The Treacle People
  
   producers: The London Studios
                     in association with
                     LWT/Granada
   animation: stop-motion animation
    
                            SERIES ONE
                            1996 / 13 x 15mins

                            SERIES TWO
                            1997 / 13 x 15mins

                            STICKY CHRISTMAS
                            1997 / 15min Christmas Special

  
   "We are the Treacle People,
    We seek treacle high and low!"
 

    The village of Sabden is nestled up to Pendle Hill, deep in the sticky heart
    of treacle country. But there's a problem. The treacle mines haven't flowed
    with the gold stuff in years, and it's plunged the residents into gloom and despair.
    Why, it's enough to make your ginger beer go flat, so it is. But Rosie Mitten and
    Bill Wizzle are on the case and pretty soon they're up to their eyes in Boggarts
    and glutinous bliss within the old mine as they unearth a marvellous golden
    seam that's destined to restore their village pride and wealth. That's if they
    can get out the mine again, and if mean-fisted mine owner Silas Milton can
    unglue his wallet, and if all the other Sabden folks can only stop their
    bickering for five minutes and come together for the common good...

    This adhesive stop-motion series was co-written by Brian and Jonathan Trueman,
    the former being one of Cosgrove Hall's top drawer script writers. "The Treacle
    People" mines the same anarchic humour vein as the likes of DangerMouse 
    and Chorlton and the Wheelies. The story unfolds episodically, like a certain
    long-running northern soap and - by 'eck - there's even a Bet Lynch landlady
    type working in the Bubble & Boggart. Leyland Lil, as she's known, is as
    tough and as feisty as the leopardskin tops she likes to wear, and the
    other treacle folk fear her wrathful tongue. The series is stuffed with regional
    references to great northern delights like ginger ale, sticky toffee and parkin.
    The Treacle People may well hark from the same region as the Flumps, but
    there's no pootling around here, their adventures are pacey and bright and
    above all, great grand sticky fun. And topping it all is that singalong theme
    song that sticks in yer' noggin' long after the show has ended.

    Producer Iain Russell also co-produced the big-stitched adventures of
    Tom & Vicky, with Martin Pullen once again directing the animation.

       

    Real sticky

    Sabden is a very real place, of course. And Pendle Hill. You'll find them in the
    heart of Lancashire, within the great Ribble Valley. And the treacle mines?
    Well, they were real too, for a while. You see, Bill Dewhurst and family
    opened up a treacle mine tourist attraction in Sabden in 1974, and at their
    peak they attracted over 30,000 visitors a year. They spawned the characters,
    and latterly this fab TV series. Sadly, the mines closed down in 1998, with the
    proprietors blaming the closure on continued vandalism and competition from
    the Teletubbies...

 

    Sticky Christmas

    This was the Treacle people's very own BAFTA-nominated Christmas special
    in which Professor Baines-Pilling creates a weather machine to conjur up some
    festive snow... only.. it goes awry, and now poor old Santa Claus is fog-bound
    and unable to make it to Sabden in time for the big day!

 

    Treacle people

   Rosie Mitten (the blacksmith's daughter)
   Bill Wizzle (Chief Treacle Sniffer)
   Leyland Lil (owner of the Bubble & Boggart cafe)
   Charlie (her long-suffering partner)
   Tapper Knowle (treacle mining engineer)
   Professor Baines-Pilling (inventor)
   Brendan (chief bottler at the ginger beer bottling works)
   Barrow & Furness (treacle thieves)
   Nellie Newchurch (snooty cake shop owner)
   PC Pendle (aka "Nicko")
   Silas Milton (owner of the treacle mine and the ginger springs)
   Ike (knotted-hankied numpty)

   Treacle critters

   Bert Boggart (baffling treacle mine creature)
   The Moobark (a barking cow...)

  

   broadcast info

    The series premiered on ITV on 3rd May 1996...

 

 

     The Treacle People on DVD


      Treacle People: Treacle Trouble
                Region 2 / six episodes / Right Entertainment / March 2006

 

    first series credits
   
     produced by The London Studios
     in association with  London Weekend Television
    and Fire Mountain Productions

    distributed by Link Entertainment

     developed for television by Iain Russell & Mike Furness
     from an original idea by The Dewhurst Family