Your Very Good Health

Long before the ‘Charley Says’ campaign of the 1970s and ‘80s, another cartoon Charley was used to demystify the newly created NHS.

Long before the ‘Charley Says’ campaign of the 1970s and ‘80s, another cartoon Charley was used to explain the post-war Labour government's new legislative reforms. In this film Charley demystifies the new state-funded National Health Service, detailing the benefits a free-at-point-of-delivery health service will offer to everyone in England. Endowed with an average man-on-the-street's everyday charm and armed with cheeky ripostes to authoritative commentary, the cartoon character designed by Joy Batchelor became the familiar face of official post-war propaganda, serving to anticipate and, it was hoped, overcome the British public's characteristic scepticism about government-imposed changes.

This government film is a public record, preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives, home to more than 1,000 years of British history.