Postman Pat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Postman Pat | |
|---|---|
 Pat and some of his friends |
|
| Genre | Children's |
| Running time | Approximately 15 minutes per normal episode. |
| Creator(s) | John Cunliffe, Ivor Wood |
| Producer(s) | Ivor Wood |
| Starring | Ken Barrie Archie Panjabi |
| Country of origin | UK |
| Original channel | BBC 1 |
| Original run | 1981–present |
Postman Pat is a BBC stop motion animated children's television series aimed at pre-school children, concerning the adventures of Pat Clifton, a postman in the (fictional) Yorkshire village of Greendale (inspired by the real valley of Longsleddale in Cumbria).
The animated series was originally screened in 1981. John Cunliffe wrote the original treatment and scripts, and it was directed by animator Ivor Wood, who also worked on The Magic Roundabout, Paddington Bear, and The Herbs. A second version of the series was made and shown from 2003, which expanded on many aspects of the original series.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Each episode followed the adventures of Pat Clifton, a friendly country postman, and his "black and white cat" Jess, as he delivers the mail through the valley of Greendale. Although he initially concentrates on delivering his letters, he nearly always becomes distracted by an issue of one of the villagers and is usually relied upon to resolve their problems. Notable villagers include the postmistress, Mrs. Goggins, Alf, a farmer, Miss Hubbard, who is nearly always seen out on her bicycle and the local handyman, Ted Glen.
Jess the cat (voiced in the second series by Donald Sinden's niece, Milly Sinden) is very vocal in every episode, commenting on the actions and follies of the human characters with a varied range of miaows.
[edit] Episode list
[edit] Characters
- Pat Clifton - Village Postman
- Jess the cat - Pat's pet
- Mrs Goggins - Postal Mistress, first name unknown
- Sarah Gilbertson - schoolchild, daughter of Dr Gilbertson
- Katy Pottage - schoolchild, Tom’s twin sister, daughter of Julia Pottage
- Tom Pottage - schoolchild, Katy’s twin brother, son of Julia Pottage
- Charlie Pringle - schoolchild, son of Mr Pringle
- Lucy Selby - schoolchild, daughter of PC Selby
- Mr Pottage - father of Tom and Katy Pottage, husband of Julia Pottage
- Julia Pottage - mother of Tom and Katy Pottage, wife of Mr Pottage
- Reverend Peter Timms
- Alf Thompson - farmer, husband of Dorothy Thompson
- Dorothy Thompson - wife of Alf Thompson
- Bill Thompson - schoolchild, son of Alf and Dorothy Thompson
- Ted Glen - handyman
- Rebecca Hubbard
- Sam Waldron - mobile shop owner
- Granny Dryden - first name unknown
- George Lancaster - farmer
- Peter Fogg - farmer
- Dr Sylvia Gilbertson - mother of Sarah Gilbertson
- Police Constable Arthur Selby - father of Lucy Selby
- Major Forbes - owner of Garner Hall , first name unknown, mentioned in 1981, axed from 2004
- Sara Clifton - wife of Pat, station café waitress from 2004, surname not mentioned until 2004, referred to in 1981, but first name and surname not mentioned
- Julian Clifton - schoolchild and son of Pat and Sara
- Jeff Pringle - teacher
- Ajay Bains - railway owner, husband of Nisha Bains
- Nisha Bains - station café waitress, wife of Ajay Bains
- Meera Bains - schoolchild
- Nikhil Bains - baby
- Mr Cove - husband of Mrs Cove, father of Percy Cove
- Mrs Cove - Postwoman, wife of Mrs Cove, mother of Percy Cove
- Percy Cove - schoolchild, son of Mr and Mrs Cove
[edit] Songs
[edit] 1981
Songs by Bryan Daly
- Postman Pat (The Magpie Hen)
- Farmers (The Sheep In The Clover Field)
- Handyman (Thirsty Day)
- Mobile Shop (Difficult Day)
- Jess The Cat (Takes A Message)
- Tuba (The Tuba)
- We’ll Win Through (The Barometer)
[edit] 2003
Songs by Simon Woodgate
- What's in his bag? (Opening titles theme, most territories incl USA & JAPAN *not UK)
- What's in his bag? (Closing titles 2003 on - all territories)
- Back on track (The Greendale Rocket)
- We don't need an open road (Postman Pat and The Greendale Rocket)
- It's a magical Christmas (Postman Pat's Magical Christmas)
- Now it's time to put on a show (Postman Pat Clowns Around)
- Sailing on a pirate ship (Postman Pat and the Pirate Treasure)
- You can do it (Popstars)
- Fruity Feeling (Pink Slippers)
- We are the Greendale Knights (Greendale Knights)
- Let's get help from Ted Glenn (Incredible Inventions)
- What's her name? Mrs Goggins! (several episodes series 3,4&5)
- The Greendale Anthem (Spotty Situation)
- Follow the music (Pied Piper)
- Cooking (Cuisine) (Fantastic Feast)
- Arthur Selby (Stolen Strawberries)
- In a Rainbow (Pot of gold)
- It's Jess the cat! (theme in most episodes)
[edit] In other countries
- In Scotland, Postman Pat is shown not only in English but also sometimes broadcast as Pàdraig Post, in the Gaelic language, on BBC Scotland.
