''Pipkins'' (originally ''Inigo Pipkin'') is a British children's TV programme. Hartley Hare, Pig, Topov, Octavia and the gang were the stars of
ATV's pre-school series which ran from January 1973 to 29 December 1981.
''Pipkins'' was one of the first children's programmes on British TV where the characters had regional accents: Pig had a
Birmingham accent; Topov the monkey was a
Cockney
Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or b ...
; Octavia the ostrich had a
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
accent; Pigeon had an
Upper class
Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is gen ...
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
accent; Mrs Penguin had a
Geordie
Geordie () is a nickname for a person from the Tyneside area of North East England, and the dialect used by its inhabitants, also known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English. There are different definitions of what constitut ...
accent; Uncle Hare had a
West Country English
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 encompassin ...
accent; Sophie the cat had a non-regional English accent; and Moony the Badger had a
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
accent.
Origins
In 1972, 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 expanded its daytime broadcasting hours and the
Independent Broadcasting Authority
The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television (ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Authorit ...
commissioned four of the main ITV companies to each provide a series of interest to pre-schoolers, as an alternative to the successful US import ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
''. From this commission
Thames Television
Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until th ...
came up with ''
Rainbow
A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...
'',
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
with ''Mister Trimble'',
Granada
Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...
with ''
Hickory House'', while
ATV's contribution would be ''Inigo Pipkin''.
''Inigo Pipkin'' was first shown on
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...
1973. When the show started, the main character was an elderly puppet maker called Inigo Pipkin (hence the original title), played by
George Woodbridge George Woodbridge may refer to:
* George Woodbridge (actor) (1907-1973), English actor
* George Woodbridge (illustrator)
George Woodbridge (October 3, 1930 – January 20, 2004) was an American illustrator known for his exhaustive researc ...
. The puppets were his creations, and over the course of the first series, viewers saw Inigo bring to life Hartley Hare and the Tortoise (a.k.a. George) played by
Nigel Plaskitt
Nigel Plaskitt (born 27 July 1950) is an English actor, puppeteer, producer, and stage and television director.
Career
His voice and puppetry talents have appeared on television shows such as ''Pipkins'' (for which he provided the narration, a ...
; and Topov the
monkey
Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...
, Pig and Octavia the
ostrich
Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There are ...
, all played by
Heather Tobias
Heather may refer to:
Plants
*The heather family, or Ericaceae, particularly:
**Common heather or ling, ''Calluna''
**Various species of the genus ''Cassiope''
**Various species of the genus ''Erica''
Name
* Heather (given name)
* Heather (su ...
.
However, Woodbridge died suddenly from a heart attack in March 1973, while recording of the second series was still taking place. ''Inigo Pipkin'' was not recorded in the order it was transmitted, and Woodbridge had only completed taping of the latter episodes. The scripts for the episodes that would be broadcast first in the transmission run, i.e. those that Woodbridge had not managed to record, were thus hastily rewritten, with Inigo's absence explained by his being away on a fishing holiday.
In 1974, in a first for children's television, the death of Inigo was worked into the programme, predating the
Mr Hooper episode on ''Sesame Street'' by nine years. From this episode onwards, the show was renamed ''Pipkins'' and Inigo's assistant, Johnny (
Wayne Laryea
Wayne Laryea (born 11 April 1952) is a British musician and television actor. Laryea is best known to American audiences for his role as the bumblebee Harmony in ''The Bugaloos'' (1970), and to British viewers as Johnny in ''Pipkins'' (1973). In ...
), took over. The direction of the programme had to change; from here on, the show ceased to centre around a puppet workshop and the characters became the 'Help People', helping anyone in need of a hand. Similarly, another episode "Death of a Goldfish" dealt with the topic of death, in regards to losing a pet. Topov the monkey and Johnny discussed why the goldfish died and why people die.
Johnny left ''Pipkins'' around 1978, to be replaced by Tom (
Jonathan Kydd), who moved on in 1980, his place taken by Peter Potter (
Paddy O'Hagan
Paddy may refer to:
People
*Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname
*An ethnic slur for an Irishman
Birds
*Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon
*Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird species
*Black-faced sh ...
