The Adventures of Portland Bill

The Adventures of Portland Bill was a British stop motion animated children's television series made in 1983. It was set in a fictional lighthouse on the Guillemot Rock, just off the coast from the fictional village of McGuillycuddy. Norman Rossington provided the voice of all the characters, with Portland Bill acting as the narrator of each episode.

Characters

Most of its characters were named after British Sea Areas and coastal weather stations and other words that occur in shipping forecasts:

These live in the lighthouse:

• Portland Bill: lighthouse keeper
• Ross and Cromarty: his assistants
• Dogger: his dog

The rest of the characters live elsewhere:

• Fastnet: fisherman, lives on the island
• Mrs. Lundy: owns cottage on mainland
• Grandma Tiree: makes oatcakes for the lighthousemen
• Inspector Ronaldsway: belongs to the lighthouse service, not a police officer
• Finisterre: owns a croft
• Eddy Stone: owns the village shop, has various jobs: named after Eddystone.
• Young Gail: lives in McGuillycuddy, perhaps on a farm: named after "gale"

Places

• McGuillycuddy: a village on the mainland overlooking the lighthouse island: named after the real Macgillycuddy's Reeks in Ireland

Location

Whilst commonly believed to be based on the real Portland Bill Lighthouse and Isle of Portland, there is no evidence to back this up beyond the main character having the name Portland Bill. In fact, with the name of the nearest village, and the proximity of a Croft owned by Finisterre the Crofter, there is evidence to suggest it is actually based in Scotland.

Boats

• The Puffin: rowboat, belongs to Portland Bill.
• The Kipper: used by Eddy Stone and Inspector Ronaldsway.

Other animals

• Flotsam, Jetsam: two sheep
• Boulmer: bull

Trivia

• The series was narrated by actor of Spooner's Patch and Big Jim and the Figaro Club, Norman Rossington.
• In the United States of America, the show was redubbed in 1990 by Canadian voice actor Garry Chalk (of The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie fame), and was broadcast on Disney Channel straight after The Wuzzles.
• The show also aired on ABC in Australia in the afternoons. It was first shown after Sesame Street and Play School in 1987 and again from 1990 to 1991 at 3:55pm and then at 4:55pm after Babar in 1992.

Credits

• Originated by: John Grace
• Director of Animation: Barry Leith
• Designed by: John Grace, Barry Leith
• Assistant Animators: Humphrey Leadbitter, Heather Boucher
• Model Makers: Martin Cheek, Gordon Tait, Linda Thodesen
• Music by: John Grace, Mik Parsons
• Editor: Robert Dunbar
• Assistant Editor: Andi Sloss
• Production Coordinator: Barrie Edwards
• Stories Adapted for TV by: Ian Sachs
• Executive Producer: Graham Clutterbuck

Transmission guide

• Series 1: 13 editions from 4 October 1983 – 3 January 1984
• Series 2: 13 editions from 9 April 1986 – 25 June 1986

VHS releases

Snapdragon Video released a collection of 10 Portland Bill stories:

In the 1990s Castle Communications Plc released three videos with four episodes (or eight stories) each:

See also

• Gran (1983)
• Postman Pat (1981)

External links

• The Adventures of Portland Bill at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• The Adventures of Portland Bill at ClassicKidsTV.co.uk
• The Adventures of Portland Bill at the Internet Movie Database
• The Adventures of Portland Bill at Little Gems
• The Adventures of Portland Bill at Toonhound