- In the Netherlands the series was also shown dubbed in Dutch. There the series is called Pieter Post. It was first broadcast on Kindernet, later on Nickelodeon.
- In New Zealand, the series has been broadcast on TV3 in English, and there are now plans to screen the older episodes in Maori as of 2005.
- In Catalonia, Postman Pat is broadcast as Pat el carter, in Catalan language, on Televisió de Catalunya.
- In Australia Postman Pat is on Cartoon Network and ABC kids.
- In 2005, Postman Pat was sold to the Japanese division of Disney Channel, finally putting to rest a long-standing misconception in the UK that Japanese television would not take the series because having only three fingers and a thumb on each hand (as Pat does) was a Yakuza symbol. The series is dubbed into Japanese.
- In Italy Il postino Pat appears on the RaiSat Ragazzi channel and on September 2006 appair on Raitre.
- TVP 1 in Poland shows the adventures of Listonosz Pat.
- Postman Pat is known as Postmand Per in Denmark.
- In Norway he is known as Postmann Pat and he has repeatedly been broadcast by the NRK. The 1981 series was narrated by actor Sverre Anker Ousdal, whereas the new series are now dubbed in Norwegian. Some parts of the dubbed series are available as DVDs.
- Pósturinn Páll is how Pat is known to the viewers of Sjónvarpið, the public Icelandic television network.
- YLE2 of Finland airs the adventures of Postimies Pate. The original 1981 series were also released on VHS in the mid-80's, in those releases Postman Pat was translated as Posti-Pat.
- In the United States, newer episodes of Postman Pat have begun running on the HBO cable network. The episodes are apparently unaltered, leaving intact the accents and other distinctly British elements of the series.
- In India, Postman Pat was shown under the heading of "Half Ticket Express" which included various other shows aimed at children.
- In Iran, Postman Pat was broadcast during the years of late 80's and early 90's. The show was dubbed in Persian by the name of Pat-e Postchi.
- In Austria, Postman Pat is broadcasted on ORF since 2006 with the name "Postbote Pat".
- In the Basque Country, Postman Pat is known as "Patrick Postaria" and used to be broadcasted on ETB 1, in basque language.
- In Sweden, Postman Pat is known as "Postis Per" and is shown on Nickelodeon, dubbed in Swedish.
[edit] Production
The original 1981 series was produced by Woodland Animations. The four television specials and the 1996 episodes were produced by HIT Entertainment and the later 2003 series was produced by Entertainment Rights.
[edit] Trivia
- The first series had 13 episodes. For the first eight, Postman Pat's "bright red van" featured a generic crown-style symbol, which was designed to be similar to the official Royal Mail symbol. When the Royal Mail gave the programme makers permission to use their official symbol, the crown was replaced with the proper Royal Mail symbol.
- Pat's van is a small 'box' type van, with the registration, "Pat 1". However there was one episode where Pat used a slightly longer 'minibus' version of the van, which could carry passengers and freight, called "Pat 2". And from season 4 onwards his post bus was painted yellow to become the school mini bus.
