''Pipkins'' (originally ''Inigo Pipkin'') is a British children's TV programme. Hartley Hare, Pig, Topov, Octavia and the gang were the stars of

ATV ATV may refer to: Broadcasting * Amateur television *Analog television Television broadcaster * Andorra Televisió * Anguilla Television * Ayna TV, Afghanistan * ATV (Armenia) * ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate * ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourn ...

's pre-school series which ran from January 1973 to 29 December 1981. ''Pipkins'' was one of the first children's programmes on British TV where the characters had regional accents: Pig had a Birmingham accent; Topov the monkey was a

Cockney Cockney is a dialect of the English language, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by Londoners with working-class and lower middle class roots. The term ''Cockney'' is also used as a demonym for a person from the East End, ...

; Octavia the ostrich had a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

accent; Pigeon had an

Upper class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status. Usually, these are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper cla ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

accent; Mrs Penguin had a

Geordie Geordie ( ), sometimes known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English, is an English dialect and accent spoken in the Tyneside area of North East England. It developed as a variety of the old Northumbrian dialect and became espe ...

accent; Uncle Hare had a

West Country English West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of the West Country, an area found in the southwest of England. The West Country is often defined as encompassing the officia ...

accent; Sophie the cat had a non-regional English accent; and Moony the Badger had a

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

accent.

Origins

In 1972, the ITV network expanded its daytime broadcasting hours and the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television ( ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Author ...

commissioned four of the main ITV companies to each provide a series of interest to pre-schoolers, as an alternative to the successful US import ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

''. From this commission

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

came up with ''

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

'',

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

with ''Mister Trimble'',

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

with ''

Hickory House ''Hickory House'' is a British television programme aimed at pre-school children. It was produced by Granada Television from 1973 to 1977 and broadcast on weekday lunchtimes. Each programme was usually hosted by a pair of presenters, most oft ...

'', while

's contribution would be ''Inigo Pipkin''. ''Inigo Pipkin'' was first shown on

New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

1973. When the show started, the main character was an elderly puppet maker called Inigo Pipkin (hence the original title), played by George Woodbridge. The puppets were his creations, and over the course of the first series, viewers saw Inigo bring to life Hartley Hare and the Tortoise (a.k.a. George) played by

Nigel Plaskitt Nigel Plaskitt (born 27 July 1950) is an English actor, puppeteer, producer, and stage and television director. Career His voice and puppetry talents have appeared on television shows such as ''Pipkins'' (for which he provided the narration, a ...

; and Topov the

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

, Pig and Octavia the

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, w ...

, all played by

Heather Tobias Heather may refer to: Plants *The heather family, or Ericaceae, particularly: **Common heather or ling, ''Calluna'' **Various species of the genus ''Cassiope'' **Various species of the genus ''Erica'' Name * Heather (given name) * Heather (su ...

. However, Woodbridge died suddenly from a heart attack in March 1973, while recording of the second series was still taking place. ''Inigo Pipkin'' was not recorded in the order it was transmitted, and Woodbridge had only completed taping of the latter episodes. The scripts for the episodes that would be broadcast first in the transmission run, i.e. those that Woodbridge had not managed to record, were thus hastily rewritten, with Inigo's absence explained by his being away on a fishing holiday. In 1974, in a first for children's television, the death of Inigo was worked into the programme, predating the Mr Hooper episode on ''Sesame Street'' by nine years. From this episode onwards, the show was renamed ''Pipkins'' and Inigo's assistant, Johnny (

Wayne Laryea Wayne Laryea (born 11 April 1952) is a British musician and television actor. Laryea is best known to American audiences for his role as the bumblebee Harmony in ''The Bugaloos'' (1970), and to British viewers as Johnny in ''Pipkins'' (1973). In ...

