Oliver Postgate

Ivor the Engine is a British children's animation by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms company. It is a children's television series relating the adventures of a small green locomotive who lived in the "top left-hand corner of Wales" and worked for The Merioneth and Llantisilly Railway Traction Company Limited. His friends included Jones the Steam, Evans the Song and Dai Station, among many other characters.

Bagpuss is a UK children's television series, made by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate from 12 February 1974 to 7 May 1974 through their company Smallfilms. The title character was, "An old, saggy, cloth cat, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams." Although only 13 episodes of the show were made, it remains fondly remembered, and was regularly repeated in the UK for thirteen years. In 1999 Bagpuss topped a BBC poll for the UK's favourite children's TV programme.

...Not very long ago, in the top left-hand corner of Wales, there was a railway. It wasn't a very long railway or a very important railway, but it was called The Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited, and it was all there was. And in a shed, in a siding at the end of the railway, lives the Locomotive of the Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited, which was a long name for a little engine so his friends just called him Ivor..." ...And that was how it began, back in 1959: one of Oliver Postgate's most loved creations, Ivor the Engine. It was a series about the Welsh adventures of a little green railway engine and his many friends. But Ivor wasn't an ordinary steam engine. He pretty much wished he was a person and ended up doing things like singing in a choir and swimming in the sea! One season of six, 10 minute, Black and White films was made for and screened by Associated-Red.

Chronicles the melancholically funny lives of the Clangers, a flutey-voiced family of woolen, knitted aliens living below the surface of a knobbly little planet far out in space. Their misadventures brought them into contact with such unlikely creatures as the Soup Dragon, the Froglets, the Iron Chicken and the Glow Buzzers.

Noggin the Nog is a popular British children's character. Noggin himself is a simple, kind and unassuming King of the Northmen in a roughly Viking-age setting, with various fantastic elements such as dragons, flying machines and talking birds.

Pogles' Wood was an animated British Children's television series produced by Smallfilms between 1966 and 1967 and screened by the BBC between 1966 and 1968 as part of the Watch with Mother series. The Pogles were tiny country folk who lived in a tree. The four principal characters were Mr Pogle, Mrs Pogle, their 'son' Pippin and a squirrel-like creature, Tog, who was Pippin's playmate. The 32 episodes were shot in stop-frame animation in Peter Firmin's barn or shed.

Pingwings was an animated black-and-white children's television series of 18 ten-minute episodes broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV in 1961. It first aired on Southern Television. Created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin of Smallfilms, it starred a family of penguin-like creatures who lived at the back of a barn on Berrydown Farm. The Pingwing characters were knitted by Firmin's wife Joan and the animation was achieved using the stop motion technique.

Tottie: The Story of a Doll's House is a 1984 animated television series. It is based on The Dolls' House, a children's novel written by Rumer Godden originally published in 1947, and focuses on the toys living in a Victorian Dolls' House belonging to sisters Emily and Charlotte Dane. The whole series had a very dark edge as the dolls had to wish very hard that good things would happen and they would not fall on misfortune. The series started with the phrase "Dolls are not like people, people choose, but dolls can only be chosen".

An in-depth examination of the complete production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005).

The Seal of Neptune was a children's programme created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, also known for their works Ivor the Engine and Clangers. It was broadcast on BBC Television in 1960. Oliver Postage tells the sage of Sirus,the small seahorse who sets out beneath the waves with his friend Shrimp to return the Seal of Neptune to its rightful owner.

Return to the enchanting yet often perilous world of the dolls with "Totty: The Doll's Wish" This captivating stop-motion animated saga, originally aired in 1986, continues the beloved story from Smallfilms, narrated once again by the inimitable Oliver Postgate. Following the dramatic events of "Totty: The Story of a Doll's House," Tottie, Mr. Plantaganet, Apple, and the remaining dolls are attempting to build a peaceful life in their beloved home. However, the insidious influence of Marchpane, the beautiful but manipulative china doll, still casts a long shadow. Even from afar, her powerful wishes subtly control the children, Emily and Charlotte, and threaten the fragile harmony within the doll's house.

Big Chris leads a chorus of characters from various animated children's television shows in a medley of seven songs: 1. "Can You Feel It" 2. "Don't Stop" 3. "Jai Ho!" 4. "Tubthumping" 5. "Never Forget" 6. "Hey Jude" 7. "One Day Like This"

A documentary about the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, responsible for creating some of the most memorable television and radio music in British popular culture, including "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and Doctor Who (1963).

Enjoy once again the adventures of Welsh steam engine Ivor, Jones the Steam and the good people at the Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company - not to mention the dragon and his chestnut barrow!

As the general election is held in the UK, it's polling day for the Clangers on a small blue planet far away.

In the late 60s, with the arrival of Colour TV, the BBC was keen for something different, modern and colourful. Postgate and Firmin rolled their eyes to the sky; not in desperation but for inspiration. They discovered a small blue planet populated by pink beings known as Clangers, a green dragon who cultivated soup and orange monopods who emerged from a magician’s top hat. Wonderful and exotic creatures would often visit, and were always very welcome, especially a chicken made of iron who lived on a nearby nest made of space junk. The BBC wanted something different and that’s certainly what they got.

Classic Children's Animation

A look at the life and career of Oliver Postgate