The Raggy Dolls
| Raggy Dolls | |
|---|---|
Title card
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| Genre |
Fantasy Children and family series Comedy-drama Adventure |
| Created by | Melvyn Jacobson |
| Developed by | John Walker |
| Written by | Neil Innes |
| Starring | Neil Innes |
| Narrated by | Neil Innes |
| Theme music composer | Neil Innes |
| Opening theme | Raggy Dolls, Dolls like you and me |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 9 |
| No. of episodes | 112 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | John Marsden |
| Producer(s) | Jo Kemp / Neil Molyneux / Joy Whitby |
| Running time | 10 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
Yorkshire Television (1986–1994) Orchid Productions (1987–1994) |
| Distributor | ITV Studios |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV Network / CITV |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original release | 3 April 1986 – 20 December 1994 |
The Raggy Dolls is a 1980s British cartoon series which originally aired on ITV from 1986 until 1994. The series is set in Mr. Grimes' Toy Factory, where imperfect dolls are thrown into a reject bin. While unobserved by human eyes, the dolls come to life and climb out of the reject bin to have adventures. The series was designed to encourage children to think positively about physical disabilities, as well as teaching kindness, tolerance and humility towards others.
The series was produced for Yorkshire Television from 3 April 1986 to 20 December 1994. It was created by Melvyn Jacobson, with scripts, narration and music by Neil Innes. Yorkshire Television produced the first two series of The Raggy Dolls before awarding the commission to Orchid Productions Limited in 1987. This was the first programme Yorkshire Television commissioned from an independent production company, and Orchid Productions went on to produce over 100 more episodes of the series. The initial animator for Yorkshire TV was Roy Evans, and consequently after the move to Orchid Productions Mark Mason took over the role, animating and storyboarding 26 episodes, and storyboarding and directing other animators on a further 26 episodes before moving onto work on other children's shows and being replaced by Peter Hale from the 7th series onwards. The series was sold abroad to a number of other countries.
In return for her kindness the Raggy Dolls help the old lady by repairing all the broken clocks that she has so that she can sell them.
Three videos (with 5 programmes each) were released during the early 90s by Castle Communications Plc, each featuring a selection of 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991 episodes narrated by Neil Innes.
in the Spring of 1993 4 Front Video released one cassette under 'Pocket Money Video' range (Cat No. 0867323) with six episodes- The Flying Machine, The Pigeon Race, The Fun Fair, Spring Toys, A Trip to the Sea, A Royal Tour
The complete first series of The Raggy Dolls was released on DVD on 21 June 2010 through Revelation Films. The complete second series is available after being released on 18 October 2010. The complete third series is available after its release on 7 February 2011, the complete fourth series has been released for availability on 6 June 2011, but the complete fifth series (next in line) is of yet unknown for availability.
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Wikipedia