Tugs (TV series)
| Tugs | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Children's television |
| Created by |
Robert D. Cardona David Mitton |
| Written by | David Mitton Robert D. Cardona Chris Tulloch Tarquin Cardona Gloria Tors Roy Russell |
| Directed by | David Mitton Chris Tulloch |
| Voices of |
Patrick Allen Simon Nash Chris Tulloch Timothy Bateson Shaun Prendergast Sean Barrett Lee Cornes John Baddeley Nigel Anthony |
| Narrated by | Patrick Allen |
| Theme music composer |
Junior Campbell Mike O'Donnell |
| Composer(s) |
Junior Campbell Mike O'Donnell |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | J. Nigel Pickard |
| Producer(s) | Robert D. Cardona |
| Location(s) | Shepperton Studios, Surrey, England, United Kingdom |
| Cinematography | Clearwater periscope lens system |
| Editor(s) | Pete Best Phil Sanderson |
| Camera setup | multi-camera |
| Running time | approx. 15–20 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Tugs Limited |
| Distributor | Clearwater Features |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV Network, ABC TV |
| Picture format | PAL (576i) |
| Audio format | Monophonic |
| Original release | 26 November 1988 – 27 June 1989 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows |
Thomas & Friends Salty's Lighthouse Theodore Tugboat |
Tugs (stylized as TUGS) is a British children's television series first broadcast in 1988. It was created by the producers of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, Robert D. Cardona and David Mitton. The series deals with the adventures of two anthropomorphized tugboat fleets, the Star Fleet and the Z-Stacks, who compete against each other in the fictional Bigg City Port.
The series was set in the Roaring Twenties, and was produced by Tugs Ltd., for Television South (TVS) and Clearwater Features Ltd. The music was composed by Junior Campbell and Mike O'Donnell, who also wrote the music for Thomas & Friends.
Due to the bankruptcy of Television South, the series did not continue production past 13 episodes. Following the initial airing of the series throughout 1989, television rights were sold to an unknown party, while all models and sets from the series sold to Britt Allcroft. Modified set props and tugboat models were used in Thomas & Friends from 1991 onwards, with footage from the original program being heavily dubbed and edited for use in the American children's series Salty's Lighthouse.
Mitton returned to working with Thomas & Friends in 1991, while Cardona would go on to direct Theodore Tugboat, a similarly natured animated series set in Canada. All thirteen episodes of the show were released on VHS between 1988 and 1993. The series was popular and has gained a cult following.
The series consists of thirteen fifteen-minute episodes (though four exist as twenty-minute episodes on the Tugs videos), each told by the show's narrator, Captain Star (voiced by Patrick Allen). Filming and production of the series took place throughout 1987 and 1988, in Shepperton Studios, Middlesex, where Thomas & Friends was also filmed at the time. The series was animated using live-action models, which were seen as the most realistic method of portraying real tugboats. The set featured the Clearwater Periscope lens system, a type of professional video camera used to film at the models' eye level.
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