The term 'Womble' or 'Wombles' was used to describe new recruits and probationary firefighters in the London Fire Brigade during the 1970's.
The series gained a huge cult following almost immediately it started to be shown as part of the BBC's children's programming in the late afternoon. A huge sideline in merchandising, a number of hit records and a live action feature film all followed in the aftermath of the success of the series.
Wimbledon Football Club (now called AFC Wimbledon) acquired the the nickname 'The Wombles' from the 1980s onwards such was the cultural impact of this series in the UK. Elisabeth Beresford even drew up a new Womble called 'Haydon' as the club mascot.
Each of the principal characters are named after geographical terms. Orinoco is named after the river in South America; Tobermory after a town in the north of Scotland in the United Kingdom; Tomsk is a town in Russia; Bungo is a Japanese province on the island of Kyushu; Wellington is the capital of New Zealand; Madame Cholet is named for a town called Cholet in France; and Great Uncle Bulgaria is named after the country.
Bernard Cribbins provided the voices for all the characters in the English language version. Such was the cultural impact of the show in the UK that over 40 years later he was still amazed by the number of now middle aged adults who told him it was their childhood favorite television show.