''Doctor Snuggles'' is an

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television show, television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during ...

created by Jeffrey O'Kelly, based on original artwork by Nick Price, about a friendly and optimistic inventor who has unusual adventures with his friends. The show featured fantastical scenarios typically based on the outlandish inventions of Doctor Snuggles, supported by a variety of supporting characters including anthropomorphic animals and objects.

Production

The show was a co-production between British and Dutch producers. The animation was split by two studios:

Topcraft Topcraft (トップクラフト ''Toppukurafuto'', also written as "Top Craft") was an animation studio established on February 1, 1972 by former Toei Animation producer Toru Hara, and located in Tokyo, Japan. It was famous for the production of ...

in Japan (episodes 1–7, plus intro and ending) and DePatie-Freleng (episodes 8-13) from the United States with some minor differences in animation. All Topcraft episodes (with its unique sound effects) were directed by the prolific Tsuguyuki Kubo, who worked with

Rankin/Bass Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usual ...

(among others) on many of their features, movies (''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ''N ...

'' and ''

The Last Unicorn ''The Last Unicorn'' is a fantasy novel by American author Peter S. Beagle and published in 1968, by Viking Press in the U.S. and The Bodley Head in the U.K. It follows the tale of a unicorn, who believes she is the last of her kind in the wor ...

''), and syndicated series ('' ThunderCats''). English, Dutch, German, Swedish and Spanish language versions exist, among others. In the English-language version the title character was narrated by veteran actor Peter Ustinov, with Olwen Griffiths and

John Challis John Spurley Challis (16 August 1942 – 19 September 2021) was an English actor. He had an extensive theatre and television career but is best known for portraying Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the long-running BBC Television sitcom ''Only ...

. The show debuted in 1980 and consisted of thirteen half-hour episodes. The show was based on original artwork by British illustrator

Nick Price Nicholas Raymond Leige Price (born 28 January 1957) is a Zimbabwean retired professional golfer who has won three major championships in his career: the PGA Championship twice (in 1992 and 1994) and The Open Championship in 1994. In the mid-19 ...

, original scripts and ideas by Jeffrey O'Kelly, and television scripts for each episode by Richard Carpenter and John Halas. Two episodes (#7 and #12) were written by

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), BBC radio comedy, ''The H ...

and John Lloyd, both dealing with ecological issues. Episode 9 was written by Loek Kessels. In the UK, the show featured as part of the ''Watch It!'' strand for children on the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

network and later got repeated on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

as well as being broadcast on

The Children's Channel The Children's Channel, also known as TCC, was a British-based pan-European children's television channel in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which was owned by Flextech in London, England, UK. It began broadcasting on the original Eutelsat ...

on cable and satellite television. In Canada, the series aired on

TVO TVO (stylized as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates flagship station CICA-DT (channel 19) in To ...

in Ontario and on

Knowledge Network Knowledge Network, also branded as British Columbia's Knowledge Network, is a Canadian publicly funded educational cable television network serving the province of British Columbia. It is owned by the Knowledge Network Corporation, a Crown co ...

in British Columbia. It also aired on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

in Australia and ran from 1 March 1982 to 20 September 1991,

M-Net M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

and

Bop TV Bop TV was a television station run by the Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation in the former Republic of Bophuthatswana in South Africa. History Commencing operations in 1984, it primarily transmitted imported programmes in an unedited for ...

in South Africa, RTB in Brunei, RTÉ in the Irish Republic where it began airing in 1989 and was shown a number of times up until 1998, PTV in Pakistan, syndication (distribution via Chicago-based

Field Communications Field Communications was an American broadcast media company and a wholly owned division of Field Enterprises, which owned the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and the ''Chicago Daily News''. Based in Chicago, Illinois, the company owned UHF independe ...

securing US distribution rights),

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

, and

Nick Jr. Nick Jr. (known on-air as the Nick Jr. Channel) is an American pay television channel spun off from Nickelodeon's long-running programming block of the same name. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Gr ...

in the US, TV2 and TV3 in Malaysia,

MediaCorp Channel 5 Channel 5 (Chinese: 五頻道) is a free-to-air, English-language television channel in Singapore. Owned by state broadcaster Mediacorp, it broadcasts general entertainment, news, and sports programming. The channel's logo is a big white number ...

in Singapore and in New Zealand on TV1 and TV2. The Dutch

dubbing Dubbing (re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production, often in concert with sound design, in which additional or supplementary recordings are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production sou ...

was directed by Frans Voordrecht, by with voices by

Jules Croiset Jules Croiset (born 9 October 1937) is a Dutch actor. He has appeared in more than 40 films and television shows since 1960. He is also known for having staged his own abduction by neo-Nazis in 1987. Selected filmography * ''Help! The Doctor Is ...

