britain's railway...
.
Protect and Survive
Protect and Survive
Protect and Survive was a public information series on civil defence produced by the British government during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was intended to inform British citizens on how to protect themselves during a nuclear attack, and consisted of a mixture of pamphlets, radio broadcasts,...
: a series of films (never shown) advising the British public on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. They would have been shown constantly on all television channels in the build up to a war. Voiced by Patrick Allen
Patrick Allen
John Keith Patrick Allen was a British film, television and voice actor.-Life and career:Allen was born in Nyasaland , where his father was a tobacco farmer. After his parents returned to Britain, he was evacuated to Canada during World War II where he remained to finish his education at McGill...
.
Lonely Water
Lonely Water
Lonely Water is a 1973 British Public Information short film made for the Central Office of Information. The film aimed to warn children of the dangers of careless or foolhardy behaviour in the vicinity of water, and was shown regularly on TV for several years during breaks in children's...
: a 1973 film warning children of the dangers of foolhardy behaviour around lakes and ponds. The film was shot in horror movie style with a menacing black-robed figure, featured a memorably chilling voiceover from Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence
Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
("I'll be back-back-back...!) and allegedly frightened and traumatised a generation of children.
Front Seat Child: a chilling film from 1977 warning you not to let a small child ride in the front of your car (from the days when it wasn't illegal not to wear a seatbelt). We see a guy turn up at a park and learn throughout the course of the film that he took his daughter there in the car one day, she was in the front seat without a seatbelt and she was fatally injured on the way. We hear voiceovers describing how he has identified the body of his daughter and how the car was in good condition but a van pulled out in front of them causing the crash. It even mentions the fatal injuries his daughter suffered as a result. To make it even more chilling we see a young girl on a swing, the result of the guy remembering bringing his daughter to the park before the accident.
Joe and Petunia: a series of animated PIFs about a couple whose amazing stupidity caused dangerous problems for everyone around them. They appeared in only four PIFs ("Coastguard", "Water Safety - Flags", "Country Code" and "Worn Tyres"), but their popularity grew so quickly that it was decided to kill them off in the last one. However, they were "resurrected" when "Coastguard" was remade in 2007 with updated references: Petunia is reading Hello
Hello!
Hello is a weekly magazine specializing in celebrity news and human-interest stories, published in the United Kingdom since 1988. Hello is sister magazine to ¡Hola!, the Spanish weekly magazine launched in Spain in 1944...
and listening to an iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
; Joe wears a Burberry
Burberry
Burberry Group plc is a British luxury fashion house, manufacturing clothing, fragrance, and fashion accessories. Its distinctive tartan pattern has become one of its most widely copied trademarks. Burberry is most famous for its iconic trench coat, which was invented by founder Thomas Burberry...
cap and phones the desktop PC-using coastguard on his mobile phone.
Drinking And Driving Wrecks Lives
Drinking And Driving Wrecks Lives
Drinking And Driving Wrecks Lives was the tagline to a series of public information films that ran in the UK during the 1980s and 1990s, addressing the problem of drink-driving. Unlike earlier campaigns which focused on consequences to the offender, this campaign was more aimed at showing the...
: a series of 1980s - 1990s PIFs targeting drink-driving offenders. An equally well-known and successful road safety campaign was Clunk Click Every Trip
Clunk Click Every Trip
"Clunk Click Every Trip" was the slogan of a series of British public information films sponsored by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents , commencing in January 1971 and starring Jimmy Savile. The slogan was introduced during the previous campaign, fronted by Shaw Taylor and...
, fronted initially by Shaw Taylor
Shaw Taylor
Shaw Taylor MBE is a British actor and television presenter.He served in the RAF and trained at RADA. He then acted on stage in the West End and on tour. He was an announcer for ATV when the normal announcer was not available...
and later by Jimmy Savile
Jimmy Savile
Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile, OBE, KCSG was an English disc jockey, television presenter and media personality, best known for his BBC television show Jim'll Fix It, and for being the first and last presenter of the long-running BBC music chart show Top of the Pops...
