Trumpton

Trumpton
Genre	Stop-motion animation
Written by	Gordon Murray
Narrated by	Brian Cant
Theme music composer	Freddie Phillips
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Producer(s)	Gordon Murray
Running time	15 mins
Release
Original network	BBC1
Original release	3 January – 28 March 1967
Chronology
Preceded by	Camberwick Green
Followed by	Chigley

Trumpton is a stop-motion children's television series from the producers of Camberwick Green. First shown on the BBC from January to March 1967, it was the second series in the Trumptonshire trilogy, which comprised Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley.

Trumpton was narrated by Brian Cant, and animation was by Bob Bura, John Hardwick and Pasquale Ferrari. Scripts are by Alison Prince; all other production details were identical to Camberwick Green.

The action takes place in the imaginary town of Trumpton, a short distance from the equally imaginary village of Camberwick Green, the focus of the first series in the Trumptonshire Trilogy. Each episode begins with a shot of Trumpton Town Hall Clock:

"Here is the clock, the Trumpton clock. Telling the time, steadily, sensibly; never too quickly, never too slowly. Telling the time for Trumpton".

The townsfolk then appear going about their daily business: the Mayor, Mr Troop the Town Clerk, Chippy Minton the carpenter and his apprentice son Nibbs, Mrs Cobbit the florist, Miss Lovelace the milliner and her trio of Pekingese dogs (Mitzi, Daphne and Lulu), Mr Clamp the greengrocer, Mr Munnings the printer and Mr Platt the clockmaker.

Although all of the characters and settings are new, the style of the programme follows the pattern established by Camberwick Green, in which domestic problems are cheerfully resolved by the end of the show, leaving the last minute or so for the fire brigade to become The Fire Brigade Band and play the episode out.

The fire brigade is perhaps Trumpton's most-recognised feature. Captain Flack's roll-call was recited in all but one episode:

"Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grub."

Puppeteer Gordon Murray has explained that "Pugh and Pugh are twins you must understand – not Hugh, Pugh." In the episode "Cuthbert's Morning Off", Cuthbert's name is omitted (due to his absence). They are continually being called out to attend some emergency or other (in many cases to resolve fairly trivial matters), but to Captain Flack's annoyance never an actual fire. The main reason for this was the impossibility of animating fire, water and smoke. However, after "Right men, action stations!", this doesn't stop the Fire Brigade absent-mindedly getting out the fire hose and receiving a rebuke from Captain Flack ("No no! Not the hose!").

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Wikipedia