children's television
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 ...
series, created by Stan Hayward and directed by
Bob Godfrey
Roland Frederick Godfrey MBE (27 May 1921 – 21 February 2013),Roobarb
''Roobarb'' (also known as ''Roobarb and Custard'') is a British animated children's television series, created by Grange Calveley and originally shown on BBC1 just before the evening news. Each cartoon, written by Calveley and directed by Bob ...
'' and '' Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk''. The show starring a yellow feline, known only as Henry's Cat, and his many friends and enemies. In every episode, narration and character voices were provided by
Bob Godfrey
Roland Frederick Godfrey MBE (27 May 1921 – 21 February 2013),Dom DeLuise
Dominick DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009) was an American actor, comedian, director, producer, chef, and author. Known primarily for his comedic performances, he rose to fame in the 1970s as a frequent guest on television variety shows ...
.
Characters
Main
*Henry's Cat – laid-back, a daydreamer, with a great passion for eating.80s cartoons website /ref>
*Chris Rabbit – Henry's Cat's best friend, an ever-enthusiastic, highly energetic blue rabbit.
*Mosey Mouse – the opposite of Chris Rabbit, Mosey is dour and realistic.
*Douglas Dog, Sammy
Snail
A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...
, Pansy Pig, Denise
Duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...
, Ted
Tortoise
Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a turtle shell, shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, ...
, Philippe Frog – miscellaneous friends of Henry's Cat. They all mean well, but often overestimate their own abilities in various ways.
Antagonists
*Farmer Giles – a (human) farmer with a
West Country accent
West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of South West England, the area sometimes popularly known as the West Country.
The West Country is often defined as encompassi ...
, frequently inconvenienced by Henry's Cat's adventures.
*Constable
Bulldog
The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.police dog) who takes a very dim view of the gang's well-meaning escapades. Unlike the others, he is more of an authority figure than a true enemy, and when not getting caught up, is very friendly with the gang.
*Rum Baa Baa – a criminal mastermind, Henry's Cat's archenemy, and the world's most evil sheep.
Henry
Henry himself never appeared on screen; the name is thought by some to be an allusion to an earlier one-off Hayward/Godfrey collaboration, ''Henry 9 'til 5'', about a bowler-hatted commuter who escaped his boring everyday life by indulging in daydreams, mostly of a sexual nature. Henry's Cat shared the earlier character's tendency toward wild flights of fancy and laid-back approach to life. ''Henry's Cat'' creator Stan Hayward included the official explanation for the character's lack of a name on the official ''Henry's Cat Special Edition'' DVD in 2000. The explanation was that Henry, an unseen character in the series, had been Henry's Cat's original owner. He had moved away, and Henry's Cat had forgotten to go with him. He had a terrible memory, and later even forgot his own name, and so became known simply as "Henry's Cat".
Episode list
Series 1 (1983)
Each episode in this series is 4-5 minutes long.
Series 2 (1984)
Each episode in this series is 4–5 minutes long.
Series 3 (1986)
Each episode in this series is 14–15 minutes long.
Series 4 (1986-87)
Each episode in this series is 14–15 minutes long.
Series 5 (1992-93)
Each episode in this series is 12 minutes long.
Notes
*For some reason, all of the Henry's Cat episodes from Series 1 are dated 1983 and from Series 2 to Series 5 are dated 1984 in the credits.
*Bob Godfrey Films' opening logo of this series was Henry's Cat meowing, in a direct parody of the
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
logo.
*The companies that released the videos were
Guild Home Video
Guild Home Video (GHV) or Guild Film Distribution was one of the first video distribution companies to start operating in the UK. Unlike other independent labels such as Intervision or Videoform, GHV not only survived for a very long time, but c ...
,
Castle Vision
Castle Communications, also known as Castle Music, was a British independent record label and home video distributor founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane, and Jon Beecher. Its video imprint was called Castle Vision. The label's productio ...
