Henry's Cat

Henry's Cat

DVD cover
Genre Kids, Family, Animation, Comedy
Created by Bob Godfrey
Stan Hayward
Written by Kevin Baldwin
Bob Godfrey
Stan Hayward
Mike Knowles
Directed by Bob Godfrey
Narrated by Bob Godfrey
Theme music composer Peter Shade
John Hyde
Jonathan Hodge
Rowland Lee
No. of series 5
No. of episodes 51
Production
Producer(s) Bob Godfrey
Running time 5 minutes (Series 1 & 2)
15 minutes (Series 3 & 4)
13 minutes (Series 5)
Production company(s) Bob Godfrey Films Ltd.
Release
Original network BBC (1983), BBC1 (1983-1985), Children's BBC (1985-1997), CBBC (1997), Channel 4 (1995-1997), The Children's Channel , Nick Jr.
Picture format 4:3 480i (SDTV)
4:3 576i (SDTV)
Audio format Mono
Stereo
Dolby Stereo
Dolby Surround
Original release 12 September 1983 – 1993
External links
Website www.henryscat.com

Henry's Cat is a British animated children's television series, created by Stan Hayward and directed by Bob Godfrey,[1] who was also the producer of Roobarb and Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk. The show starred a laid-back, ponderous yellow cat, known only as Henry's Cat, and his many friends and enemies.

Henry's Cat was first screened by BBC Television in the UK on 12 September 1983, and has enjoyed reruns since then. Five series were made in total.[2]

He knows everything about nothing
and not too much about that
but if you know someone
who knows what he knows
then you must know Henry's cat
:Excerpt from Henry's Cat theme.[3]

Characters

Henry's Cat and his friends

His enemies

Henry

Henry himself never appeared on screen; the name is thought by some to be an allusion to an earlier one-off Hayward/Godfrey collaboration, Henry 9 To 5 about a bowler-hatted commuter who escaped his boring everyday life by indulging in daydreams, mostly of a sexual nature. Henry's Cat shared the earlier character's tendency toward wild flights of fancy and laid-back approach to life. Henry's Cat creator Stan Hayward included the official explanation for the character's lack of a name on the official Henry's Cat Special Edition DVD in 2000. The explanation was that Henry, an unseen character in the series, had been Henry's Cat's original owner. He had moved away, and Henry's Cat had forgotten to go with him. He had a terrible memory, and later even forgot his own name, and so became known simply as "Henry's Cat".

Episode list

Series 1 (1983)

Each episode in this series is 5 minutes long.

# Title Summary Original air date
1The HobbyHenry's Cat is inspired to find a hobby of his own and watches his friends doing theirs.
2The RaceHenry's Cat holds a race with all his friends racing with their own talents.
3The CircusHenry's Cat sees a circus and sees this as an exciting opportunity.
4The CompetitionHenry's Cat, Chris Rabbit and Mosey Mouse dress up as a one-man band for a competition.
5The Moon TripHenry's Cat and Chris Rabbit go in a balloon for a journey to the moon.
6The HypnotistHenry's Cat is inspired by the TV to try out hypnotism to help his friends, but soon decides to undo his hypnosis.
7The HolidayHenry's Cat goes on holiday on a sailing boat at sea.
8The TreasureHenry's Cat and Chris Rabbit try to find treasure with a dividing stick.
9The Ill WindA sick Henry's Cat imagines himself dying and going to the afterlife.
10The DietHenry's Cat takes the advice of a weighing machine to cut down on overeating and take exercise.
11The Fortune TellerHenry's Cat goes to a fortune teller at a funfair with his future near at hand.
12The ExplorerHenry's Cat goes exploring to find the West Pole.
13The WhaleHenry's Cat goes fishing for a whale to get something new to eat.
14The InventionHenry's Cat is inspired to invent a machine and ends inventing something for Captain McGregor.
15The DreamHenry's Cat falls asleep after eating a lot, dreaming about vivid things.
16The RobberyHenry's Cat becomes detective, but runs into Mosey Mouse's uncle.
17The Christmas DinnerHenry's Cat helps Chris Rabbit prepare a Christmas Dinner but get themselves stuck.
18The FilmHenry's Cat gets an old film cine camera to make a film starring his friends.
19The Disco DanceHenry's Cat takes his friends to a disco dance competition. When that does not work out, they join a carnival.
20The Artist Henry's Cat tries to learn about art and how artists see things differently.

Series 2 (1984-1985)

Each episode in this series is 5 minutes long.

