Postman Pat

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Postman Pat
Genre Stop motion/Childrens
Created by John Cunliffe,
Ivor Wood
Written by John Cunliffe
Voices of Ken Barrie
Lewis MacLeod
Carole Boyd
Kulvinder Ghir
Angela Griffin
Janet James
Archie Panjabi
Melissa Sinden
Theme music composer Bryan Daly
Opening theme "Postman Pat and his Black and White Cat"
Composer(s) Simon Woodgate
Country of origin  United Kingdom
No. of seasons 8
No. of episodes 116 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Chris Rose
Mandy Kamester
Chris Bowden
Jane Smith
Producer(s) Debbie Pears
Jo Jorden
Running time Approximately 15 minutes per normal episode.
Broadcast
Original channel BBC One
Original run 16 September 1981 – present
External links
Official website

Postman Pat is a British stop-motion animated children's television series first produced by Woodland Animations. It is aimed at pre-school children, and concerns the adventures of Pat Clifton, a postman in the fictional village of Greendale (inspired by the real valley of Longsleddale in Cumbria).[1]

Postman Pat was first screened on BBC1 in 1981. John Cunliffe wrote the original treatment and scripts, and it was directed by animator Ivor Wood, who also worked on The Magic Roundabout, Paddington Bear, and The Herbs. A second version of the series was made and shown from 2004, which expanded on many aspects of the original series.

Contents

[edit] Plot

See also: List of Postman Pat episodes

Each episode followed the adventures of Pat Clifton, a friendly country postman, and his "black and white cat" Jess, as he delivers the post through the valley of Greendale. Although he initially concentrates on delivering his letters, he nearly always becomes distracted by a concern of one of the villagers and is usually relied upon to resolve their problems. Notable villagers include the postmistress: Mrs. Goggins, Alf: a farmer, and the local handyman and inventor, Ted Glen.

In the new series, Postman Pat Special Delivery Service (SDS), Postman Pat has been promoted to Head of the SDS and is now called upon to deliver anything. Each episode follows Postman Pat on a Special Delivery mission, from rescuing a runaway cow to delivering a giant ice cube. In his new role, Postman Pat commutes to the nearby town of Pencaster where he collects his special deliveries from the Pencaster Mail Centre. Postman Pat now has a new fleet of vehicles including a helicopter and motorbike, complete with side-car for Jess.

[edit] Setting

Postman Pat is set in the fictional British (Cumbrian) village of Greendale and the (North Yorkshire) town of Pencaster on the "Cumbria / North Yorkshire" Border.

Greendale is a large, busy village situated in the heart of the countryside. Running through the centre of the village is the High Street, home to Mrs Goggins Post Office and shop, an unofficial meeting house for the residents. Located on the edge of the village is the train station, home to the Greendale Rocket. Nisha Bains runs a popular café there while her husband Ajay runs a regular schedule on the Greendale Rocket to the nearby town of Pencaster.

Pencaster is a large, bustling, modern town located within easy commuting distance for the villagers of Greendale. Situated on the waterfront, Pencaster is a hive of activity, boasting a market square in the centre surrounded by shops, houses, a large train station, state of the art buildings and a boat jetty.

In the original series of the show from the mid-90s, the area is referred to as Garner Bridge.[2] Garner Bridge is in Greendale. For example, in the episode Postman Pat and the Suit of Armour, the village Post Office is referred to as "Garner Bridge Post Office".

Ingledale is another large, busy village town situated in the heart of the North Yorkshire countryside part of the "Cumbria / North Yorkshire" Border, only seen once in the short second series of 1991.

The inspiration for the post office itself comes from the post office located on the street where Cunliffe lived when he was a child. The post office was at 10 Greenside in Kendal and was fully functional up until its closure in 2003.[3]

[edit] Characters

See also: List of recurring characters in Postman Pat
  • Pat Clifton (Postman Pat) was the village postman for Greendale and has now been promoted to head of the 'Special Delivery Service' in nearby Pencaster. Pat lives at Forge Cottage in Greendale with his wife Sara and son Julian, who is six years old.[4]
  • Jess the Cat — Jess is Pat's black and white cat. He's inseparable from Pat and goes everywhere with him.

[edit] Postman Pat Special Delivery Service

In the latest series, Postman Pat Special Delivery Service, Postman Pat has been given a promotion to Head of the Special Delivery Service (SDS).

