Forget the recent CGI movie update, the original 1964 TV series The Magic Roundabout, created by Serge Danot and adapted and voiced for the UK by the inimatable Eric Thompson, remains one of the great surrealist children's TV shows. But too few have seen its 1970 movie spin-off, Dougal and the Blue Cat, and it's an altogether different and quite unexpected piece.

There's a new arrival in the Magic Garden, in the form of a blue cat called Buxton, which means trouble for the gang. Dougal suspects things are afoot when he notices Buxton talking to the Blue Voice. Soon, all sorts of strange happenings ensue, Zebedee's moustache is hijacked, the friends find themselves in a dungeon, and Dougal is sent to the moon. Can Dougal save the garden and resume tranquility?

Like the original series Dougal and the Blue Cat was created in France by Serge Danot and the dialogue was re-written in English by Eric Thompson who also narrated all of the characters bar one, lending each his own inimitable style and humour. Fenella Fielding provided the memorably eerie tones of the Blue Voice. Although technically a spin-off from the hugely popular TV series, Dougal and the Blue Cat is a much darker affair with its spooky characters, Stanley Kubrick references and David Lynch overtones, enough to prompt The Guardian to describe it as "one of the creepiest films ever made."

Long unavailable in any format, Dougal and the Blue Cat will be released on UK DVD on 1st November 2010 by Second Sight at the RRP of £14.99. Both the English Version and the original French version will be included, plus the following extras:

• Thompson and The Magic Roundabout featuring interviews with Emma Thompson, Phyllida Law and Fenella Fielding;
• Mark Kermode on Dougal and The Blue Cat;
• Lobby Card Gallery.