Roobarb is a British animated children's television programme, originally shown on BBC1 just before the evening news. Each cartoon, written by Grange Calveley and animated by Bob Godfrey, was about five minutes long. Thirty episodes were made, and the show was first shown on 21 October 1974. The theme is that of the friendly rivalry between Roobarb the green dog and Custard the pink cat from next door. The narration of the series was provided by the actor Richard Briers. On 18 February 2013, Briers died, followed four days later by animator Godfrey.