# Title Summary Original air date
21The Magic Tummy ButtonHenry's Cat and his friends search a museum for the lost temple of Aki-Kun-Bubu to find the magic tummy button.
22The Secret WeaponHenry's Cat dreams about himself and Chris Rabbit as scientists defending the earth from little blue men.
23The New Year's ResolutionHenry's Cat is prompted to take exercise for New Year with a backwards running race with his friends.
24The Good News DayOn a day when nothing happens, Henry's Cat dreams he is a heroic captain of a world cruising plane.
25The Catseye KidHenry's Cat imagines himself as the cowboy Catseye who is out to stop the cattle rancher, Bandit Baa Baa.
26The Hot DayOn a hot day, Henry's Cat unknowingly gets himself joining the Foreign Legion in the hot desert.
27The Merry Men and WomenHenry's Cat dresses as Robin Hood and recruits his friend as his Merry Men and Women.
28The ActorHenry's Cat decides to become a famous actor and does in the Theatre by accident.
29The WeathermanHenry's Cat becomes weathermen to report good weather forecasts.
30The InvitationHenry's Cat is invited to dinner party with Lady Snotgrove, but he feels unprepared without proper table manners.
31The VentriloquistHenry's Cat enters a contest as a ventriloquist with Chris Rabbit as his dummy, but it all goes wrong.
32The Clever TrickHenry's Cat learns a trick to bend objects, which eventually makes him famous around the world.
33The HeroHenry's Cat imagines his Great Uncle Felix's adventure as an ace fighter pilot against Baron Von Baa Baa.
34Caveman CatHenry's Cat daydreams about being a cave cat with his inventing neighbour Chris Rabbit.
35The Abominable SnowmanHenry's Cat and Chris Rabbit go an expedition which winds them up in trouble.

Series 3 (1986)

Each episode in this series is 15 minutes long.

# Title Summary Original air date
36The Treasure HuntHenry's Cat dreams of being a member of his own crew at sea after reading Treasure Island.
37The Day of Terrible JokesHenry's Cat fascinated by Medieval Knights dreams that he is bold knight winning a jousting tournament against Sir Loin of Lamb. After that he is sent to capture a three-headed dragon.
38The Case of the Pilfered Pearls Henry's Cat imagines himself as Sherlock Holmes on the trail of Rum Baba (here operating under the name of Rumbini)who has been using his magic shows as a means to steal expensive jewellery from the rich.
39The Lost WorldHenry's Cat fascinated by a TV program called Tarzan dreams that he himself is a jungle man with the huge responsibility to take care of the Lost World. The next day Henry's Cat has to stop Rum Baa Baa from capturing the dinosaurs.
40The ComputerHenry's Cat goes to a computer exhibition. There he rents a small computer robot he calls Puter. Trying to buy Puter is hard and keep his house orderly is difficult for Henry's Cat.
41The Correspondence CourseHenry's Cat goes to Big Bob's Animation Studios to make a cartoon - and a Wibbles Wobbly Jelly advert.

Series 4 (1986-1987)

Each episode in this series is 15 minutes long.

# Title Summary Original air date
42 Out for the Count Henry's Cat and Chris Rabbit are in a blowing gum match, but get lost and enter the creepy castle of Count Rum Baa Baa. Together they thwart his experiments.
43The Birthday CaperFed up on his birthday, Henry's Cat decides to go to Hollywood.
44The Funny Feeling Mosey Mouse catches Clownitis, a disease a year on Mid-Summer's Day after he drank Moo-Moo Juice. Henry's Cat rushes to the Moo-Moo Juice factory to stop Rum Baa Baa (who is controlling the machine).
45Once Upon a Time Henry's Cat imagines himself meeting various fairy tale characters - and a wolf who wants to eat Little Red Riding Hood's Granny.
46The JingleHenry's Cat and Chris Rabbit go to Cyril Chipper to help in his advertising campaign becoming successful.
47The Great AdventureHenry's Cat and his friends go to space in a flying carrot, eat food tablets, and try to stop Rum Baa Baa.

Series 5 (1993?)

Each episode in this series is 13 minutes long.

# Title Summary Original air date
48The Mystery of the Missing SantaHenry's Cat and Chris Rabbit as detectives goes on a caper to find the a kidnapped Santa. They both break in the chateau, rescue Santa and get Count Baa Baa arrested.
49When Time Went WrongAfter attempting to fix his cuckoo clock, Henry's Cat along with Chris Rabbit travel in time to the Prehistoric Times. As they try to go back to the Present, they travel from one Epoch into another.
50The New PresidentHenry's Cat applies to be the new president of the United States of America so he can have his face carved into Mount Rushmore. Chris Rabbit tells him about the history of America featuring George Washington, Charlie Chaplin and the Seven Dwarfs.
51Valentine's DayHenry's Cat has a brand new TV set (with so many channels), and sees Pansy Pig (with a paper bag on her head, thinking she is ugly), so he hosts "Blind Dates". With contestants: Rum Baa Baa, Sam Pig (Pansy's love interest) and Ted Tortoise.
Note: This episode coupled with 'The President's Day' won a Cable Ace Award in 1994 for Best Children's TV Series. Also Channel No. 5 on Henry's Cat's new TV resembles to the future TV channel, Channel 5.

Notes

Credits

Series 1

(c) Stan Hayward Bob Godfrey Films Ltd. 1983

Series 2

(c) Stan Hayward Bob Godfrey Films Ltd. 1984 (From Series 2 to Series 5)

Series 3

Series 4

Series 5

References

  1. ↑ 80s cartoons website
  2. ↑ BFI | Film & TV Database | HENRY'S CAT
  3. ↑ Henry's Cat Theme Song @ Toonarific Cartoons
  4. ↑ 80s cartoons website
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