Roobarb (also known as Roobarb and Custard) is a British animated children's television series, created by Grange Calveley and originally shown on BBC1 just before the evening news. Each cartoon of the original series, written by Calveley and directed by Bob Godfrey, was about five minutes long. Thirty episodes were made, and it was first shown on 21 October 1974. The theme is that of the friendly rivalry between Roobarb, a seven-year-old green dog with an overactive imagination, and Custard, the mischievous eight-year-old pink cat from next door.