''The Woodentops'' is a children's television series first shown on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

in 1955.BFI Screen Online: The Woodentops (1955-1957)
/ref>
/ref> Created by

Freda Lingstrom Freda Violet Lingstrom OBE (23 July 1893 – 15 April 1989) was a BBC Television producer and executive, responsible for pioneering children's programmes in the early 1950s. She and her friend Maria Bird together created ''Andy Pandy'' and ''Flowe ...

and

Maria Bird Maria Bird was born Mary Edith Bird (pronounced Marie) on 24 August 1891 in Pietermaritzburg, Colony of Natal and died in the village where she lived for most of her life, Westerham, Kent, England on 25 August 1979, aged 88. She was a descendant ...

, it featured on the Friday edition of ''

Watch with Mother ''Watch with Mother'' was a cycle of children's programmes created by Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird. Broadcast by BBC Television from 1952 until 1975, it was the first BBC television series aimed specifically at pre-school children, a developme ...

'' and regularly repeated until 1973. The main characters are the members of a family living on a farm. The aim of the programme was to teach pre-school children about family life.

Puppet characters

*Daddy Woodentop *Mummy Woodentop *Jenny Woodentop *Willy Woodentop *Baby Woodentop *Spotty Dog ("the very biggest spotty dog you ever did see") The children, Jenny and Willy, were twins. They spoke, walked and did many things together. Other characters included: *Mrs Scrubbitt (who comes to "help" Mrs Woodentop) *Sam Scrubbitt (who helps Daddy Woodentop with the animals) *Buttercup the Cow

Cast

*Scripts and music:

*Puppeteers:

Audrey Atterbury Audrey Selma Atterbury (19 April 1921 – 8 April 1997) was a British puppeteer best known for her work on the 1950s pioneering BBC's children's series '' Andy Pandy''. Biography Born in London in 1921 as Audrey Holman, during World War II ...

, Molly Gibson and

Gordon Murray Ian Gordon Murray (born 18 June 1946 in Durban, Union of South Africa), is a South African-born British designer of Formula One racing cars and the McLaren F1 road car. He is the founder and CEO of Gordon Murray Automotive. Early life Born t ...

*Voices: Eileen Browne, Josephina Ray,

Peter Hawkins Peter John Hawkins (3 April 1924 – 8 July 2006) was a British actor. During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, he was one of the most sought-after voice artists for radio and television, becoming a regular face and voice around the Soho-based cir ...

*Designs: Barbara Jones

Episodes

# Introduction (9 September 1955) # Boats and Pigs # Horse # Spotty's Paw # Spotty's Sheep # Spotty's Joke # Dog Washing # Injured Bird # Bird Set Free # Twins' Holiday # Soap Box # Baby's Bath # Surprises # Show # Party # Buttercup # Belling the Cow # Hayfield # Horse Shoe (14 March 1958) # Steam Roller # Geese # Ducks # Pram # Dinner Bell # Sacks # Paper Hats

Production

''The Woodentops'' was filmed in a tin shed at the BBC's

Lime Grove Studios Lime Grove Studios was a film, and later television, studio complex in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The complex was built by the Gaumont Film Company in 1915. It was situated in Lime Grove, a residential street in Shepherd's Bush, and ...

. The narrator/storyteller for all episodes, who also provided the dialogue for Mummy Woodentop, was Maria Bird who spoke with

Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent traditionally regarded as the Standard language, standard and most Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been ...

, as was typical of BBC presenters of the time. Daddy Woodentop, being a farmer, spoke with a noticeable

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 ...

. Although set on a farm, at an unspecified location, each episode began with the whole family being introduced as they sat in front of a tall curtain, apparently on a stage. Episodes closed with the family grouped in the same pose, with the word "GOODBYE" superimposed above. The music at the beginning and end of each story is taken from the 22nd piece () of the set of 25 Norwegian folk songs and dances for piano, Opus 17 by

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...

. This music, which is quite short in duration, is called , which translates to "Cattle-Call". It is divided into two sections, the first of which is used for the introduction and the second part for the end of each story. It occasionally appears as a

leitmotif A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglici ...

in the stories, hummed by Mummy Woodentop from time to time. In 1983, the original puppets were stolen from the BBC. They were spotted a year later in an auction room in London and returned. The puppets are now in the

Museum of London The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall, London, Gui ...

's permanent collection.

The Official BBC Children in Need Medley

In 2009, ''The Woodentops'' appeared in

The Official BBC Children in Need Medley "The Official BBC Children in Need Medley" is a single by Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band. It is the official Children in Need Single for 2009, and was released on 21 November 2009. The song was shown for the first time on Children in Need ...

music videoChildren in Need: Stars help charity to raise £20.3m
/ref> which reached No.1 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Daddy and Mummy Woodentop appeared in the video; Jenny appears on the front cover of the CD and DVD but not in the music video.

References

External links

More information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodentops, The BBC children's television shows British preschool education television series British television shows featuring puppetry 1950s preschool education television series 1955 British television series debuts 1950s British children's television series Television series about families