Postman Pat SDS features an expanded and diverse cast, a fleet of new vehicles, and the new town of Pencaster. Postman Pat Special Delivery Service first screened on BBC2 on 29 September, 2008. The new series was commissioned by the BBC and produced by Entertainment Rights and Cosgrove Hall.

[edit] Postman Pat's vehicles

Royal Mail fleet service van (Pat 1) Pat's van is a small 'box' type van, with the registration, "Pat 1". For the first eight episodes of series one, Postman Pat's "bright red van" featured a generic crown-style symbol, which was designed to be similar to the official Royal Mail symbol. When the Royal Mail gave the programme makers permission to use their official symbol, the crown was replaced with the proper Royal Mail symbol.

In later episodes, Pat uses a slightly longer minibus version of the van called the Postbus, which could carry passengers, heavy parcels and freight, called "Pat 2", and from series 4 onwards his post bus was painted yellow to become the school mini bus.

[edit] Postman Pat's Special Delivery Service vehicles

SDS Van (Pat 2) Pat’s all new eco-van, much bigger than the small van and can carry special deliveries.

SDS Helicopter (Pat 3) Postman Pat now has his Pilot’s Licence and has his very own helicopter. Pat takes to the skies to complete the very trickiest of special deliveries across Greendale and Pencaster.

SDS Mini Van (Pat 4) New Special Delivery Service mini van. Based on Pat's Pat 1 van.

SDS Motorbike (Pat 5) Pat’s all new motorbike, complete with side-car for Jess.

[edit] Music

Music for the original 1981 series was by Bryan Daly, who wrote a number of songs including the well-known theme tune. For the 2003 series, pop writer Simon Woodgate (of echobass) scored the show and wrote new songs, including a new opening and closing theme "What's in his bag?". The theme tune "Postman Pat & His black and white cat" was originally sung by Ken Barrie for the old original series in the 80s and 90s.

The theme tune and songs for the new series and sequel, Postman Pat Special Delivery Service, was recorded by Simon Woodgate at Echobass Studios.

[edit] Books

Over 12 million book titles have been sold worldwide to date and there are a further 17 titles to be released in the UK in 2009. This growing collection includes Postman Pat storybooks, integrated learning books, colouring books, and multi-character magazines.

[edit] DVD and VHS releases

With over four million DVDs and videos sold globally, there is a growing collection of titles available for Home Entertainment release, including feature length specials and interactive games. Titles include:

  • Postman Pat - Ice Cream Machine
  • Postman Pat - Big Boat Adventure
  • Postman Pat - Clowns Around
  • Postman Pat - Football Crazy
  • Postman Pat - Go-Kart Race
  • Postman Pat - Great Big Party
  • Postman Pat - Great Dinosaur Hunt
  • Postman Pat - Ice-Cream Machine/Clowns Around
  • Postman Pat - In A Muddle
  • Postman Pat - Magic Christmas
  • Postman Pat - Popstars
  • Postman Pat - The Giant Snowball
  • Postman Pat - The Pirate Treasure
  • Postman Pat Boxset - Great Dinosaur Hunt and The Pirate
  • Postman Pat Boxset - Magic Xmas & Giant Snowball
  • Postman Pat Special Delivery Service - A Brand New Mission

[edit] In other countries

 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2008)
  • In mainland China, the series launched on China’s dominant broadcast platform, China Central Television(CCTV) in July 2008. The show was dubbed into Chinese.
  • In Hong Kong, Postman Pat Special Delivery has aired on ATV World in English.
  • In New Zealand, the series has aired on TV2 (New Zealand) in English.
  • In Australia Postman Pat is on Cartoon Network and ABC kids.
  • In 2005, Postman Pat was sold to the Japanese division of Disney Channel, finally putting to rest a long-standing misconception in the UK that Japanese television would not take the series because having only three fingers and a thumb on each hand (as Pat does) was a Yakuza symbol. The series is dubbed into Japanese.
  • In the United States, newer episodes of Postman Pat initially aired weekdays at 8:00 AM Eastern time on the HBO Family cable network. The 2004 series currently broadcasts weekends on the Qubo programme block on NBC, ION Television and dubbed in Spanish on Telemundo. The episodes are unaltered, leaving intact the accents and other distinctly British elements of the series.
  • In Israel Postman Pat is known as "Dar Ha'davar" and is shown on channel one, dubbed in to Hebrew.
  • In India, Postman Pat was shown under the heading of "Half Ticket Express" which included various other shows aimed at children.
  • In Iran, Postman Pat was broadcast in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The show was dubbed into Persian under the name Pat-e Postchi.[5]
  • In Malaysia, Postman Pat was shown at NTV7 with English Language. at Astro Ceria with two language Malay and English.
  • In the Philippines, the series aired on TV5, dubbed into Tagalog.

