''Doctor Snuggles'' is an

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...

created by Jeffrey O'Kelly, based on original artwork by Nick Price, about a friendly and optimistic

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

who has unusual adventures with his friends. The show featured fantastical scenarios typically based on the outlandish inventions of Doctor Snuggles, supported by a variety of supporting characters including

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

animals and objects.

Production

The show was a co-production between British and Dutch producers. The animation was split by two studios:

Topcraft Topcraft Co., Ltd. (株式会社トップクラフト ''Kabushiki-gaisha Toppukurafuto'', also written as "Top Craft") was an animation studio established in 1972, by former Toei Animation producer Toru Hara, and located in Tokyo, Japan. It was f ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

(episodes 1–7, plus intro and ending) and DePatie-Freleng (episodes 8–13) from the United States with some minor differences in animation. All Topcraft episodes (with its unique sound effects) were directed by the prolific Tsuguyuki Kubo, who worked with

Rankin/Bass Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City. It was known for its seasonal television specials, ...

(among others) on many of their features, movies (''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ...

'' and ''

The Last Unicorn ''The Last Unicorn'' is a fantasy novel by American author Peter S. Beagle and published in 1968, by Viking Press in the U.S. and The Bodley Head in the U.K. It follows the tale of a unicorn, who believes she is the last of her kind in the ...

''), and syndicated series (''

ThunderCats ''ThunderCats'' is a media franchise, featuring a fictional group of cat-like humanoid aliens. The characters were created by Tobin Wolf and featured in an animated television series named ''ThunderCats'', running from 1985 to 1989, whic ...

''). English, Dutch, German, Swedish and Spanish language versions exist, among others. In the English-language version the title character was narrated by veteran actor

Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, director and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career. Ustinov received #Awa ...

, with Olwen Griffiths and

John Challis John Spurley Challis (16 August 1942 – 17 September 2021) was an English actor. He had an extensive theatre and television career but is best known for portraying Boycie, Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the long-running BBC Television sitcom ...

. The show debuted in 1980 and consisted of thirteen half-hour episodes. The show was based on original artwork by British illustrator

Nick Price Nicholas Raymond Leige Price (born 28 January 1957) is a Zimbabwean former professional golfer who has won three major championships in his career: the PGA Championship twice (in 1992 and 1994) and The Open Championship in 1994. In the mid-1 ...

, original scripts and ideas by Jeffrey O'Kelly, and television scripts for each episode by Richard Carpenter and John Halas. Two episodes (#7 and #12) were written by

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, humorist, and screenwriter, best known as the creator of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the ...

and John Lloyd, both dealing with ecological issues. Episode 9 was written by . In the UK, the show featured as part of the ''Watch It!'' strand for children on the ITV network and later got repeated on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

as well as being broadcast on

The Children's Channel The Children's Channel, also known as TCC, was a British-based pan-European children's television channel in Europe, Asia and Africa, which was owned by Flextech in London, England, UK. It began broadcasting on the original Eutelsat satellite ...

on cable and satellite television. In Canada, the series aired on

TVO TVO (stylized in all lowercase as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a Canadian publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates flagship station CI ...

in Ontario and on

Knowledge Network Knowledge Network, also branded as British Columbia's Knowledge Network and K:, is a Canadian publicly funded educational cable television network serving the province of British Columbia. It is owned by the Knowledge Network Corporation, a Crow ...

in British Columbia. It also aired on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

in Australia and ran from 1 March 1982 to 20 September 1991,

M-Net M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

and

Bop TV Bop TV was a television station owned by the Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation, which operated from 1983 to 2003. Initially a part of the black homeland of Bophuthatswana, the channel found its foothold by means of signal overspill, becomin ...

in South Africa, RTB in Brunei,

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

in the Irish Republic where it began airing in 1989 and was shown a number of times up until 1998, PTV in Pakistan, syndication (distribution via Chicago-based

Field Communications Field Communications was an American broadcast media company and a wholly owned division of Field Enterprises, which owned the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and the ''Chicago Daily News''. Based in Chicago, Illinois, the company had owned UHF indepen ...

securing US distribution rights),

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

, and

Nick Jr. Channel The Nick Jr. Channel, sometimes shortened to Nick Jr., is an American pay television, pay television channel owned by the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. An offshoot of Nickelodeon ...

