Rainbow's Zippy wants Orville and Emu to be freed

\'Rainbow\'s Zippy has called for Orville and Emu to be freed.

The iconic character - who starred in the long-running children\'s TV series - has joined calls for the puppets to be saved from a potential auction sale.

Ronnie Lew Drew, who has played Zippy since 1973, told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "A museum is the best place for them rather than an independent buyer. It gives people the chance to see them.

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"They are so iconic. I have a Zippy puppet but another is on display in The National Science and Media Museum. Orville and Emu deserve the same."

Orville and Emu currently find themselves at the centre of a legal wrangle involving the widows of Keith Harris and Rod Hull.

The puppets were initially put up for sale by the Bonhams auction house, but those plans have now been put on hold after Keith\'s widow Sarah Harris and Rod\'s widow Cher Hylton-Hull insisted they are the rightful owners of the puppets.

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Sarah and Cher both agree the puppets belong in a museum, having launched a fight to stop merchandiser Roger Shaw from selling them at auction.

Cher said: "Emu should be in the V&A or a theatrical museum - not in a private collector\'s hands."

Sarah feels similarly about the situation, saying Orville "should be going to a museum".

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The merchandiser allegedly decided to auction the puppets after claiming he\'d been gifted them by the late TV stars.

But Sarah has disputed Roger\'s version of events, instead claiming Orville had been loaned to him in order to make replica puppets that could be sold at venues.

Meanwhile, Cher claimed Emu had been loaned for a merchandising deal, and was shocked to see news of the auction.

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She recently said: "There is no way he\'d have given Emu to him for keeps.

"And after Mr Shaw had made the small copies, we asked him to send the original to Rod\'s agent at International Artists.

"I presumed this is what had happened, until I read about the Bonhams sale in December.

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"I was totally taken aback and hurt. And since then, I\'ve been demanding the return of Emu - with no success."