Hattytown Tales is a 39-episode stop-motion animatedchildren's television series produced by FilmFair for Thames Television, which aired in the United Kingdom between 1969 and 1973. Creator and writer Keith Chatfield narrated the series, and Ivor Wood directed it. Books were published by World Distributors and it was featured in the Playland Comic (offshoot of Pippin) published by Polystyle Publications and in children's annuals for 10 years.
The residents of Hattytown were anthropomorphichats. The style of hat each character was indicated by their ethnicity, attitude, and role in Hattytown society. For instance, Bobby, the constable, resembles the hat of a constable. Buildings in the town are also hat-shaped; each building's form suggests either its primary function or resident.
The main character, Sancho, is a Mexican sombrero with legs and eyes. Carrots, his best friend, is a donkey with a carrot dangling in front of his face. In one episode, an angry bird makes its nest in Sancho's car. Every time the Hattytown residents try to move the bird, it snaps at them. At the end of the episode, the car door opens to reveal a nest of eggs that eventually hatch.
Episodes
Series 1 (1969)
Mr Wimple's Breakfast Rolls
Bobby's Flower Garden
Carrot's Carrot
King Ethelbert
Milko's Day Off
Simon's Magnifying Glass
Going Fishing
The Statue
Sancho's Camera
Posty's Old Boots
You Cannot Please Everyone
Wash Day
The King's Portrait
Series 2 (1970)
Saving Time
Up and Away
Creatures of Outer Space
Almost Magic
The Pillar Box
The Royal Hattytown Guards
Friendship
The Picnic
The Cannon
Carrots for the Mayor
Too Much of a Good Thing
Hiccup Buns
Bookworms
Series 3 (1973)
Bobby's Security Patrol
Mr. Bun the Master Baker
The Walking Pillar Box
The Fete
A Note for the Milkman
Sneezy Cheese
Mrs. Bagwash and the King
The Secret Tunnel
It Pays to Advertise
The Auction
The Telephone Box
A Taxi for Hire
Mustafer the Hedgehog
International broadcast
In the United States, Hattytown Tales was also often featured during the television programme Pinwheel on Nickelodeon.
Home releases
VHS
On 17 July 1995, Castle Communications released three videos with five episodes on each one. The copyright year on the back cover and the label is mistakenly printed as 1981 even though all 13 Series 1 episodes of Hattytown Tales were broadcast on ATV in 1969 and the first two Series 2 episodes of Hattytown Tales were broadcast on ATV in 1970.
VHS Title
Catalogue Number
Episodes
Hatty Town: 5 Classic Adventures
CVS 4054
"Mr Wimple's Breakfast Rolls"
"Bobby's Flower Garden"
"Carrot's Carrot"
"King Elthelbert"
"Milko's Day Off"
Hatty Town: 5 Exciting Episodes
CVS 4055
"Simon's Magnifying Glass"
"Going Fishing"
"The Statue"
"Sancho's Camera"
"Posty's Old Boots"
Hatty Town: 5 Fun Episodes
CVS 4056
"You Cannot Please Anyone"
"Wash Day"
"The King's Portrait"
"Saving Time"
"Up and Away"
On 14 May 2001, Contender Entertainment Group released a single video with the first three episodes as part of the company's 'kult kidz' range of classic British children's shows from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s that were released on video.
Clangers is a British stop-motion animated children's television series, consisting of short films about a family of mouse-like creatures who live on, and inside, a small moon-like planet. They speak only in a whistled language, and eat green soup and blue string pudding. The programmes were originally broadcast on BBC1 between 1969 and 1972, followed by a special episode which was broadcast in 1974.
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage is a thirteen-part, 1980-1981 television series written by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, and Steven Soter, with Sagan as presenter. It was executive-produced by Adrian Malone, produced by David Kennard, Geoffrey Haines-Stiles, and Gregory Andorfer, and directed by the producers, David Oyster, Richard Wells, Tom Weidlinger, and others. It covers a wide range of scientific subjects, including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe. Owing to its bestselling companion book and soundtrack album using the title, Cosmos, the series is widely known by this title, with the subtitle omitted from home video packaging. The subtitle began to be used more frequently in the 2010s to differentiate it from the sequel series that followed.
DuckTales is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It originally premiered on syndication on September 18, 1987, and ran for a total of 100 episodes over four seasons, with its final episode airing on November 28, 1990. Based upon Uncle Scrooge and other Duck universe comic books created by Carl Barks, the show follows Scrooge McDuck, his three grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and close friends of the group, on various adventures, most of which either involve seeking out treasure or thwarting the efforts of villains seeking to steal Scrooge's fortune or his Number One Dime.
The Box is an Australian soap opera that ran on ATV-0 from 11 February 1974 until 11 October 1977 and on 0–10 Network affiliates around Australia.
Scott Thompson, known professionally as Carrot Top, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is widely known for his use of prop comedy.
