''The Wombles'' is a

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

animated British television series made in 1973–1975. The

Wombles ''The Wombles'' are fictional pointy-nosed, furry creatures created by Elisabeth Beresford and originally appearing in a series of children's novels from 1968. They live in burrows, where they aim to help the environment by collecting and recycl ...

are creatures that live underground, collecting and recycling human rubbish. After the first Wombles book, published in 1968, was featured on the

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, ...

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 ...

programme ''

Jackanory ''Jackanory'' is a BBC children's television series which was originally broadcast between 1965 and 1996. It was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, and the first story was the fairy-t ...

'', the BBC commissioned producer

FilmFair FilmFair was a British production company and animation studio that produced children's television series, animated cartoons, educational films, and television advertisements. The company made numerous stop motion films using puppets, clay anima ...

to create a television series of the books. The series was produced by Graham Clutterbuck and directed by

Ivor Wood Ivor Sydney Wood (4 May 1932 – 13 October 2004) was a prolific Anglo-French' animator, director, producer and writer. He was known for his work on children's television series. Born in Leeds to an English father and a French mother, his famil ...

using

stop-motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

. The characters were all voiced by actor

Bernard Cribbins Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over seven decades. During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records " The Hole in the Groun ...

. Sets and model making were by Barry Leith. Two series of 30 five-minute episodes were produced, with the first series airing in 1973, animated by Ivor Wood, and the second in 1975, animated by Barry Leith. The original television series was regularly screened for many years. After FilmFair was acquired by the Canadian company

Cinar Films Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc. (also known as Cookie Jar Group and originally known as CINAR; renamed as DHX Cookie Jar Inc. from 2012 until 2014, or simply just Cookie Jar) was a Canadian media production and distribution company owned by DHX M ...

in 1996, a new series of episodes was created, with three new Womble characters.

Episodes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wombles (1973 TV series), The The Wombles 1970s British animated television series 1970s British children's television series 1973 British television series debuts 1975 British television series endings BBC children's television shows British children's animated comedy television series British stop-motion animated television series British television shows based on children's books Television series by FilmFair Television shows set in London English-language television shows