Jamie and the Magic Torch is a British children's animated television series made by Cosgrove Hall Productions for Thames Television and shown on the ITV network, running from 1977 to 1979. The series was written and narrated by Brian Trueman, who later wrote shows such as Danger Mouse and Count Duckula for Cosgrove Hall.

Premise

The programme is based around the young boy of the title and his torch. When shone on the floor, the torch opens up a hole into a fun fantasy world called Cuckoo Land. The beginning of each episode has Jamie's mother tucking him into bed at night and saying, "Sleep well, Jamie." Then from under his bed, his pet Old English Sheepdog, Wordsworth, appears, holding the torch in his mouth. Jamie takes the torch and shines it on the floor, opening up a portal to Cuckoo Land (in which Wordsworth always gets stuck). The portal manifests itself as a helter skelter. When they reach the end of the slide, they fly out into Cuckoo Land from the bottom of a tree trunk, and land on a trampoline. All of this is accompanied by a song, written by Joe Griffiths. Once in Cuckoo Land, the fun begins.

Characters in Cuckoo Land

VHS releases

The first two series have also been released on DVD, In 2024, all 3 series of the show were finally released on DVD & Blu-Ray. In July 2024, all 3 series were made available via a premium subscription to the ITVX streaming service.