Europe

  • In the Faroe Islands he is known as Pedda Post and he has repeatedly been broadcast by Sjónvarp Føroya.
  • In Scotland, Postman Pat is shown not only in English but also sometimes broadcast as Pàdraig Post, in the Gaelic language, on BBC Scotland.
  • In Wales, no Welsh language version of Postman Pat is currently screened. However, there are VHS tapes available of the original series translated into Welsh that were produced by Sain Video.
  • In the Netherlands the series was also shown dubbed in Dutch. There the series is called Pieter Post. It was first broadcast on Kindernet, later on Nickelodeon.
  • In Catalonia (Spain), Postman Pat is broadcast as Pat el carter, in Catalan language, on Televisió de Catalunya.
  • In Italy Il postino Pat has aired at various times on the RaiSat Ragazzi channel, Raitre and RaiSat YOYO.
  • In Poland the adventures of Listonosz Pat is shown on MiniMini and TVP1.
  • In Denmark Postman Pat is known as Postmand Per and his cat is called "Emil" .
  • In Norway he is known as Postmann Pat and his cat is called "Miss". The series has been repeatedly broadcasted by the NRK. The 1981 series was narrated by actor Sverre Anker Ousdal, whereas the new series are now dubbed in Norwegian. Some parts of the dubbed series are available as DVDs.
  • Pósturinn Páll is how Pat is known to the viewers of Sjónvarpið, the public Icelandic television network.
  • YLE TV2 of Finland airs the adventures of Postimies Pate. The original 1981 series were also released on VHS in the mid-80's; in those releases, Postman Pat was translated as Posti-Pat.
  • In Austria, Postman Pat has been broadcast on ORF since 2006 with the name "Postbote Pat".
  • In Galicia (Spain), Postman Pat is known as "Carteiro Pat" and used to be broadcast on TVG, in Galician language. "Carteiro Pat" is a remembered character for people in their 30's, as they watched the TV series on their childhood. Theme tune was translated as "Carteiro Pat e o seu gato Jess".
  • In the Basque Country (Spain), Postman Pat is known as "Patrick Postaria" and used to be broadcast on ETB 1, in the Basque language.
  • In Sweden, Postman Pat is known as "Postis Per" and is shown on Nickelodeon and TV4, dubbed into Swedish. Some parts of the dubbed series are available on DVD.
  • In Portugal, Postman Pat is known as "O Carteiro Paulo" and is shown on RTP2 and MOV, dubbed into Portuguese.
  • In Croatia Postman Pat is known as "Poštar Pat" and was shown on HRT 2, dubbed in to Croatian.
  • In Cyprus Postman Pat was known as Taxydromos Pat and was shown dubbed in Greek on the national channel Cybc(RIK).
  • In Ireland Postman Pat is shown on RTE Two's the Den. Postman Pat SDS is now also shown Weekdays at 11:05

[edit] Postman Pat Village at Longleat

Longleat House has an outdoor reproduction of Greendale village, including the Post Office, the Clifton's house and the Greendale station. It also has a miniature scale model of Greendale.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ BBC - Cumbria - Entertainment - Postman Pat
  2. ^ Postman Pat and the Suit of Armour; Postman Pat has the Best Village
  3. ^ Visit Cumbria - Best Banks Post Office, Kendal, retrieved 6 January 2009
  4. ^ "Postman Pat gets 'high-octane' 21st century makeover". Yahoo. 2008-09-24. http://uk.tv.yahoo.com/blog/article/26656/. Retrieved on 2008-09-29. 
  5. ^ Blockbuster Online - Postman Pat [Animated TV Series]
  6. ^ Longleat - As featured on BBC's Animal Park

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postman_Pat"
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