Trying to remember an 80s safety educational series about a boy and his dog

[Brick Nash]

Hi folks!

I'm trying to remember a piece of 80s television, but I can't find anything on it. I think it may have been part of a safety educational series, but it could also have been part of something like Glen Michael's Cartoon Cavalcade.

It involved a boy with a small dog who was part of a team. The boy and his dog would go out into the world, and the other members of the team (children) would be in some sort of control room and could see everything on a screen. I also remember that the boy wore a blazer of some sort.

The episode (if you can call it that) which I remember involved the boy going to a dangerous building site, and after a bit of prodding about fell in some sort of hole and he got buried by dirt (presumably died), and the dog was sniffing around where he got buried. The team back at the control room hit a button and the boy (plus his dog) appeared back there unharmed to report.

As stated I think it was just safety shorts that maybe lasted ten minutes or so, but I've been trying to find something on the internet about it but I just can't find a single thing.

If anyone can remember this and maybe have a name for it I'd be very grateful if you could tell me.

Thanks!

[George 1978]

Re: Trying to remember an 80s safety educational series about a boy and his dog

Was it only shown in Scotland? (I note that you are in Glasgow).

[Seizure]

Re: Trying to remember an 80s safety educational series about a boy and his dog

It's Building Sites Bite from 1978.

[TubThumper]

Yes! I remember this.

It looked like it was from the 70’s, however, they were still showing it to us when I was in year 2 or 3 of primary school (1988 or 1989).

There was a boy who with two of his cousins, and they were trying to teach him the dangers of building sites. But every time he ignored dangers he would die, quite horrifically, but then be teleported back to his cousins who brought him back to life.

Every time the boy is about to die, a heartbeat sound is played, which I remember really freaked me out. One girl in school who was younger than me burst into tears and got escorted out of the assembly hall in a right state!

It’s no wonder the girl had a panic attack… It was quite shocking to see this boy being buried alive in a trench collapse, electrocuted in a condemned building, run over by an earthmoving vehicle, breaking his skull against a metal retaining wall, crushed to death by a pile of bricks and then drowning in a disused quarry.

That’s right folks, schools used to show kids this. But guess what?! It freaked us out so much that we never went near a building site again after that. Mission accomplished!