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.
Bob the Builder is a British animated children's television series created by Keith Chapman for HIT Entertainment and HOT Animation. The series follows the adventures of Bob, a general contractor, specialising in masonry, along with his colleague Wendy, various neighbours, and friends, and equipment, and their gang of anthropomorphised work-vehicles, Scoop, Muck, Dizzy, Roley, Lofty and many others. The series ran from 12 April 1999 to 31 December 2011 in the United Kingdom through the CBBC strand and later CBeebies. The series originally used stop-motion from 1999 to 2008, but later used CGI animation starting with the spin-off series Ready, Steady, Build! (2010-2011). The British proprietors of Bob the Builder and Thomas & Friends sold the enterprise in 2011 to US toy-maker Mattel for $680 million.
Cosgrove Hall Films was an English animation studio founded by Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall; its headquarters was in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. Cosgrove Hall was once a major producer of children's television and animated programmes/films; Cosgrove Hall's programmes 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 Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, 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.
Anne Wood, CBE is an English children's television producer, responsible for creating shows such as Teletubbies with Andrew Davenport. She is also the creator of Tots TV and Rosie and Jim. She was a recipient of the Eleanor Farjeon Award.
Rosie and Jim is a British children's television programme which was produced by Ragdoll Productions and aired on the Children's ITV block on ITV from 3 September 1990 to 16 May 2000. The programme was then repeated periodically on CITV until 23 July 2004.
Huxley Pig is a British stop motion animated children's television series based on a series of picture books authored by Rodney Peppé.
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 5 and under.
Oakie Doke is a British children's television programme that was broadcast from 1995 to 1997 on the Children's BBC block of the BBC. It was produced by Cosgrove Hall Films and was animated with stop-motion animation. The show ran for two series, each containing 13 episodes.
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.
This is a list of British television related events from 1997.
Calon is the trading name of Mount Stuart Media Ltd., a British animation television production company based in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, which primarily produced animation series in Welsh for S4C. The company was formerly known as Siriol Animation and Siriol Productions.
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.
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.
Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids is a British animated horror television series based on the generic trademarked children's book series of the same name by Jamie Rix. After the first three books were published from 1990 to 1996, Carlton Television adapted the short stories into ten-minute cartoons for ITV, produced by themselves, Honeycomb Animation, and Rix's production company, Elephant Productions. It aired on CITV between January 2000 and October 2006 with six series and 78 episodes, as well as a New Year's Eve special that was over 20 minutes longer than other episodes. The series returned in a new format for Nicktoons with 26 episodes split into two series under the name Grizzly Tales, which aired between May 2011 and November 2012.
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-off's have been 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.
