...cartoons, animation, comic strips and puppets in the UK
HOME
THE HOUND
british toon
news & chatter
MOVIE TOONS
animated films
& shorts
TV TOONS
animated series
TOON MAKERS
animation studios
& people
IT'S A PUPPET!
string, hand
& finger puppets
COMICS
characters, strips
& comic books
TOON GODS
british animators
& illustrators
RESOURCES
______________
FLEETWAY ST.
GENTLEMAN
BRIGGS
BUNTY'S BOOTY
CRACKING
COLLECTIBLES
_______________
Animal
Stories
(2001)
producers:
Collingwood O'Hare for ITV
animation: 2D
animation
episodes:
51 x 5 minutes
This hugely-cute series of Tall
Tales for youngsters features a different critter
each episode. The stories run like modern-day
Aesop Fables and tell us all about
a Penguin who can't fly, a Leopard who wants
to change his spots, a Fly who
learns how to read and many more. Those 51
episodes allow for a lot of
diversification!
The stories are conveyed as humorous rhyming
couplets narrated enthusiastically
by the late Sir Nigel Hawthorne. Witness Tommy
The Bat, who finds it so very
difficult to get to sleep at night...
and started to weep.
"I've tried lots of ways,
but I can't get to sleep!"
"Well didn't you know?"
Mum said with a frown,
"That bats only sleep
when they hang upside-down?'"
"Animal Stories" proved to be ITV's largest-ever children's commission at the time,
and the show has gone on to be a preschool favourite on the Disney Channel
in America. Better still, the series collected the award for Best Pre-school
Animation at the 2001 Children's Film And Television BAFTA Awards...
Trivia Hounds will note that this was the second COH/Hawthorne collaboration,
coming twelve years after the award-winning special Rarg...
True Blue "Animal Stories" fans will find many of the tales published in the pages
of CITV's Telly Tots Magazine, from Egmont World. Each is illustrated with
a dozen-or-more splendid screen grabs. Now you might scorn the idea of
buying a 'tots' magazine, but predecessors to this kind of publication like
Pippin and Playland are now mightily collectible...
Awards
2001 Children's BAFTA - Best Pre-school Animation
Animal Stories
Series 1
Big Pink Pig
Trevor the Frog
Helen the Penguin
Smelly Dog
Big Bold Lion
Hugh the Worm
Edwina the Aardvark
Simpson the Slug
Win-Stanley the Sloth
Polar Bear
Billy the Giraffe
Ron the Crab
Lou the Crocodile
Series 3
Brian the Leopard
Pointy the Hedgehog
Peter the Peacock
Lewis the Cat
Horatio the Rat
Cyril the Centipede
Jimmy the Mouse
Bob the Bee
Keith the Caterpillar
Maurice the Magpie
Eddie the Catfish
Sammy the Hippo
Ernest the Hyena
Series 2
Bobby the Ape
Ant 2954
Tommy the Bat
Tony the Tortoise
Susie the Kangaroo
Camilla the Camel
Oliver the Owl
Dinky the Dolphin
Clive the Hamster
Fred the Dragon
Bruce the Goose
Eric the Elephant
Jake the Snake
Series 4
Ralph the Rabbit
Austin the Oyster
Philip the Fly
Felicia the Humming Bird
Drew the Whale
Clara the Cow
Tim the Dinosaur
Des the Donkey
Ross the Rhinoceros
Carla the Koala
Melvin the Moose
Dodo the Pigeon
created by Trevor Ricketts and Tony Collingwood
developed for television by Tony Collingwood
director: Tony Collingwood
producer: Chris O'Hare
music: Andrew Dimitroff
narration: Nigel Hawthorne
On the web
Collingwood O'Hare
http://www.collingwoodohare.com
An official page from the shows' creators on their site. Features an introduction
to the series, a short character guide and a title-sequence clip. Very sweet...