, Trudy Libosan, Dick Scheffer and Rupert van Woerkom. A German dubbed version was also produced, starring Walter Jokisch as Doctor Snuggles, produced by the Bavaria Atelier GmbH, that premiered in June 1981. The Swedish version features

John Harryson John Edvard Harryson (17 April 1926 – 28 November 2008) was a Swedish actor. He was the father of famous Swedish actor and television host Peter Harryson. Born in Katrineholm, Harrysson was a renowned actor in Sweden. For a younger ge ...

and the French version Roger Carel as Doctor Snuggles. Also, a

comic series This page provides lists of best-selling comic book series to date. It includes Japanese manga, American comic books, and European comics. This list includes comic books that have sold at least 100million copies. There are three separate lists, ...

was produced, published in Germany and Sweden.

Plot

The show followed the adventures of Doctor Snuggles, a kind old gentleman who lives in a comfortable home with his elderly housekeeper, Miss Nettles. Doctor Snuggles spends most of his time inventing; across the series he creates robot Mathilda Junkbottom, a worm-mobile, a machine to restore the colours of the rainbow, a gadget to fight depression, a fire-proof lotion, and a time machine, amongst other inventions. Snuggles typically travels by means of a talking

pogo-stick A pogo stick is a device for jumping off the ground in a standing position, through the aid of a spring, or new high performance technologies, often used as a toy, exercise equipment or extreme sports instrument. It led to an extreme sport name ...

umbrella An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally use ...

and a wooden

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...

called the ''Dreamy Boom Boom''. Doctor Snuggles must also contend with the malevolent magician Professor Emerald, his arch enemy.

Music

Songs in the Finnish dub were sung by the actors of YLE Import re-using the De Angelis's music but with new Finnish lyrics. In the Finnish dub some scenes are cut, which includes musical numbers in some episodes.

Episodes

Movies

* Doctor Snuggles and His Friends (1984) * The Magic of Doctor Snuggles (1985) Doctor Snuggles and His Friends: - The Spectacular Rescue of Miss Nettles - The Remarkable Fidgety River - The Unbelievable Wormmobile Adventure - The Fearful Miscast Spell of Winnie the Witch - The Wondrous Powers of the Magic Casket The Magic of Doctor Snuggles: - The Extraordinary Odd Dilemma of Dennis the Badger - The Great Disappearing Mystery - The Fabulous Mechanical Mathilda Junkbottom - The Sensational Balloon Race - The Magical Multi-Coloured Diamond

Home releases

VHS

SWE - (Independent Video, re-released by Vision Park Video and Pan Vision) The edge of this 5 Vol forms a picture when put together. Vol 1: - Hur Matilda Järndotter Kom Till (Ep1) - Det Flyggande Sirapsträdet (Ep2) Vol 2: - När Beata blev bortförd (Ep4) - Äventyret med den otroliga maskmobilen (Ep4) Vol 3: - Ballongtävlingen (Ep5) - Jättediamanten (Ep6) Vol 4: - Den ängsliga floden (Ep8) - När häxan valborg lekte med elden (Ep7) Vol 5: - När grävlis inte var sig själv (Ep9) - Det magiska skrinet (Ep10) Vol 6: - De farliga burkarna (Ep11) - Mysteriet med de försvunna damerna (Ep12) - Den fantastiska legenden (Ep13)

DVD

On 4 July 2005, Firefly Entertainment released ''Doctor Snuggles'' on DVD in the UK. The four-disc box set ''Doctor Snuggles: The Complete Collection'' features all thirteen episodes of the series.

References

External links

Doctor Snuggles Official Site
*
Doctor Snuggles Reboot Series Trailer/Pilot
* * {{bcdb , Other_Studios/P/Polyscope/Doctor_Snuggles/, Doctor Snuggles 1979 British television series debuts 1980 British television series endings 1970s British animated television series 1980s British animated television series 1970s British children's television series 1980s British children's television series British children's animated science fantasy television series Television series by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises ITV children's television shows Nick Jr. original programming Topcraft Fictional inventors Steampunk television series English-language television shows Snuggles Television shows adapted into comics