The Wombles (1973 TV series)

The Wombles is a stop-motion animated British television series made in 1973–1975. The Wombles are creatures that live underground, collecting and recycling human rubbish.^[3]

The Wombles
Genre	Children’s animation, comedy
Created by	Elisabeth Beresford
Written by	Elisabeth Beresford
Directed by	Ivor Wood[1]
Voices of	Bernard Cribbins
Narrated by	Bernard Cribbins
Theme music composer	Mike Batt[2]
Opening theme	"The Wombling Song"
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	60
Production
Producer	Graham Clutterbuck
Animators	Ivor Wood Barry Leith
Running time	4 minutes
Production company	FilmFair London
Original release
Network	BBC1
Release	5 February 1973 (1973-02-05) – 24 October 1975 (1975-10-24)
Related
The Wombles (1996 TV series)

After the first Wombles book, published in 1968, was featured on the BBC1 children's television programme Jackanory,^[4] the BBC commissioned producer FilmFair to create a television series of the books. The series was produced by Graham Clutterbuck and directed by Ivor Wood using stop-motion. The characters were all voiced by actor Bernard Cribbins. Sets and model making were by Barry Leith. Two series of 30 five-minute episodes were produced, with the first series airing in 1973, animated by Ivor Wood, and the second in 1975, animated by Barry Leith.

The original television series was regularly screened for many years. After FilmFair was acquired by the Canadian company Cinar Films in 1996, a new series of episodes was created, with three new Womble characters.

Episodes

Main article: List of The Wombles episodes § 1973 series

References

1. "My family and other Wombles". Times. London. 11 August 2007. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
2. "The world of Wombles author Elisabeth Beresford". BBC. 10 November 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
3. Sheridan, Simon (2004). The A-Z of Classic Children's Television: From Alberto Frog to Zebedee. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. pp. 257–261. ISBN 1903111277.
4. "Elisabeth Beresford". The Daily Telegraph. London. 26 December 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2011.

External links

• The Wombles at IMDb