"If you want bright eyes and bushy tails,
     You know his remedy never fails..."
 

    Melvyn P Otter is the friendly GP to a host of riverside animals. He operates from
    his riverside home and surgery built within the bowel of a glorious willow tree.
    Melvyn's always there to soothe a bump, or patch up a graze or treat an upset
    stomach, and he can count on the unbridled support of his wife Raylee, and
    younger assistant Flybert. When his help is summoned from further afield
    he'll jump into his old jalopy and drive to his patients. Dandelion and Dexley Rabbit
    have a brood of children who are always getting in to scraps and scrapes. Then
    there's friendly Mrs Canny Body, Dunston the earthy mole, and - well - suffice
    it to say, folks round the riverbank are rather reliant on our Melvyn...     

    This jolly stop-motion series comes from Red Balloo, hot on the heels The Lampies.     Ealing Animation have brought the characters into life for them, and it's all bright-eyed
    and bushy-tailed fun. There are inevitable connections to Wind In The Willows here,
    with 'classic' period details in the sets and costumes, and Melvyn himself is an otter
    of taste, with a hankering for the finer things in life. But the producers have carefully     kept the show half a step away from its Edwardian influence and in doing so, have
    given us a lively little production that's difficult not to like.

        
    
    But equally, it's difficult to explain the inclusion of a very strange character
    called Lucky. He's a big green newt and he's a regular character in the series
    who talks and looks rather similar to a certain Jar-Jar Binks, from the "Star Wars"
    prequels. It's most unsettling!

    The film makers obviously had fun putting this one together. Look at Melvyn's
    wife. She's called Raylee Otter, for goodness sake. Surely that's a spoof on
    the name of actor Ray Liotta. Were the producers fans of "Goodfellas" too?

    When the series was being developed it was known as "Melvyn Otter", and
    originally, it was conceived as a 2D production with Uli Meyer Studios handling
    the animation. The switch to a stop-motion format came later...

    
        
 

     Episode titles

    Colour Me Lucky                         Treasure Hunt
    Blackberry Surprise                      Statue Over There?
    Melvyn's Birthday                        A Fishy Tale
    Doctor Otter's Mouldy Golf Bag      Oh, What a Beautiful Day
    Doctor Donna                             Things That Go Bump in the Night
    The Odd-Job Gang                       Dunston's Spring Clean
    Sale of the Centuury                    Melvyn's Lodger
    School's Out                               Summer Break
    After the Storm                           Best Foot Forward
    Stucky Lucky                              Getting the Needle
    Pumpkin Soup                             Unlucky
    Cold Comfort                               Mr Bumble
    A New Home for Lucky                  Crash
   
 

     Broadcast info

    The first episode "Colour Me Lucky" premiered on BBC2,
     6th September 2001 at 8.15am.

     The series continued for fifteen weeks, at 8.10/8.145am until
     13th December. Episode sixteen was broadcast one week later,
      20th December, but at the later time of 10.20am.

     After a one month break, the series resumed with episode seventeen,
     "Oh, What a Beautiful Day" which premiered 24th January 2002,
     back in the earlier time slot, and the broadcasts continued until the
     series concluded 28th March 2002 - though the air times was shifted
     thrice, with episodes twenty and twenty one moving to 11.45am,
     and the final episode "Crash" airing at 1.00pm. 

 

     Doctor Otter on DVD

     Doctor Otter
     5 episodes / R2/ Right Entertainment / January 2005

 

      Red Balloo presents
       a David Bonner creation
 
      producer:            Richard Randolph
      exec prods:         Theresa Plummer-Andrews
                                James Coldwell
      asst producer:     Jilly Joseph
      director:             Tobias Fouracre
      writers:                David Bonner, Jimmy Hibbert
      Red Balloo:         David Bonner, James Coldwell,
                                Mike Smallman, Richard Bell,
                                Peter Kenyon, Brian Park,
                                John Hornsby
      animation:          Ealing Animation - Chris Titchbourne,
                                Daryl Marsh, Geoff Walker
      add. anim:          Lewi Lewis, Mark Waring,
                                Martin Pullen, Andy Joule,
      charac. designs:  Ealing Animation
      lighting camera:  Malcom Hadley
      models:              The Puppet Factory    
      props:                Jennie de Naeyer, Humphrey Leadbitter,
                               Wendy Collins
      sets:                  Andy Farago, Graeme Owen,
                               Colin Armitage, Kevin Harris
      studio assist:      Matt Day
      design:               Darren Cox
      consultant:         David Holley
      editing & fx:        David Brylewski
      facilities:            Oasis Television  
      music:                Kick Productions
      dubbing &
       sound fx:             PK Studios
      voices
       recorded at:         Angell Sound      
      voices:                Jan Francis
                                Rob Rackstraw
                                Jimmy Hibbert
                                Maria Darling
         
 

      On the web


        Ealing Animation
        More bushy-tailed business here at Ealing's official studio site,
        with some pics and a clip to view..

        Uli Meyer Studios
        Uli Meyer have put up a small gallery of their original character and
        set designs for us to view...


 
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