/Playbox Video, Children's Choice, and
Screen Legends
Carlton was a British media company. It was led by Michael P. Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it was bought by Granada plc in a corporate takeover to form ITV plc. Carlton shareholders gained ...
/
Pickwick Video
ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadca ...
. Despite airing on
Children's BBC
BBC Children's and Education is the BBC division responsible for media content for children in the UK. Since the launch of specially dedicated television channels in 2002, the services have been marketed under two brands. CBBC (short for Chil ...
, it was never licensed to home video by
BBC Video
2 Entertain (stylized as 2 , entertain) is a British video and music publisher founded in September 2004 by the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International in 2004. Under CEO Richard Green, the company operated as a joint venture b ...
.
Family Home Entertainment
Family Home Entertainment (FHE) was an American home video company founded in 1980 by Noel C. Bloom. It was a division of International Video Entertainment, which had its headquarters in Newbury Park, California.
History
The company was founde ...
and HBO Video also had released VHS tapes in the US in 1984 and 1987 respectively.
*In January 2008, a promotional DVD containing all Series 1 episodes was distributed by The Times newspaper.
Credits
Series 1
*Created by: Stan Hayward
*Script: Stan Hayward
*Animation: Bob Godfrey, Paul Stone, Kevin Baldwin
*Music & Sound: Peter Shade
*Narrated by: Bob Godfrey
*Camera & Editing: Derek Phillips
*Production: Mike Hayes
*Produced & Directed by: Bob Godfrey
(c) Stan Hayward Bob Godfrey Films Ltd. 1983
Series 2
*Created by: Stan Hayward
*Script: Stan Hayward
*Animation: Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey, Malcolm Hartley, Drew Mandigo, Paul Stone
*Assistant Animator: Malou Bonicos, one episode, series 2, The Hot Day
*Music: John Hyde / de Wolfe Ltd.
*Dubbing: John Wood Studios
*Editing: Sean Lenihan
*Camera: Derek Phillips
*Production: Mike Hayes
*Produced, Directed and Narrated by: Bob Godfrey
(c) Stan Hayward Bob Godfrey Films Ltd. 1984 (From Series 2 to Series 5)
Series 3
*Created by: Stan Hayward
*Script: Stan Hayward
*Animation: Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey, Malcolm Hartley, Mark Oz, Paul Rosevear
*Music: John Hyde / de Wolfe Ltd
*Trace & Paint: Tancy Baran, Beryl Godfrey, Louise Unwin
*Camera: Derek Phillips
*Editing: John Daniels
*Production: Mike Hayes
*Produced, Directed and Narrated by: Bob Godfrey
Series 4
*Created by: Stan Hayward
*Script: Stan Hayward
*Animation: Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey, Neil Salmon
*Additional Animation: Steve Roberts
*Music: Jonathan Hodge
*Trace and Paint: Beryl Godfrey, Louise Unwin
*Camera: Julian Holdaway, Heather Reader
*Editing: Picture Head
*Production: Mike Hayes
*Narrated, Directed and Produced by: Bob Godfrey
Series 5
*Created by: Stan Hayward
*Script: Stan Hayward, Mike Knowles, Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey
*Storyboard, Layouts, Animation: Kevin Baldwin
*Additional Animation: Jeff Goldner, Neil Salmon, Bob Godfrey, Jody Gannon.
*Trace and Paint: Denise Hambry, Lisa Smith, Jazvinda Phull, Beryl Godfrey, Ricky Arnold
*Music: Rowland Lee
*Title Music: Jonathan P. Hodge
*Camera: Jeremy Moorshead
*Backgrounds: Bob Godfrey
*Editing: Picturehead
*Production: Mike Hayes
*Narrated, Produced and Directed by: Bob Godfrey
Home media
Australian VHS releases
*
Roadshow Entertainment
Roadshow Entertainment (formerly known as Roadshow Home Video from 1982–1993) is an Australian home video, production and distribution company that is a division of Village Roadshow (formerly Roadshow Home Video and Roadshow Entertainment) th ...