Crossroads is a British television soap opera that ran on ITV over two periods – the original 1964 to 1988 run, followed by a short revival from 2001 to 2003. Set in a fictional motel in the Midlands, Crossroads became a byword for low production values, particularly in the 1970s and early 1980s. Despite this, the series regularly attracted huge audiences during this time, with ratings as high as 15 million viewers.
Harry H. Corbett was an English actor and comedian, best remembered for playing rag-and-bone man Harold Steptoe alongside Wilfrid Brambell in the long-running BBC television sitcom Steptoe and Son. His success on television led to appearances in comedy films including The Bargee (1964), Carry On Screaming! (1966) and Jabberwocky (1977).
Comedy Playhouse is a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 128 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including Steptoe and Son, Meet the Wife, Till Death Us Do Part, All Gas and Gaiters, Up Pompeii!, Not in Front of the Children, Me Mammy, That's Your Funeral, The Liver Birds, Are You Being Served? and particularly Last of the Summer Wine, which is the world's longest running sitcom, having run from January 1973 to August 2010. In all, 27 sitcoms started from a pilot in the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Pinwheel is an American children's television series that was the first show to air on the then-rebranded Nickelodeon, as well as the first to appear on its Nick Jr. block along reruns until 1990. The show was aimed at preschoolers aged 3–5. It was created by Vivian Horner, an educator who spent her earlier career at the Children's Television Workshop, the company behind PBS's Sesame Street. The show was geared to the "short attention span of preschoolers," with each episode divided into short, self-contained segments including songs, skits, and animations from all over the world.
Catweazle is a British children's fantasy television series, starring Geoffrey Bayldon in the title role, and created by Richard Carpenter for London Weekend Television. The first series, produced and directed in 1969 by Quentin Lawrence, was screened in the UK on ITV in 1970. The second series, produced and directed in 1970 by David Reid and David Lane, was shown in 1971. Each series had thirteen episodes, most but not all written by Carpenter, who also published two books based on the scripts.
The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss is an American children's puppet television series based on characters created by Dr. Seuss, produced by The Jim Henson Company. It aired from October 13, 1996, to May 15, 1998, on Nickelodeon. It combines live puppets with digitally animated backgrounds, and in its first season, refashioning characters and themes from the original Dr. Seuss books into new stories that often retained much of the flavor of Dr. Seuss' own works.
The Herbs is a television series for young children made for the BBC by Graham Clutterbuck's FilmFair company. It was written by Michael Bond, directed by Ivor Wood using 3D stop motion model animation and first transmitted from 12 February 1968 in the BBC1 Watch with Mother timeslot. There were 13 episodes in the series, each one 15 minutes long.
The Adventures of Sir Lancelot is a British television series first broadcast in 1956, produced by Sapphire Films for ITC Entertainment and screened on the ITV network. The series starred William Russell as the eponymous Sir Lancelot, a Knight of the Round Table in the time of King Arthur at Camelot.
Faerie Tale Theatre is an American award-winning live-action fairytale fantasy drama anthology television series of 27 episodes, that originally broadcast nationally on Showtime from September 11, 1982 until November 14, 1987. It is a retelling of 25 classic fairy tales, particularly those written by The Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault and Hans Christian Andersen. Episode 18 was not based on a fairy tale, but rather on the poem "The Pied Piper of Hamelin".
The Adventures of Rupert Bear was a live-action puppet television series, based on the Mary Tourtel character Rupert Bear, produced by ATV. It aired from 28 October 1970 to 24 August 1977 on the ITV network, with 156 11-minute episodes produced over four series. but would later enjoy regular repeat screenings until 1981
The Morecambe & Wise Show is a comedy sketch show originally broadcast by BBC television and the third TV series by English comedy double-act Morecambe and Wise. It began airing in 1968 on BBC2, specifically because it was then the only channel broadcasting in colour, following the duo's move to the BBC from ATV, where they had made Two of a Kind since 1961.
Paddington is a British children's animated television series based on the Paddington Bear books by Michael Bond. Broadcast from 1976 to 1980, the series was scripted by Bond himself, and produced by FilmFair; it was narrated by Michael Hordern, who also voiced all of the characters.
The Kingdom of Paramithi is an Australian children's television series first screened on the Nine Network and Nick Jr. on 11 November 2008. The series is created by The Wiggles and Nickelodeon, with 30 half-hour episodes for pre-school children.
Jim Henson's Mother Goose Stories is a children's television show hosted by Mother Goose, who tells her three goslings the stories behind well-known nursery rhymes.
Don't Scare the Hare is a 2011 British television game show produced by Initial for the BBC, hosted by Jason Bradbury and narrated by Sue Perkins. The programme was aired on BBC One on Saturday evenings and was first transmitted on 23 April 2011. This series had been planned to run for nine episodes but it was taken off air after six episodes because of poor ratings. The remaining three episodes were rescheduled for broadcast in October 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
