''Penny Crayon'' is a 1989 British

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 ...

that tells the adventures of a very intellectual and well-meaning (but occasionally mischievous) schoolgirl from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

who loves to draw, and her escapades accompanied by her best friend, Dennis. Using the magic crayons that she always carries with her, she brings everything that she ever draws to life, to either help them on their adventures or to get them out of tricky situations, and usually creating a world of chaos until it is either erased or washed away. The origins of Penny's crayons was never explained or hinted at in the series; however, series creator Peter Maddocks released a prequel story, along with an adaptation of the episode "Dickens of a Mess", in digital format in 2012, which told the story of how Penny came to have her magic crayons.

Characters

*Penny Crayon is a highly intelligent and resourceful schoolgirl, with a Northern accent and who loves drawing. She has magic crayons and pencils that can draw on any surface including brick walls, cave interiors and even the inside of a whale's mouth. She is voiced by comedy actress

Su Pollard Susan Georgina "Su" Pollard (born 7 November 1949) is a British actress, singer, songwriter and author whose career has spanned over 50 years. Pollard is most known for her role in the sitcom '' Hi-de-Hi!'' She also appeared in the sitcoms '' Y ...

, whose face Penny visually resembles. *Dennis Pillbeam (his surname is never given on-screen but is mentioned in literature accompanying the series) is Penny's best friend, an excitable, good-natured yet simple boy who can often be heard praising Penny's cleverness or bravery. He was the only other regular character in the series, voiced by

Peter Hawkins Peter John Hawkins (3 April 1924 – 8 July 2006) was a British actor. From the 1950s to 1980s, he was one of the most sought-after voice artists for television. Early life Peter John Hawkins was born on 3 April 1924 in Hargwyne Street in Bri ...

, who had also done voice-work for Maddocks Animation's previous television series.

Origin and production

''Penny Crayon'' was produced for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

in the United Kingdom. first broadcast weekly as part of

Children's BBC BBC Children's and Education is the BBC division responsible for media content for children in the UK. Since the launch of specially dedicated television channels in 2002, the services have been marketed under two brands. CBBC (short for Chil ...

on BBC1 from 14 September 1989. It was made by Maddocks Animation, which had previously produced ''

Jimbo and the Jet-Set ''Jimbo and the Jet-Set'' is a British animation, animated cartoon series centered on the eponymous Jimbo, an anthropomorphic aeroplane. The series, created by Peter Maddocks and produced by Maddocks Cartoon Productions, aired for 25 episodes f ...

'' and '' The Family-Ness'', and utilized much of the same production staff, as well as featuring the vocal talents of

in all three series. Twelve episodes were produced in a single production run, although spread across two separate broadcast runs in 1989 and 1990 respectively. The series was subsequently repeated a number of times, airing into the early 2000s and was also later repeated on

GMTV2 GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as '' ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...

with

Bertha Bertha is a female Germanic name, from Old High German ''berhta'' meaning "bright one". It was usually a short form of Anglo Saxon names ''Beorhtgifu'' meaning "bright gift" or ''Beorhtwynn'' meaning "bright joy". The name occurs as a theonym, s ...

. ''Penny Crayon'' was originally created by Maddocks as a gag comic in the girls' magazine '' Jinty'' in 1976. In animation, the character was introduced in 1988 in an early episode of ''

Playdays ''Playdays'' (known as ''Playbus'' until December 1989) is a British pre-school television programme which ran from 1988 to 1997 on Children's BBC. The show was the successor to '' Play School'' and, like its predecessor, was designed as an ed ...

'' (broadcast at that time under its original title of ''Playbus'', and before the show's rotation of stories featuring recurring characters had fully set in place). In that story, not animated but read out over static images drawn by

Peter Maddocks Peter Maddocks (1 April 1928 – 20 November 2024) was an English cartoonist. Maddocks contributed to many of the United Kingdom's leading daily and Sunday national papers with cartoon series such as ''Four D. Jones'' in the Daily Express in the ...

, when a

school trip A field trip or excursion is a journey by a group of associated peers, such as coworkers or school students, to a place away from their normal environment for the purpose of education or leisure, either within their country or abroad. When ar ...

to the

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

is rained off, Penny tries to entertain her disappointed classmates stuck inside school by drawing zoo animals on the walls of the school hall (including a

Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' () is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The type species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' ( meaning 'king' in Latin), often shortened to ''T. rex'' or colloquially t-rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It live ...

), which come to life and cause havoc around the school. When she and Dennis can't catch them to erase them, she eventually draws a huge cage to put them all in, thus allowing her to rub them out. This early version of Penny had darker hair – she was given blonde hair in the following series to match that of Su Pollard, and both her and Dennis' appearance was modified for the subsequent series. One of Dennis' lines ("Mum will be furious when we get home and she hears about this!") suggests that Penny and Dennis might be siblings, though this was never mentioned in the series. The story was one of several submitted by independent writers for the new daily series, and although a selection of rotating story characters was soon picked for ''Playbus'', it was well-enough received that then-Head of Children's Programmes

Anna Home Anna Margaret Home ( ; born 13 January 1938) is an English television producer and executive who worked for most of her career at the BBC. Early career After graduating from Oxford University, where she read Modern History at St Anne's Colle ...

recommended that Hawkins might develop it as a series. Due to the original ''Penny Crayon'' story appearing on ''Playbus'', some episode guides to the series erroneously list thirteen episodes.

Episodes

Home releases

In 1989 and 1990, Parkfield Publishing released two video cassettes with four episodes on each one. In 1992, TeleVideo (A division of Direct Entertainment Group) released three videos with four episodes on each tape. In 1994, Carlton Home Entertainment released a single video with only four episodes. Several book adaptations and a 1990

annual Annual may refer to: *Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year **Yearbook **Literary annual *Annual plant *Annual report *Annual giving *Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco *Annuals (band), a ...

were also released. A DVD called The Adventures of Penny Crayon: Dog Show and other stories was also released.

References

External links

Toonhound
* {{IMDb title, id=0380941, title=Penny Crayon 1980s British animated television series 1990s British animated television series BBC children's television shows Fictional artists Fictional people from Manchester 1989 British television series debuts 1990 British television series endings 1980s British children's television series 1990s British children's television series British English-language television shows British children's animated adventure television series British children's animated fantasy television series Television series by Universal Television DreamWorks Classics Television shows set in London BBC animated television series Female characters in animation Female characters in comics Child characters in animation Child characters in comics 1976 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1976 Animated characters introduced in 1988 Humor comics Comics about children Television shows based on British comics