| Doctor Snuggles | |
|---|---|
Dennis the Badger, Doctor Snuggles, Knobby Mouse and Snuggles's umbrella |
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| Format | Animated series |
| Created by | Jeffrey O'Kelly |
| Voices of | Peter Ustinov Olwen Griffiths John Challis |
| Composer(s) | Ken Leray |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom Germany Netherlands |
| No. of episodes | 13 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Joop H. Visch |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Polyscope Production |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV in the United Kingdom |
| Original run | 1 October 1979 – 1980 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Doctor Snuggles is an animated television series created by Jeffrey O'Kelly about a friendly and optimistic inventor named Doctor Snuggles who has unusual adventures with his friends in a slightly psychedelic world. The show featured fantastical scenarios which usually involved Doctor Snuggles inventing something outlandish such as a robot helper or diamond-making machine, and had a variety of supporting characters who were mostly anthropomorphic animals.
Contents |
The show was a co-production between British, German and Dutch producers. The animation was primarily done by two studios, Topcraft in Japan and DePatie-Freleng in USA. It was originally released as two separate English and German language versions. In the English language version the title character was narrated by veteran actor Peter Ustinov. The show debuted in 1980, and consisted of thirteen half-hour episodes.
The show featured original artwork by Nick Price, original scripts and ideas by Jeffrey O'Kelly, and television scripts by Richard Carpenter. Two episodes (#7 and #12) were written by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd, both dealing with ecological issues.
In the UK the show featured as part of the Watch It! strand for children on the ITV network. In the United States, the series aired on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block and in Ontario, Canada, on TVO.
The show followed the adventures of Doctor Snuggles, a kind old gentleman who lives in a comfortable home with his elderly housekeeper, Miss Nettles. Doctor Snuggles spends most of his time inventing, and throughout the series creates a housekeeping robot (Matilda), a wormmobile, a machine to restore the colours of the rainbow, a gadget to fight depression, a fire-proof lotion and a time machine, amongst other inventions. He travels by means of a talking pogo-stick/umbrella and a spacecraft made of wood called the Dreamy Boom Boom. Doctor Snuggles also has to deal with the malevolent powers of the crazy magician - Professor Emerald, who is his arch enemy.
On July 4, 2005, Firefly Entertainment released Doctor Snuggles on DVD in Region 2. The four disc box set, entitled Doctor Snuggles - The Complete Collection, features all thirteen episodes of the series. The series has yet to be released in any other region .
Note: The Doctor Snuggles Complete DVD collection is released in Region 0 not Region 2 which is unblocked by region encoded players. However, the format is PAL. While computer DVD software/computer players can convert PAL to an NTSC video signal, not all store-bought players do.