Bertha (TV series)

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'Bertha'
Genre Childrens'
Developer(s) Eric Charles
Stephen Flewers
Starring Roy Kinnear (voice)
Sheila Walker (voice)
Narrated by Roy Kinnear
Theme music composer Brian Daly
Country of origin United Kingdom
Language(s) English
No. of episodes 13
Production
Producer(s) Ivor Wood
Running time 15 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel BBC 1/BBC 2
Original run September 29, 1985 – April 21, 1986
Links
IMDb profile

Bertha is a British stop motion animated children's television series about a factory machine. It was made & produced from September 29, 1985 to April 25th 1986 and was first aired on September 29 by BBC Television. It was aimed at pre-school children, and is owned by Cosgrove Hall Films. Which had always joined forces with Woodland Animations

Contents

[edit] Story

The series was set in Spottiswood factory - a small manufacturing plant which produces a wide range of manufactured goods ranging from cuckoo clocks to windmill money depository boxes.

The show focussed on Bertha, who is an old fashioned factory machine. In each episode there would be some sort of daily crisis involved in factory production. With the help of his friends (the factory workers), Bertha invariably solves all the problems, and comes as "the best machine" in Spottiswood factory. It should be noted that, as far as the audience saw, Bertha was also the only machine in Spottiswood factory.

[edit] Production

Bertha was created by Woodland Animations, who also produced the shows Postman Pat, Charlie Chalk & Gran for the BBC. The show was written by Eric Charles & Stephen Flewers and produced by Ivor Wood for Woodland Animations.

The Narration was provided by Roy Kinnear, who also provided the voices for the characters, along with Sheila Walker.

[edit] Main characters

  • Mr. Willmake - Manager of the factory
  • Miss McClackerty - Mr. Willmake's assistant
  • Mr. Sprott - Chief designer
  • Tracy - Assistant designer
  • Mr. Duncan - Foreman
  • Ted Turner - Chief machine operator. Named after Ted Turner a president of a radio and movie station
  • Roy Willing - Assistant machine operator
  • Mrs. Tupp - The tea lady
  • Panjid - Forklift truck operator
  • Nell and Flo - Packers and Stackers
  • T.O.M. - Talk Operated Machine, a robot built to perform tasks around the factory

[edit] Materials Produced by Bertha throughout the series

[edit] Original Broadcast Dates

Bertha premiered on BBC 1 with The Great Painting Job which aired on 1 April 1985 at 3.55pm. The next seven episodes were shown over the following weeks, apart from interruptions for the Easter and May Day holidays.

Episodes eight to eleven were first broadcast at the end of an Autumn rerun. Similarly, the final two episodes premiered in the midst of a third outing in 1986.[1]

[edit] List of episodes and first broadcast dates

  • The Great Painting Job - September 29, 1985 [2]
  • More Speed, Less Work
  • The Windmills
  • The Big Order
  • A Mouse in the Works
  • The Burglars
  • The Best Machine Competition
  • TOM Gets Lost
  • The Big Sneeze
  • The Flying Bear
  • TOM's New Friend
  • The Tea Nurse
  • Bertha's Birthday Party - April 25, 1986

[edit] Bertha theme tune

Bertha had a catchy theme tune, with music and lyrics by Brian Daly, and sung by Guy Fletcher

Bertha, lovely Bertha,
You are a lovely machine,
And anyone who works with you will know just what I mean.
Whoa...
Bertha, lovely Bertha,
Sometimes I think you're a dream;
When we work out what you have to do
You can always turn the goods out,
Always turn the goods out:
We can depend upon you.
Clicking in the day, flashing in the night,
Your computer is shining brightly.
Some people say you've a mind of your own,
And I think that's very likely, likely.

[edit] External links

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