), took over. The storyline for this episode was unfolded with remarkable compassion. The puppets, alongside their young viewers, were guided through the experience of loss and grief, learning that, although Mr Pipkin was no longer with them, his love and teachings would endure. The decision to embrace such a difficult subject within the format of a children's programme was a radical choice, particularly at a time when death was largely considered a

taboo A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

topic for young audiences. After Woodbridge's death, the direction of the programme had to change; from here on, the show ceased to centre around a puppet workshop and the characters became the 'Help People', helping anyone in need of a hand. Similarly, another episode "Death of a Goldfish" dealt with the topic of death, in regards to losing a pet. Topov the monkey and Johnny discussed why the goldfish died and why people die. Johnny left ''Pipkins'' around 1978, to be replaced by Tom ( Jonathan Kydd), who moved on in 1980, his place taken by Peter Potter (

Paddy O'Hagan Paddy may refer to: People *Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname *A nickname or slur for an Ireland , Irish person Birds *Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon *Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird speci ...

). In later years

Sue Nicholls Susan Frances Harmar Nicholls (born 23 November 1943) is an English actress. She is best known for her long-running role as Audrey Roberts in the soap opera '' Coronation Street'' (1979–1982, 1984–present). Her other roles on British tele ...

made regular appearances as the Pipkins' neighbour, Mrs Muddle. The name was somewhat ironic as she was always a calming, self-assured presence around the puppets. The familiar workshop set was replaced in 1979 (in the story "Moving Out"), with new interiors based around a kitchen and backyard. The new set was built up from ground level to enable puppeteers to work standing up and to move around more freely, modelled on the methods used by ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a variety sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and starring the Muppets. It is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with ongoing plot-lines with ru ...

'' which was also filmed at

ATV Elstree Studios The BBC Elstree Centre, sometimes referred to as the BBC Elstree Studios, is a television production facility, currently owned by the BBC. The complex is located between Eldon Avenue and Clarendon Road in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England. Th ...

Cancellation

''Pipkins'' ended when ATV lost its franchise for the Midlands ITV region, was restructured and became

Central Independent Television ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the ITV (TV network), Independent Television franchisee in Midlands, the English Midlands ...

. The programme was replaced by ''

Let's Pretend ''Let's Pretend'', created and directed by Nila Mack, was a CBS radio series for children. Prior to being renamed ''Let's Pretend'', the program had a variety of titles and formats. In its most famous form, ''Let's Pretend'', the Peabody Awar ...

''. The series was made at ATV Elstree Studios, with occasional filming on location. For the ''Inigo Pipkin'' episodes, the opening and closing titles were sung by Jackie Lee, who had earlier sung the themes to children's programmes ''

The Adventures of Rupert Bear ''The Adventures of Rupert Bear'' (''My Little Rupert'' in the US) was a live-action puppet television series, based on the Mary Tourtel character Rupert Bear, produced by ATV. It aired from 28 October 1970 to 24 August 1977 on the ITV netw ...

'' and '' White Horses''. Unusually for a children's programme, there was no spin-off ''Pipkins'' merchandise (toys, games, books etc.) produced during the programme's run.

Archive status

In common with other 1970s shows, several ''Pipkins'' episodes recorded on 625 line PAL colour videotape – including the very first ''Inigo Pipkin'' — are missing from the archives (poor storage of former ATV master colour videotapes has led to the loss of many shows), and not even any 16mm black-and-white film copies of the lost episodes exist. Out of a total of 333 episodes, only 135 have survived. The other 197 episodes no longer exist in any format, while two others exist on 625 line PAL colour videotape only as incomplete copies (possibly due to videotape damage caused by poor storage).

— who provided the show's narration, as well as voicing and operating Hartley and Tortoise – made off-air domestic videocassette recordings of around 56 episodes, now the only format in which these are known to exist, and some have been used for the DVD release in the UK.Lost Shows - Pipkins
/ref>

Cast

References

External links

Official ''Pipkins'' website
*{{IMDb title, id=0275147, title=Pipkins 1973 British television series debuts 1981 British television series endings ITV children's television shows 1970s British children's television series 1980s British children's television series 1970s preschool education television series 1980s preschool education television series British preschool education television series British television shows featuring puppetry Television series by ITV Studios British English-language television shows Television shows produced by Associated Television (ATV) Television series about rabbits and hares Television shows shot at ATV Elstree Studios