Worzel Gummidge: Cast, Heads, Home, and 2019 Revival

Every scarecrow guards a field, and Worzel Gummidge has spent nearly a century guarding Scatterbrook Farm, swapping heads when his mood changes and bickering with Aunt Sally. From Barbara Euphan Todd’s 1936 books to Jon Pertwee’s ITV run and Mackenzie Crook’s 2019 BBC revival, the character keeps returning — and so do the same questions about his heads, his home, and whether a new series is on the way.

First book: 1936 · Original UK TV series: 1979–1981 · Original Worzel Gummidge actor: Jon Pertwee · 2019 BBC Worzel Gummidge actor: Mackenzie Crook · Original Aunt Sally actress: Una Stubbs · Setting: Scatterbrook Farm

Six facts anchor the whole Worzel Gummidge story, and they line up from the writer’s desk to the most recent BBC special.

What were Worzel Gummidge heads?

Worzel is not one fixed character with one fixed mood. His defining trick is a collection of heads: a head for solemn occasions, a head for mischief, a head for dealing with farmers, and a head for impressing Aunt Sally. Each swap changes his personality as much as his face.

• The head-swapping device drives the comedy: every situation has a right head and a wrong head, and Worzel usually finds the wrong one first.
• The books started the quirk; television made it visual. Mackenzie Crook’s 2019 series brought the heads back for a new generation (British Comedy Guide).

That simple mechanic explains why Worzel feels different from other scarecrow characters: he is several characters in one straw body.

What does Worzel Gummidge mean?

• “Worzel” belongs to an old English country vocabulary of roots and straw — a name that sounds like it was pulled from a hedgerow rather than a registry office (Wikipedia’s franchise record).
• “Gummidge” works as a comic old surname, the kind of name that makes a scarecrow feel permanently at home in the same village.

Worzel Gummidge reads as a folk name rather than a modern coinage — ancient-sounding, country, and stubborn. The accent worked the same way, deliberately rustic and old-fashioned, so a scarecrow could sound like every English field at once.

Where is the Worzel Gummidge accent from?

The books wrote Worzel’s speech as rustic country English; television gave it a voice. If the character sounds like he has been standing in the same field since 1936, that is the effect working.

Where did Worzel Gummidge live?

Worzel’s address is as fixed as his straw-stuffed surname: Scatterbrook Farm. In the original television version, produced by Southern Television for ITV and broadcast from 1979 to 1981, the farm sat in a rural England of country lanes, village fairs, and farmers who never quite knew what to do with a talking scarecrow (BFI Screenonline’s television history entry).

• Scatterbrook Farm is the anchor of the original books and the ITV sitcom alike. The original series also gave Worzel a supernatural boss of sorts: the Crowman, played by Geoffrey Bayldon (BFI Screenonline).
• The 2019 BBC revival returned Worzel to British rural settings, leaving the New Zealand interlude behind (Wikipedia’s franchise record).

For a scarecrow, location is identity. A Worzel standing in an English hedgerow behaves differently from a Worzel touring New Zealand, and the settings are half the story.

Why did Worzel Gummidge go to New Zealand?

• Worzel Gummidge Down Under was made in New Zealand in the late 1980s (Wikipedia’s franchise record).
• Jon Pertwee reprised the title role, so the original voice carried into the new landscape.
• The move swapped Scatterbrook’s regulars for a new supporting cast, but kept the scarecrow at the centre.

The Down Under years are the curiosity chapter of Worzel’s television life — the moment the franchise packed up the farm and tried a change of scenery.

What this means: Worzel has now been an English scarecrow, a New Zealand scarecrow, and an English scarecrow again — a rare children’s character whose home address follows the production schedule.

Who plays Guy Fawkes in Worzel Gummidge?

The question sounds like it should have a one-line answer. It does not. In the original 1979–1981 cast records, no confirmed Guy Fawkes credit appears. The closest verified figure lives in the 2019 adaptation, where Paul Kaye plays Guy Forks in the 2021 episodes (British Comedy Guide).

• Guy Forks is a different character from Guy Fawkes, and the similar names explain a lot of the confusion.
• The bonfire-night association keeps the question alive, even though the credits do not support it.

Was Billy Connolly in Worzel Gummidge?

Connolly’s name attaches to many British comedy projects from the same era, which may explain the echo. For Worzel, the trail stops at the records.

What happened to Jon Pertwee?

• Jon Pertwee played Worzel Gummidge in the original ITV series and reprised the role in the late-1980s New Zealand series.
• He died in May 1996, leaving a double television legacy: the third Doctor Who and the definitive Worzel Gummidge (Wikipedia’s franchise record).

Pertwee’s Worzel was grumbling, vain, sly, and oddly lovable. When he died, the role went quiet until the BBC reboot gave it a new voice.

What was Una Stubbs’ illness?

Stubbs, the original Aunt Sally, had a career that stretched far beyond Worzel. For fans of the scarecrow, she remains the voice who gave Worzel his greatest sparring partner.

The pattern: the casting questions that dominate search are not the questions the official records were built to answer. The credits are solid on Worzel, Aunt Sally, and the farm; thinner on the guest names that online threads keep rehearsing.

The implication: most casting rumours about Worzel dissolve when checked against the official production records.

Did Worzel marry Aunt Sally?

Aunt Sally is Worzel’s best-known love interest, and whether they ever marry is one of the oldest questions in the fan record. The honest answer: it depends which version you are watching.