in the US, TV2 and

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

in Malaysia,

MediaCorp Channel 5 Channel 5 is an English-language free-to-air terrestrial television channel in Singapore, owned by the state-owned media conglomerate Mediacorp. It airs a generalist format including domestic and imported entertainment programming, news, and s ...

in Singapore and in New Zealand on TV1 and TV2. The Dutch

dubbing Dubbing (also known as re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and the video production process where supplementary recordings (known as doubles) are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production audio to cr ...

was directed by Frans Voordrecht, by with voices by Jules Croiset, Trudy Libosan, Dick Scheffer and Rupert van Woerkom. A German dubbed version was also produced, starring Walter Jokisch as Doctor Snuggles, produced by the Bavaria Atelier GmbH, that premiered in June 1981. The Swedish version features John Harryson and the French version

Roger Carel Roger Carel (born Roger Bancharel; 14 August 1927 – 11 September 2020) was a French actor, known for his recurring film roles as Asterix, the French voice of '' Star Wars C-3PO, and the French voice of Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, and Rabbit in ...

as Doctor Snuggles. Also, a comic series was produced, published in Germany and Sweden.

Plot

The show followed the adventures of Doctor Snuggles, a kind old gentleman who lives in a comfortable home with his elderly housekeeper, Miss Nettles. Doctor Snuggles spends most of his time inventing; across the series he creates robot Mathilda Junkbottom, a worm-mobile, a machine to restore the colours of the rainbow, a gadget to fight depression, a fire-proof lotion, and a time machine, amongst other inventions. Snuggles typically travels by means of a talking

pogo-stick A pogo stick is a vehicle for jumping off the ground in a standing position—through the aid of a spring, or new high performance technologies—often used as a toy, exercise equipment or extreme sports instrument. It led to an extreme sport na ...

umbrella An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is usually designed to protect a person against rain. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally used when protec ...

and a wooden

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...

called the ''Dreamy Boom Boom''. Doctor Snuggles must also contend with the malevolent magician Professor Emerald, his arch enemy.

Music

Songs in the Finnish dub were sung by the actors of YLE Import re-using the De Angelis's music but with new Finnish lyrics. In the Finnish dub some scenes are cut, which includes musical numbers in some episodes.

Episodes

Movies

* Doctor Snuggles and His Friends (1984) * The Magic of Doctor Snuggles (1985) Doctor Snuggles and His Friends: - The Spectacular Rescue of Miss Nettles - The Remarkable Fidgety River - The Unbelievable Wormmobile Adventure - The Fearful Miscast Spell of Winnie the Witch - The Wondrous Powers of the Magic Casket The Magic of Doctor Snuggles: - The Extraordinary Odd Dilemma of Dennis the Badger - The Great Disappearing Mystery - The Fabulous Mechanical Mathilda Junkbottom - The Sensational Balloon Race - The Magical Multi-Coloured Diamond

Home releases

VHS

SWE - (Independent Video, re-released by Vision Park Video and Pan Vision) The edge of this 5 Vol forms a picture when put together. Vol 1: - Hur Matilda Järndotter Kom Till (Ep1) - Det Flyggande Sirapsträdet (Ep2) Vol 2: - När Beata blev bortförd (Ep3) - Äventyret med den otroliga maskmobilen (Ep4) Vol 3: - Ballongtävlingen (Ep5) - Jättediamanten (Ep6) Vol 4: - Den ängsliga floden (Ep7) - När häxan valborg lekte med elden (Ep8) Vol 5: - När grävlis inte var sig själv (Ep9) - Det magiska skrinet (Ep10) Vol 6: - De farliga burkarna (Ep11) - Mysteriet med de försvunna damerna (Ep12) - Den fantastiska legenden (Ep13)

DVD

On 4 July 2005, Firefly Entertainment released ''Doctor Snuggles'' on DVD in the UK. The four-disc

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

''Doctor Snuggles: The Complete Collection'' features all thirteen episodes of the series.

References

External links

Doctor Snuggles Official Site
* {{IMDb title, 0081854, Doctor Snuggles
Doctor Snuggles Reboot Series Trailer/Pilot
1979 British television series debuts 1979 animated television series debuts 1980 British television series endings 1970s British animated television series 1980s British animated television series 1970s British children's television series 1980s British children's television series British children's animated science fantasy television series Television series by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises ITV children's television shows Nick Jr. original programming Topcraft Fictional inventors British English-language television shows Snuggles Television shows adapted into comics ITV animated television series Channel 4 animated television series