Music
Radiohead accused of ripping off classic 1960s children's show
by Jeremy Mersereau
May 16, 2016
The family behind the 'Trumpton' cartoon accused Radiohead of copyright infringement.
Radiohead have weathered their fair share of controversy over their 20+ years of existence, but now they face the ire of their most powerful critics yet: the extended family of the creator of ’60s UK animated series Trumpton.
Radiohead’s music video for A Moon Shaped Pool lead single “Burn The Witch” pays homage and owes an enormous stylistic debt to the stop-motion children’s program (sorry, “programme”), a fact that Radiohead and “Burn The Witch” director Chris Hopewell have made no secret of.
The Trumptonshire trilogy – consisting of the three, 13-episode TV shows Camberwick Green (1966), Trumpton (1967), and Chigley (1969) – aimed to instil community values in its audience of children, something the Radiohead video plays upon in that special, irritatingly affected Thom Yorke kind of way. Compare them for yourself below:
In the “Burn the Witch” video, a delightfully idyllic Trumpton-style village is revealed to host paeanistic murder rituals, culminating in a nosy visitor getting immolated in a giant wicker man, just like that movie. Nicolas Cage, being tormented by pagan Thom Yorke: “Not the b-sides! No, not the b-sides! Auugggh! They’re in my ears! Aaauughh!”
Unfortunately, not everyone is a huge fan of the video, least of all the son-in-law of Trumpton creator Gordon Murray, William Mollett. He spoke out in a new interview with the Daily Mail:
“Radiohead should have sought our consent as we consider this a tarnishing of the brand,” Mollett said. “It is not something we would have authorized. We consider that there is a breach of copyright and we are deciding what to do next.”
Mollett also added he would not be showing the video to his father-in-law, now 95 years old, saying that “Gordon would be appalled.” “Ugh, how appallingly heavy handed and facile” – Gordon Murray, upon seeing “Burn The Witch”, probably.
[h/t NME]