• In the original books and the ITV series, Worzel’s courtship of Aunt Sally is a running joke — circling a wedding that never quite arrives.
• The 2019 BBC adaptation, with Vicki Pepperdine as Aunt Sally, tells the romance in its own way (British Comedy Guide).

Who was Worzel Gummidge’s girlfriend?

• Aunt Sally — a fairground figure rather than a human neighbour — is the answer in every major version of the story (Wikipedia’s franchise record).
• Una Stubbs played her in the original ITV series, which made the character an icon to a generation (BFI Screenonline).

The relationship works because Worzel and Aunt Sally want different things. He wants praise; she wants respect. Both are more than straw, which makes their stand-offs feel human.

The trade-off: Worzel’s romance stays deliberately unresolved, which is exactly why every adaptation can reset it. Aunt Sally is the stable answer to “girlfriend”; the wedding is a plot device, not a fact.

Are they making more Worzel Gummidge?

The most recent Worzel Gummidge to reach screens is the 2019 BBC adaptation, written, directed, and performed by Mackenzie Crook. As of the available production record, no further series has been confirmed (Wikipedia’s franchise record).

• Crook’s revival was a separate adaptation from the 1979 ITV series, not a continuation (British Comedy Guide).
• The 2019 cast included India Brown as Susan and Thierry Wickens as John (IMDb title listing).
• The 2021 episodes added Paul Kaye as Guy Forks — the most recent confirmed new material.

What was Worzel Gummidge (2019)?

• A BBC One adaptation created by Mackenzie Crook, who also played Worzel (British Comedy Guide).
• A distinct take from the 1979 series, with new child leads (India Brown, Thierry Wickens) and a new Aunt Sally (Vicki Pepperdine).
• The revival appeared as seasonal specials across 2019 and 2021.

The 2019 specials were a true reboot rather than a remake: same scarecrow, same heads, but a calmer countryside and a more sentimental tone.

What is the difference between the original and 2019 Worzel Gummidge?

• Broadcaster: ITV (via Southern Television) for the original; BBC One for the revival.
• Tone: the 1979 series was a sitcom built for repeat episodes; the 2019 version is a story-led family special.
• Casting: Jon Pertwee and Una Stubbs versus Mackenzie Crook and Vicki Pepperdine.
• Creative control: the original was studio-produced television; the revival was written and directed by its star.

What are the Worzel Gummidge books?

• Barbara Euphan Todd published the first Worzel Gummidge book in 1936 (Wikipedia’s franchise record).
• The books came first: four decades before the ITV adaptation made the scarecrow a household name.
• Collected editions and reissues have kept the original stories circulating alongside the TV versions.

The books are where the head-swapping began. Todd’s Worzel was already a mischief-maker in print; television gave him a voice, a face, and an audience of millions.

Original ITV series vs 2019 BBC revival: cast and format

Five rows separate the two television eras — broadcaster, casting, children, tone, and scale all moved between 1979 and 2019.

The pattern: both eras solved the same problem differently — ITV built a sitcom around a scarecrow, the BBC built a storybook.

Worzel Gummidge timeline: 1936 to 2022

Six dates carry the whole production record, from the original novels to the deaths of the two actors who defined the television franchise (Wikipedia’s franchise record).

• 1936: Barbara Euphan Todd publishes the first Worzel Gummidge book.
• 1979–1981: The original UK ITV series airs, with Jon Pertwee as Worzel and Una Stubbs as Aunt Sally (BFI Screenonline).
• Late 1980s: Worzel Gummidge Down Under is made in New Zealand, with Jon Pertwee reprising the role.
• 1996: Jon Pertwee dies in May.
• 2019: BBC One launches the new Worzel Gummidge, written and directed by Mackenzie Crook.
• 2022: Una Stubbs dies in August; her family describes a short illness.

The pattern: the timeline shows a character who has adapted to different eras while keeping his core identity intact.

Worzel Gummidge: confirmed facts vs open questions

The verified record is stronger than the online rumour mill suggests. Here is the split.

What this means: the confirmed list is long enough to answer most factual searches, and the unclear list is short enough to keep the rumour mill interesting.

Voices from three Worzel eras

Three performers sit at the centre of Worzel’s television life: the original Worzel, the revival’s creator, and the original Aunt Sally.

The original sitcom gave Worzel a full-time home at Scatterbrook Farm, with Aunt Sally, Crowman, and the human children all orbiting his rants. Jon Pertwee made the scarecrow a star for a generation of ITV viewers.

Jon Pertwee, original TV Worzel Gummidge — BFI Screenonline

The 2019 revival swapped studio-sitcom energy for a calmer, more whimsical countryside. Mackenzie Crook wrote, directed, and starred in the new BBC specials, bringing the head-swapping to a new audience.

Mackenzie Crook, writer-star of the 2019 BBC series — British Comedy Guide

Aunt Sally, the fairground figure who bickered with Worzel for decades, was played with comic grandeur by Una Stubbs in the original series. Her death in 2022 closed the original cast’s chapter.

Una Stubbs, original TV Aunt Sally — BFI Screenonline

The takeaway

Worzel Gummidge has outlasted every format that tried to contain him — pre-war children’s fiction, 1970s ITV sitcom, late-1980s New Zealand television, and 2019 BBC specials — because the idea is simple: a scarecrow who changes heads to face the world. For nostalgic viewers, the choice is clear: start with the 2019 BBC series if you want the character fresh, or go to the original ITV episodes for the full Scatterbrook ensemble, rather than waiting for a production announcement that has not arrived.

Related reading

Two more British-screen career profiles sit alongside this one: Jenny Agutter’s biography and Matt Berry’s biography.

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