Smallfilms is a British television production company that made animated TV programmes for children from 1959 until the 1980s. In 2014 the company began operating again, producing a new series of its most famous show, The Clangers, but it became dormant again in 2017, after production of the show was slightly changed. It was originally a partnership between Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. Several popular series of short films were made using stop-motion animation, including Clangers, Noggin the Nog and Ivor the Engine. Another Smallfilms production, Bagpuss, came top of a BBC poll to find the favourite British children's programme of the 20th century.
Cosgrove Hall Films was a British animation studio founded by Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall, headquartered in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. Cosgrove Hall was a major producer of children's television and animated programmes/films, which are still seen in over eighty countries. The company was wound down by its then owner, ITV plc, on 26 October 2009. It was mainly known for its series Danger Mouse, The Wind in the Willows and Count Duckula.
Ragdoll Productions Limited, or simply Ragdoll, is a British television production company founded in 1984 by Anne Wood, who had previously worked for Yorkshire Television and TV-am. It is located in Bloxham, Oxfordshire, and has produced a number of children's programmes, most notably Pob's Programme, Teletubbies, Rosie and Jim, Brum, Boohbah, Tots TV, and In the Night Garden..., most of which are now owned by WildBrain.
The Paul O'Grady Show was a British comedy chat show presented by comedian Paul O'Grady, first shown on 11 October 2004. The programme was a teatime chat show consisting of a mixture of celebrity guests, comic stunts, musical performances, and occasionally viewer competitions.
The Trap Door is a British animated television series, originally shown in the United Kingdom in 1986. The plot revolves around the daily lives and the misadventures of a group of monsters living in a castle. These include a blue creature called Berk, a spider-like creature called Drutt, and Boni, who was a skull of unknown origin. Although the emphasis was on humour and the show was marketed as a children's programme, it drew much from horror and dark fantasy.
Little Robots is a British stop-motion animated children's television series that was produced by Cosgrove Hall Films for Create TV & Film. The series originally aired on CBeebies, a British children's television channel known for its educational and entertaining programming aimed at preschoolers.
The Telebugs is a British animated children's television series featuring three robots.
Huxley Pig is a British stop motion animated children's television series based on a series of picture books authored by Rodney Peppé.
Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe is a British television review comedy programme created and presented by Charlie Brooker and broadcast on BBC Four. The programme contains reviews of current shows, as well as stories and commentary on how television is produced.
Bertha is a 13-episode British stop motion-animated children's television series about a factory machine of that name that aired from 1985 to 1986. All the characters were designed by Ivor Wood, and the series was produced by his company, Woodland Animations. It was broadcast on BBC Television, It was intended as a replacement to the Postman Pat series, until the second series aired in 1996.
Gran is a British short-lived stop motion animation television series narrated by Patricia Hayes and directed by Ivor Wood. There were only two main characters, namely Gran and her grandson, Jim, and they were lucky and kind.
Milkshake! is a British children's television programming block on Channel 5 and is currently aimed at children aged 2 to 7.
Patricia Evelyn Hutchins was an English illustrator, writer of children's books, and broadcaster. She won the 1974 Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association for her book The Wind Blew. On screen, she was best known as 'Loopy-Lobes' the second owner of the "Ragdoll boat" in the long-running children's series Rosie and Jim.
FilmFair was a British production company and animation studio that produced children's television series, animated cartoons, educational films, and television advertisements. The company made numerous stop motion films using puppets, clay animation, and cutout animation.
Fetch the Vet is a British stop motion children's television programme created by Gail Penston and Stephen Thraves. 26 episodes were produced by Cosgrove Hall Films, Flextech Television, and London Weekend Television for ITV's children's strand CITV. The show concerned Tom Fetch, who lived in the countryside working as a vet and was respected by everyone because of his duties to help cure injured or sick animals.
Tiny and Crew is a British pre-school series which aired on Tiny TCC. Tiny TCC was replaced in 1997 by Living TV's time slot Tiny Living where the show continued. This show is a sister of the British pre-school television "Jibba Jabba" and uses Dog, which is the narrator of Jibba Jabba, as a character of the crew.
The Adventures of Parsley is a 32-episode children's television series animated in stop motion. Produced by FilmFair, The Adventures of Parsley was a spin-off of The Herbs. Its opening credits featured either Parsley the lion roaring or Dill the dog barking with their head in a circle, in a parody of Leo the Lion. Unlike in The Herbs the animal characters talked, a typical episode featuring a dialogue between the overenthusiastic Dill and the more laid back, deadpan Parsley. Other characters from The Herbs made occasional appearances. As in The Herbs the narration was provided by actor Gordon Rollings.
Michael Cole was a British writer. He created a number of children's programmes from the 1970s to the 1990s, including Alphabet Castle, Heads and Tails and Ragtime, for which he won a Society of Film and Television Award for Best Children's Programme. Together with his wife Joanne Cole, he created Bod, originally published as four books in 1965 and made into a TV show in the 1970s, as well as Fingerbobs and Gran.
Animal Antics is a twice BAFTA-nominated, live-action British pre-school series which aired on Channel 5's Milkshake strand. It was one of the first original children's program to air when it launched in 1997. The series was produced by Two Side Productions and it Initially run for 80 episodes. Although it only ran for 1 series, 4 spin-offs were produced between 2001 and 2015 each narrated by Derek Griffiths.
The Upstairs Downstairs Bears is a British-Canadian children's stop-motion animated series. The series was co-produced by Scottish Television Enterprises and Canada's Cinar in co-production with Egmont Imagination in Denmark, in association with Imagination Production and FilmFair Animation. The series was broadcast on CITV in the United Kingdom and Teletoon in Canada. It consists of a single season of 13 half-hour episodes, or 26 shorts.
