''Mopatop's Shop'' is a children's television series that which premiered on
CITV
CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...
in the UK on 4 January 1999. 260 ten-minute episodes were made and aired daily. It was a co-production between
Jim Henson Television and
Carlton Television. After it finished its run in 2005 it was repeated for several years afterwards until 2010.
Production
The show was produced and written by
Jocelyn Stevenson
Jocelyn Stevenson is a British-American writer and producer, largely for children's shows. She has received the BAFTA Special Award.
Screenwriting credits Television
* ''Fraggle Rock'' (1983-1987)
* ''Sesame Street'' (1987-1989)
* ''Charlie Chalk ...
, who started working with the Muppets as a lead writer on ''
Fraggle Rock
''Fraggle Rock'' (also known as ''Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock'' or ''Fraggle Rock with Jim Henson's Muppets'') is a children's musical fantasy comedy puppet television series about interconnected societies of Muppet creatures, created by Jim Hen ...
''. Stevenson explained, "The aim of ''Mopatop's Shop'' is to teach young children to embrace language and communication skills in a form where they can expand the boundaries of their imagination. It promotes goodness and wellbeing."
Plot
The show features a large green
dragon-like Muppet
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are ...
named Mopatop (performed by
Mak Wilson
Mak Wilson (born 3 September 1957) is an English puppeteer, writer, CG animation director, and mocap artist. He is also known as Mac Wilson and Malcolm Wilson.
Early life and career
Wilson was born in Consett, England, but grew up in nearby Stanl ...
(series 1 and 2) and
William Todd-Jones
William Todd-Jones (born 1958) is a Welsh puppeteer, puppet designer, performer, director, movement consultant and writer for film, television and theatre in the UK and abroad.
As an environmentalist, Todd-Jones is a longstanding patron of the w ...
(series 3 and 4) and his red and yellow
platypus-like dog-duck hybrid assistant Puppyduck (performed by
Victoria Willing
Victoria C. Willing (born 1959) is a British actress known for her work on '' The Inbetweeners'' and various Jim Henson Company productions. In January 2020, Willing appeared in an episode of the BBC soap opera '' Doctors'' as Gwen Hubbard, and ...
). Together they run Mopatop's Shop, a shop where one can buy anything they could ever think or dream of. They interact with characters including the Mouse family, local deliveryman Lamont the
sloth
Sloths are a group of Neotropical xenarthran mammals constituting the suborder Folivora, including the extant arboreal tree sloths and extinct terrestrial ground sloths. Noted for their slowness of movement, tree sloths spend most of their l ...
, neighbour Claudia Bird, a rabbit named Odd-Job Gerald.
Broadcast history
United Kingdom
The series premiered on
CITV
CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...
on 4 January 1999.
International
On 9 May 2013, it was shown on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
during the 1st season in
North America after a 5-year wait.
Episodes
Season 1 (1999–2000)
# Wrong Ringer
# This Way to the Garden
# Flea Power
# Hop for the Shop
# Hiccups
# Ghosts
# Upsy Daisy
# Worries
# Trouble With a Puddle
# Horns
# No Mice for sale
# The Seed
# No Job Too Small
# Moon Dreams
# Hug A Bug
# The Whizzy
# Nowhere For a Square
# Grand Opening
# Shake A Shake
# Mr Grizzle's Laugh
# Nothing
# Teething Trouble
# Simply Sorry
# Monty's Fuzzy Wuzz
# Ants
# Something Special
# Singa Songa
# Hairy Fairy
# Whispers
# Nodding Off
# Flowers
# Home Sweet Home
# Ship Ahoy
# You Are What You Are
# The Do-What-I-Say
# Bright Ideas
# Surprise Party
# Musical Sounds
# Surprises
# The Perfect Tail
# Cock-A-Doodle Bee
# The Happy Flapper
# No Sea
# Easy Peasy
# Thingamajig
# Wind
# The Brave Canary
# The Flying Chicken
# Warm Snow
# The Magic Teeny
# Cold Feet
# A Secret
# Sniffly Whiffler
# Singalotti
# The Big Bicycle Race
# Swapsies
# Dancin' on the Shop
# Find The Way You Are
# The Fly
# Go Slow
# Fast Run
# Mud
# Fishing
# Teasy Sneezy
# Whistles
Season 2 (2000–2001)
# Where's the Blue Paint?
# Princess Lulabelle
# Light Up My Life
# Meesy Mouse
# Mervyn Muddle
# Whatever Next?
# The Gobbledegook
# Sea Tree House
# Pop Star
# The Wizard's Wand
# Doctor Zuckermonster
# The Neenoo
# Helping Hands
# Tweet! Roar!
# Flying Carpet
# Rosey Nosey
# The Grumblegrouch
# Weirdy Beardy
# Splish! Splish! Splat!
# Magic Cakes!
# Feathers
# Hidey Seekies
# Rude Dude
# Bath Buddy
# I Want To Be a Unicorn
# The Do Wah Be Do
# Hair! Hair! Everywhere!
# Smells
# One Of Those Days
# The Flootle Toot
# Ears
# Ducky Dog
# Robbers In The Shop
# The See Me Not
# Runaway Socks
# The Gobbledegook
#A Shopping Trip
# Keys
# Real Cool Shoes
# Nellie the Belly Dancer
# What's In An Egg?
# Rumble! Rumble!
# The Magic Rabbit
# Silly Stephen
# Mouldylocks and the Three Pears
# How Scary Is That?
# Animal Choir
# Bruno Butterfingers
# Thinking Cap
# Hullabaloo
# Little Miss Kissy Kiss
# Puppyduck's Granny
# Flower the Leader
# Backwards Forwards
# Stuck In A Bucket
# Load of Old Rubbish
# Ice Screams!
# Mirror, Mirror
# Mac and The Lollystalk
# The Bigulator
# Mouse Count
# Snores
# Gluey Gloop
# Midip
# Dream the Dream
Season 3 (2001–2002)
Season 4 (2002–2003)
References
External links
''Mopatop's Shop''at
itv.com
itv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 13 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV brand (or the UTV brand in Northern Ireland). The website offers online streaming, ...
/citv
*
{{The Jim Henson Company
1990s American children's comedy television series
2000s American children's comedy television series
1990s American workplace comedy television series
2000s American workplace comedy television series
1999 American television series debuts
2003 American television series endings
1990s British children's television series
2000s British children's television series
1990s British workplace comedy television series
2000s British workplace comedy television series
1999 British television series debuts
2003 British television series endings
American television shows featuring puppetry
British children's comedy television series
British television shows featuring puppetry
English-language television shows
ITV children's television shows
Television series about dragons
Television series by ITV Studios
Television series by The Jim Henson Company
Television series set in shops