The programme started life as a French children's TV series "Le Manège Enchanté" (The Magic Roundabout). Dougal the Dog was named Pollux in the original French version and spoke French with a strong English accent. The animation was done by Ivor Wood who later went on to animate The Herbs (1968), The Wombles (1973), Paddington Bear (1976) and Postman Pat (1981). Eric Thompson was asked to narrate a translation of the French script, but chose instead to discard the French script and devise his own stories, based purely on what was happening on-screen.
When the British version was first shown to the French film-makers, they thought that the British name Dougal for their character Pollux was intended to poke fun at French president de Gaulle.
The series was sufficiently popular in the UK that the term "Magic Roundabout" has been absorbed into the English language as a euphemism for badly planned traffic systems. Four particularly chaotic and scary junctions in the towns of Swindon, High Wycombe, Hemel Hempstead and Colchester are now even referred to as the "Magic Roundabout" by the authorities and the Police, even in court.
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