Rusty Goffe, one of just two surviving Oompa Loompas from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, noticed one immediate improvement when he stepped onto the set of Netflix’s 2026 reality series Wonka: The Golden Ticket: this chocolate river did not smell terrible.
The sugary stream that became one of the most memorable features of Mel Stuart’s 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s story looked enchanting on screen. Behind the scenes, however, it was a very different story. The replica in the new production was, fortunately, far more appetising.
Speaking exclusively to Our News Outlet, Goffe, now 77 and still working as an actor, recalled the reality of filming the original movie. “Fifty-five years ago, it was basically dirty water,” he said. “The crew would throw cigarette ends and scraps of old scripts into it. Then they added real sugar and cream.”
Under the studio’s hot lights, the mixture quickly became unpleasant. “After a few days, everything began to smell awful,” Goffe said. “For the new show, though, it really was just a lovely chocolate river.”
More than five decades after the film launched his career, Goffe is helping lead a new generation of Oompa Loompas in the high-stakes Netflix competition. Wonka: The Golden Ticket brings 12 pairs of contestants into a spectacular recreation of Willy Wonka’s factory, with every team carrying a golden ticket and competing for a £2.25 million prize designed to be “set for life.”
Goffe, who has dwarfism and is 4ft 2in tall, is not the only connection to the original production. The 1971 movie was made on a relatively modest £2.2 million budget and achieved only moderate box-office success when it was released.
Back for another bite: British actor Rusty Goffe, 77, returns as an Oompa Loompa for Netflix reality series Wonka: The Golden Ticket, 55 years after appearing in the original film
Goffe says being cast as part of Willy Wonka’s workforce changed his life. He was 22 and had never appeared in a film when he worked on the 1971 production. Netflix executives later persuaded him to put on the green wig once again for the new series inspired by Roald Dahl’s book
Looks delicious, smelled awful: Rusty Goffe says the chocolate river in the original film became a makeshift dustbin for the crew, while the real cream and sugar began to stink beneath the studio lights
The new series also features the voice of Gene Wilder, the American star who played Willy Wonka in 1971 and died in 2016 at the age of 83. With permission from his estate, artificial intelligence has been used to recreate his narration.
Some longtime fans watching the reality show, which was filmed on an advanced 88,000-square-foot set near Brisbane and premiered two weeks ago, have described the computer-generated voice as slightly “creepy.”
So what did Goffe make of hearing a version of Wilder’s voice again after all these years?
“I thought he was actually there. I thought he had turned up,” Goffe joked. Rather than being unsettled by the technology, he said the experience felt “magical, just magical.”
Putting on a redesigned version of his old dungarees, along with the unmistakable green hair and orange makeup, also transported him straight back to the beginning of his career.
Of the original Oompa Loompa performers, only Goffe and Albert Wilkinson, who was born in Lancashire and is now 88, are still living.
With Gene Wilder and the ten Oompa Loompas in the 1971 film. “We called ourselves ‘Oomphs’,” Goffe recalls. Wilder died in 2016 aged 83, but an AI recreation of his voice narrates the new Netflix series, prompting some viewers to call it “creepy”
“I could feel the other Oompa Loompas there with me,” Goffe said. “It felt as though the entire team had come back.”
He added: “Gene Wilder, Roy Kinnear, who played Veruca Salt’s father, and all the others were there in a way — almost sitting on our shoulders and saying, ‘This is the next generation of Wonka.’”
When Goffe arrived in Munich to begin filming the original movie in 1970, he admits he felt completely inexperienced.
“I was 22 when we made the first film, and it was my first movie ever,” he said. “I had no idea what I was supposed to do. The director and the other Oompa Loompas guided me — we called ourselves the ‘Oomphs’ — and Roy Kinnear was there too. He was such a lovely man.”
What was Wilder really like? The famously soft-spoken star’s portrayal of candy man Wonka ended up being the role he was most famous for.
Goffe says: ‘I loved him. He was a funny man yet serious. He knew what he wanted – but he was gentle. That’s all I can say.’
The actor, who was born in Herne Bay, Kent in 1948, and now lives in Leighton Buzzard with his wife Sarah, says landing the part in the classic film – still considered the best version of Dahl’s book – changed his life forever.
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His illustrious roll-call of films includes Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Willow and five Harry Potter movies…but, Goffe adds: ‘Nothing beats Wonka’.
Unless it’s the version which starred Johnny Depp – and featured just one Oompa Loompa – in 2005. ‘Don’t even mention Tim Burton!’.
Father-and-son: Netflix also snapped up Rusty’s son Ben, 33, pictured left, to join the latest incarnation of the Oompa Loompas
Reimagined: While the original film featured ten actors of short stature, the Netflix version includes a much more diverse cast of characters, including 6ft 8′ Australian actor Mitchell Marion
There were ten Oompa Loompas in the original film, all of short stature, with nine now in the line-up – and this time around, they come in all shapes and sizes, including 6ft 8′ Mitchell Marion, the ‘tallest Oompa that’s ever Loompa’d.’
He says mixing things up was a ‘great idea’. ‘I loved it. When the first movie came out, people were saying “Oh, I wish I was an Oompa Loompa” and this show proves that anyone can be…if you’ve got orange makeup and green hair.’
Alongside a more ambrosial chocolate river, modern advances meant that the famous Oompa Loompa get-up was a little easier to deal with.
‘In 1971, there was a makeup artist called Klaus assigned to the Oompa Loompas.
‘Every five minutes he would scream “More powder boys! There’s a break…put more orange powder on”. By the end of the day, you had to literally scrape it off.’
He adds: ‘And this time the wigs fitted. 55 years ago, they thought every dwarf had the same sized head. This time the green wigs fitted like a glove.’
Goffe didn’t like the footwear though. ‘We had to dance in heavy boots, not like the flat ballet pumps we had 55 years ago.’
Rusty’s son Ben, left, has followed his dad onto stage and screen – with regular appearances in panto, musicals and films
The actor also brought one of his two sons, Ben, 33, along for the ride, with the acting duo based on Australia’s Gold Coast for filming over six weeks last autumn.
Ben explains: ‘An email came from my agent, they were trying to get hold of Dad to ask if he’d like to revisit Willy Wonka after 55 years. And then they asked if I wanted to be part of it too.’
There was one strict rule on set in Australia though, says Ben, who, along with brother Jack, has followed his father into stage and screen.
‘With the Netflix contestants, we weren’t allowed to talk to them at all. The producers wanted to keep them in the world of Willy Wonka. We were sworn to secrecy.’
Was Ben, who’s about to join the cast of Barnum, the musical about ringmaster P T Barnum and will be playing Buttons in panto in Dartford this Christmas, always going to follow his parents to the stage? His mum, Sarah, was a dance teacher and is now an international dance examiner.
‘I started at their theatre school when I was three. Even now, if I’m at the Royal Shakespeare Company or at the National Theatre, they will still give me notes.
‘My mum will still say “Oh, you started that bit of choreography on the wrong note, on the wrong foot”, or Dad will say “Try that line a little bit different”. And 95% of the time, they’re always right.’
Despite the days of filming Down Under being gruelling – the pair had just two days of respite in six weeks, both father-and-son are keen as mustard for a second series.
Indeed, Rusty baulks at the idea that he might have sung ‘Oompa, Loompa, doompa-dee-do’ for the last time: ‘Just in case Netflix, or anyone else, asks, please do make it clear I have not retired…’
Wonka: The Golden Ticket is on Netflix now