). In later years
Sue Nicholls
Susan Frances Harmar Nicholls (born 23 November 1943) is an English actress, known for her roles on British television in ''Crossroads'' (1964–1968), ''The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'' (1976–1979) and, ''Rentaghost'' (1981–1984), a ...
made regular appearances as the Pipkins' neighbour, Mrs Muddle. The name was somewhat ironic as she was always a calming, self-assured presence around the puppets.
The familiar workshop set was replaced in 1979 (in the story "Moving Out"), with new interiors based around a kitchen and backyard. The new set was built up from ground level to enable puppeteers to work standing up and to move around more freely, modelled on the methods used by ''
The Muppet Show
''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a ser ...
'' which was also filmed at
ATV Elstree Studios
The BBC Elstree Centre, sometimes referred to as the BBC Elstree Studios, is a television production facility, currently owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The complex is located between Eldon Avenue and Clarendon Road in Boreh ...
.
Cancellation
''Pipkins'' ended when ATV lost its franchise for the Midlands ITV region, was restructured and became
Central Independent Television
ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the rest ...
. The programme was replaced by ''
Let's Pretend
''Let's Pretend'', created and directed by Nila Mack, was a CBS radio series for children. Prior to being renamed ''Let's Pretend'', the program had a variety of titles and formats. In its most famous form, ''Let's Pretend'', the Peabody Award- ...
''.
The series was made at
ATV Elstree studios
The BBC Elstree Centre, sometimes referred to as the BBC Elstree Studios, is a television production facility, currently owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The complex is located between Eldon Avenue and Clarendon Road in Boreh ...
, with occasional filming on location. For the ''Inigo Pipkin'' episodes, the opening and closing titles were sung by
Jackie Lee, who had earlier sung the themes to children's programmes ''
The Adventures of Rupert Bear
''The Adventures of Rupert Bear'' (''My Little Rupert'' in the US) was a live-action puppet television series, based on the Mary Tourtel character Rupert Bear, produced by ATV. It aired from 28 October 1970 to 24 August 1977 on the ITV network, ...
'' and ''
White Horses
''The White Horses'' is a 1965 television series co-produced by RTV Ljubljana (now RTV Slovenija) of Yugoslavia and German TV (''Südwestfunk'').
Plotline
The story follows the adventures of a teenage girl Julia (Helga Anders) who leaves Belgrad ...
''.
Unusually for a children's programme, there was no spin-off ''Pipkins'' merchandise (toys, games, books etc.) produced during the programme's run.
Archive status
In common with other 1970s shows, several ''Pipkins'' episodes recorded on 625 line PAL Colour Videotape – including the very first ''Inigo Pipkin'' — are missing from the archives (poor storage of former ATV master colour videotapes has led to the loss of many shows), and not even any 16mm Black & White Film copies of the lost episodes exist.
Out of a total of 333 episodes, only 135 have survived. The other 197 episodes no longer exist in any format, while two others exist on 625 line PAL Colour Videotape only as incomplete copies (possibly due to videotape damage caused by poor storage).
Nigel Plaskitt
Nigel Plaskitt (born 27 July 1950) is an English actor, puppeteer, producer, and stage and television director.
Career
His voice and puppetry talents have appeared on television shows such as ''Pipkins'' (for which he provided the narration, a ...
— who provided the show's narration, as well as voicing and operating Hartley and Tortoise – made off-air domestic videocassette recordings of around 56 episodes, now the only format in which these are known to exist, and some have been used for the DVD release in the UK.
Lost Shows - Pipkins
/ref>
Cast
Characters
* Hartley Hare
* Topov Monkey
* Tortoise
* Pig
* Mooney Badger
* Octavia Ostrich
References
External links
Official ''Pipkins'' website
*{{IMDb title, id=0275147, title=Pipkins
1973 British television series debuts
1981 British television series endings
ITV children's television shows
1970s British children's television series
1980s British children's television series
1970s preschool education television series
1980s preschool education television series
British preschool education television series
British television shows featuring puppetry
Television series by ITV Studios
English-language television shows
Television shows produced by Associated Television (ATV)
Television series about rabbits and hares
Television shows shot at ATV Elstree Studios