Monty the Dog is a cartoon character created by British author Colin West. The character appeared in six books beginning in 1989, and was subsequently used as the basis for a television series. The series, consisting of 13 episodes, was produced by

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

Animation and aired on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

from 1994 to 1995.

Character

Monty is a pet dog owned by the Sprod family (Mr. and Mrs. Sprod and their children Simon and Josie). He wears his trademark red glasses which the Sprod family made for him following a suggestion from a cyclist who nearly hit him the day before. Monty still appears to be accident-prone, and he likes to eat

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

chocolate biscuit A chocolate biscuit is a biscuit (cookie) which is covered in chocolate, or which has been made by replacing some of the flour with cocoa powder. Chocolate biscuits are quite popular in places all over the world, particularly the United Kingdom. ...

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

custard Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency fro ...

mince pie A mince pie (also mincemeat pie in the United States, and fruit mince pie in Australia and New Zealand) is a sweet pie of English origin filled with mincemeat, being a mixture of fruit, spices and suet. The pies are traditionally served during the ...

s and Walnut Whips which often gets him into trouble.

Novels

The novels were published by

A & C Black A & C Black is a British book publishing company, owned since 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The company is noted for publishing '' Who's Who'' since 1849. It also published popular travel guides and novels. History The firm was founded in 18 ...

as part of the ''Jets'' series. They follow more or less the same format, the first book including the explanation of why Monty wears glasses. The story is told through text and

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

illustrations with an occasional speech bubble for the human characters, and a thought bubble for Monty's thoughts. The cover illustrations are in colour. * ''Monty, the Dog who Wears Glasses'' (A&C Black, 1989; ) *''Monty Bites Back'' (1990) (A&C Black, 1990, ) ** Published in the United States as ''Shape Up Monty!'' (Dutton Children's Books, 1991, ) * ''Monty - up to his neck in trouble'' (A&C Black, 1991, ) * ''Monty Must be Magic'' (A&C Black, 1992, ) * ''Monty Ahoy!'' (A&C Black, 1994, ) * ''Monty's Ups and Downs'' (Bloomsbury, 1996, )

Television series

A television series made by

Animation titled ''Monty'' based on the character was first broadcast on

in 1994 to 1995. Unlike the novels in which Monty's glasses do not have lenses it is implied that Monty is short sighted and has lenses in his glasses on television.

Episodes

*''Monty's Picnic'' *''Monty Goes to School'' *''Monty and the Cat Next Door'' *''Monty's Magic Trick'' *''Monty Gets the Blame'' *''Monty at the Vets'' *''Monty at the Library'' *''Monty at the Supermarket'' *''Monty at the Park'' *''Monty at the School Fete'' *''Monty Goes Missing'' *''Monty Meets Bruiser'' *''Monty and the Monsters''

Credits

* From the Stories by: Colin West * Writer:

Jimmy Hibbert James Christian Hibbert is an English actor and writer. He is best known for his voice work with the animation studio Cosgrove Hall Films. Early life James Christian Hibbert was born as the eldest of three children of author Christopher Hibbe ...

* Narrator/Voices:

Griff Rhys-Jones Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. Rhys Jones came to national attention in the 1980s for h ...

* Animation: For

; Neil Salmon, Kevin Baldwin, Malcolm Bourne * Computer Operators: David Brylewski, Kieron Murtage, Cornelia van de Water, John McManus * Layouts: David Elvin * Backgrounds: Vivienne Redmond * Producer for Ealing Animation: Richard Randolph * Associate Producer: Helen Crossen * Producer: Jill Green * Director: David Lewis * A Red Rooster Film & Television Entertainment Production for Children's International BBC and

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Author's website with Monty on the homepage
Characters in children's literature Fictional dogs Series of children's books English-language television shows BBC children's television shows BBC Scotland television shows British children's animated comedy television series 1994 British television series debuts 1995 British television series endings 1990s British animated television series 1990s British children's television series