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Ridgey Didge

Australian television program

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ7332876
Source-derived summary

Ridgey Didge was a popular Network Ten magazine television program for children in Australia. The name is an Australian slang term meaning honest, true or the real thing.

Format

A long-running series of 52-minute programs, each studio-based episode was intended to be an entertaining voyage of adventure and discovery for the viewers, constantly covering new topics reflecting Australian life and culture. Location segments added to the mix. One episode recorded sealing a time capsule to commemorate Australia's bicentennial in 1988; the capsule was opened in 2001.

Presenters

A team of presenters hosted each program:

Jared Robinsen

Rebecca Hetherington (daughter of Norman Hetherington)

Simon Watt

Danny Carretti

Chris Harriott

Ashley Paske

They were joined by puppet characters

Shorn Sheep (operated by Danny Carretti)

Buzz the Blowfly (operated by Simon Watt)

Buzzle the Blowfly

Other presenters of regular segments:

Dr. Glenn Singleman (medicine)

Dean Taylor (art)

Catchphrase

The lyrics in the signature tune repeated the words ridgey didge several times which became a catchphrase amongst the target audience. This was accompanied with a hand gesture. The three middle fingers of the right hand were closed, leaving the thumb and little finger extended; the hand was then twisted from side to side in time with the rhythm of the music.

Transmission

The show aired between 1987 and 1989, Monday to Friday at 4 p.m.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Ridgey Didge” as australian television program. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1988, 2001, 1987, 1989—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Ridgey, Didge and Australian can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as australian television program. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7332876. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1988, 2001, 1987 and 1989.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ridgey Didge”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ridgey Didge primary sources, Ridgey Didge archive and Ridgey research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ridgey Didge”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Ridgey Didge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.