An unusual choice of documentary viewing

that was surprisingly moving

Premiering on Amazon Prime this month, Hot Potato is a documentary that follows The Wiggles from their early days as university students in Australia, to world-wide fame as children’s entertainers.

Jeff, Murray,Greg and Anthony were the originals.

Oh, and Dorothy the Dinosaur, and Captain Feathersword, the flamboyant pirate who tickled people rather than resorting to swordplay.

Our kids enjoyed the tv show. Their maternal grandmother used to record The Wiggles, and other favourites from Treehouse, a Canadian channel for kids, because we couldn’t afford cable. She’d set the VHS on the slowest record mode, and tape a whole day of programming for them.

I think one of the keys to the success of The Wiggles is they came across as really good humans. It was reassuring to watch the documentary, which admittedly had a strong pro-Wiggle bias, and catch glimpses of their off-stage personalities.

The original four, as well as the additional cast members who are part of more recent iterations of the group, do seem like people I would not mind entrusting with the care and nurture of children I love. Their personal stories touched on the challenges of raising their own families while being away from home so often on tour as well as the physical and mental health challenges they faced over the years.

It’s been a long time since I sat and watched The Wiggles. The documentary brought back memories not only of their onscreen antics, and lyrics, but how enjoyable they were to watch with our kids.

They called the documentary Hot Potato, but that was never my favourite Wiggles song.