"It will get cold... Very, very cold...
     It will freeze over, and then it will be mine!"
 

     This animated special is adapted from Gilbert and Sullivan's 1887 opera,
     and it tells the story of Robin Oakapple. He's a cursed fellow in hiding from his
     dreadful ancestral burden and deeply in love with the fair Rose Maybud. 
     Meanwhile his family, The Murgatroyds, have been snared by the spell of
     a witch who forces them to commit a wicked crime each day, or die in
     horrible agony...

     This was another groundbreaking production from Halas & Batchelor, who
     were previously responsible for Britain's first ever full length animated feature
     Animal Farm. Directed by Joy Batchelor, "Ruddigore" was the UK's first
     ever animated TV special, and the first opera to be adapted into the
     animated form - albeit heavily-abridged. Firstly, the two hour original had
     to somehow be shoehorned into just one hour. But in addition, there were
     a number of requirements and requests put forward by the D'Oyly Carte
     Opera Company and the various financiers involved which also impacted
     on procedings. Most notably, a new running narration from the lead
     character was added...

     Ruddigore wasn't first operatic choice for the animated treatment. Plans to
     rework The Mikado, Pirates Of Penzance and HMS Pinafore were all rejected
     by D'Oyly Carte...

     Production commenced in August 1964 and finally concluded in Autumn 1967.

      Ruddigore / Tales from Hoffnung
                Region 2 / Blue Dolphin double-bill / November 2005

 

      director:     Joy Batchelor
     producers:  John Halas, Jim Laurie
     writer:        Joy Batchelor - abridged version of the
                       Gilbert & Sullivan opera
     animation:  Harold Whitaker, Tony Guy, Tony Whitehouse
     music:        D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
                       conducted by James Walker 
     voices:        John Reed (Robin Oakapple)
                       David Palmer (Richard Dauntless)
                       Kenneth Sandford (Sire Despard Murgatroyd)
                       Donald Adams (Sir Roderic Murgatroyd)
                       George Cook (Old Adam)
                       Ann Hood (Rose Maybud)
                       Peggy Ann Jones (Mad Margaret)
                       Gillian Knight (Dame Hannah)
                       Jennifer Toye (Zorah)

 

      On the web


       Halas & Batchelor
       The official site, detailing the Halas & Batchelor archive - amazing the
       things this company were involved in over the years. Ruddigore is here,
       of course, and you can view a clip of it here too...

       Animation Research Centre
       The Surrey-based centre have an extensive Halas & Batchelor collection,
       and they present a huely informative studio and production history online
       here, together with an archive of the rest of their extraordinary work...