.
Amber Gambler
Amber Gambler
Amber Gambler is the title of a British public information film from the 1970s.In the early 1990s, the term became popular with ufologists in describing mysterious orange lights sighted around crop circle sites....
: about the dangers of racing through amber lights before they turn to red.
Reginald Molehusband
Reginald Molehusband
Reginald Molehusband was a fictional character who starred in a public information film, shown on British TV during the 1960s. The role of Molehusband was played by Ian Gardiner....
: a man who demonstrated the correct way to park safely. His reverse parking was "a public danger", bets were laid on his performance and people came from all round to watch, until the day he got it right - "Well done! Reginald Molehusband, the safest parker in town." This film is now classified as missing and is not in the archives of either the COI or the private company, which now owns most of its archive footage, although an audio recording still exists.
Clunk Click Every Trip
Clunk Click Every Trip
"Clunk Click Every Trip" was the slogan of a series of British public information films sponsored by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents , commencing in January 1971 and starring Jimmy Savile. The slogan was introduced during the previous campaign, fronted by Shaw Taylor and...
: a series of films about the importance of seatbelts, similar to crash test dummies psas.
Julie
Julie (Public Information Film)
Julie is the title of a British public information film about the importance of wearing a seatbelt in the rear of a car. It ran on national television from 1998 to 2003, and was so successful it was also shown in France, Germany and Australia as well as being remade by Royal Dutch Shell for...
: about the importance of rear seat belts, which ran for 5 years between 1998 and 2003 with a return in 2007, and was so successful it was repeated in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. It was updated with the Think! logo in 2001.
Carry a Knife, Lose Your Life: A series of short adverts and films created to discourage people from carrying knives and to show the consequences of knife crime. The advert starts with two identical-looking people talking about an ambition in life they both share, then end with "But I never thought...". The ad then shows one person having reached their goal and pursuing a career based on their ambitions, whilst the other person explains how they thought would never get into trouble for carrying or using a knife.
Cultural references
A number of musical artists have been heavily influenced by the analogue, overdriven sound of British PIFs, including Boards of CanadaBoards of Canada
Boards of Canada are a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin...
and most artists on the Ghost Box Records label, especially The Advisory Circle
The Advisory Circle
The Advisory Circle is an alias of electronic musician Jon Brooks . His releases as The Advisory Circle are on the Ghost Box Music label....
, whose most recent album, Other Channels
Other Channels
Other Channels is the debut album by Jon Brooks, under the pseudonym of The Advisory Circle. It was preceded by the mini-album Mind How You Go...
directly references or samples many PIFs, including Keep Warm, Keep Well. Additionally, their debut album features a few reprise
Reprise
Reprise is a fundamental device in the history of art. In literature, a reprise consists of the rewriting of another work; in music, a reprise is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the...
s with the suffix "PIF". Another example of PIF influence in music was that of the song Charly
Charly (song)
"Charly" is the debut single released by the British electronic act The Prodigy, taken from their debut album Experience. The version featured on the album is the significantly longer "Trip Into Drum & Bass" remix...
by The Prodigy
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...
, from 1991, which heavily sampled the meows of Charley Cat, hence why they called it Charley. The Comedian Chris Morris
Chris Morris
Chris Morris may refer to:* Chris Morris , gay rights activist* Chris Morris , American football player for the Detroit Lions...
satirised Public information films in The Day Today
The Day Today
The Day Today is a surreal British parody of television current affairs programmes, broadcast in 1994, and created by the comedians Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris. It is an adaptation of the radio programme On the Hour, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992...
in an episode where there was a constitutional crisis.
External links
- 625's Introduction to PIF's
- Information about DVD compilations: "Charley Says" Volume 1 and "Charley Says" Volume 2
- National Archives exhibit of public information films
- "COI TV Fillers" - details of the most recent PIFs being produced by the COI
- The Message Clicks - First of a series of BBC articles about public information films