Smokie_ill_meet_you_at_midnight_bbc_basil_brush... Apr 2026

Basil , the world’s most sophisticated fox, was in a bit of a panic. His latest "show-stopping" poem—a romantic verse about holiday romances and HP sauce —had gone missing. He suspected the stagehands, or perhaps a rogue pigeon.

The audience, a mix of kids and parents, went wild. Basil started conducting the violin section with his tail, accidentally knocking over a jar of HP sauce that had been part of his "Bedtime Story" props. The Grand Finale

By the time the song reached its climax, Basil was front and center, wearing a tiny leather jacket and holding a toy guitar. Chris Norman, unable to keep a straight face, shared his microphone with the fox for the final chorus.

As Smokie tuned their guitars, Chris Norman found a scrap of paper near the catering table. It wasn't lyrics; it was a script. "Boom! Boom!" it read.

Just as the cameras started rolling for the performance, Basil popped up from behind a stack of amplifiers. "Aha! Smokie! Or is it 'Sooty'? I always get my childhood favorites mixed up!"

The year was 1976, and the BBC’s Television Centre was a hive of activity. —the band with the gravelly-voiced Chris Norman—were in the studio to perform their hit "I'll Meet You at Midnight." Little did they know, their scheduled appearance on The Basil Brush Show was about to become the stuff of legend. The Midnight Rendezvous

The performance went down as one of the most bizarre yet beloved crossovers in BBC history—a night where glam rock met a puppet fox, and everyone left with a story to tell (and possibly some sauce on their shoes).

As the song faded, Basil turned to the camera. "I’ll meet you at midnight, Chris! But only if there's jelly and custard. Ha-ha-ha! Boom! Boom!"