| The Adventures of Portland Bill | |
|---|---|
| Created by | John Grace |
| Starring | Norman Rossington |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 25 (2 stories per episode) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 5 mins |
| Production company | FilmFair London |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV (CITV) |
| Release | 4 October 1983 – 25 June 1986 |
The Adventures of Portland Bill is a British stop motion animated children's television series made in 1983. It is set in a fictional lighthouse on the Guillemot Rock, just off the coast from the fictional village of McGuillycuddy. Norman Rossington provides the voice of all the characters, with Portland Bill the principal keeper acting as the narrator of each episode.
Most of its characters were named after British Sea Areas and coastal weather stations and other words that occur in shipping forecasts:
These live in the lighthouse:
The rest of the characters live elsewhere:
The idea was originated by John Grace and submitted to the competition 'Maritime England'. Most of the characters are named after the areas of the UK Shipping Forecast. Grandma Tiree and Inspector Ronaldsway are named after automatic weather stations and “Gail” is named after the high winds frequently forecast. The submission won the prize and was picked up by Graham Clutterbuck at FilmFair who went on to commission two series for ITV. At the time, John Grace and Mik Parsons were colleagues teaching in the Graphic Design Department at Leicester Polytechnic (now DeMontfort University). They collaborated on the music and song content with Mik Parsons recording all the songs on his 4-track cassette based Tascam Portastudio.
Series 1
John Grace/FilmFair Ltd MCMLXXXIII
Series 2
John Grace/FilmFair Ltd MCMLXXXVI
13 editions from 4 October 1983 – 3 January 1984 (aired on Tuesdays)
12 editions from 9 April 1986 – 25 June 1986 (aired on Wednesdays)
FilmFair Fun had released one single video containing five double-length stories from the first series on it:
| Title | Catalogue number | Release date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Adventures of Portland Bill | 40100 | 1986 |
|
Sometime during 1988, FilmFair Fun had also released an extended single video with six double-length stories from the first series on it:
| Title | Catalogue number | Release date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Adventures of Portland Bill I | FF1111 | 1988 |
|
Snapdragon Video released a collection of 10 Portland Bill stories from the second series:
| Title | Catalogue number | Release date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portland Bill: 10 Stories from the Classic TV Series | SD 9001 | 7 October 1991 |
|
On 17 July 1995, Castle Communications Plc released three videos with four double-length episodes each:
| VHS Name | Castle Vision Catalogue Number | Playbox Catalogue Number | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portland Bill: 45 Minutes of Fun | CVS 4040 | PVC 145 |
|
| Portland Bill: Four Original Episodes | CVS 4041 | PVC 146 |
|
| Portland Bill: Four Classic Adventures | CVS 4042 | PVC 147 |
|
Abbey Home Media released two DVDs containing twenty four episodes from the first season. The episodes are presented in single bill format and do not include the songs that were originally featured between two episodes each.
| Title | Release date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|
| The Adventures Of Portland Bill: Changeable Weather (AHEDVD 3160) | 12 June 2006 |
|
| The Adventures Of Portland Bill: Atmospheric Interference (AHEDVD 3219) | 26 March 2007 |
|
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