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Postman Pat

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Postman Pat
Created byJohn Cunliffe,
Ivor Wood
Written byJohn Cunliffe
StarringKen Barrie
Milly Sinden
Carole Boyd
Archie Panjabi
Music byBryan Daly
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of episodes(list of episodes)
Production
ProducerIvor Wood
Running timeApproximately 15 minutes per normal episode.
Original release
NetworkBBC One
Release16 September 1981 –
Present

Postman Pat is a British stop-motion animated children's television series 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]

The animated series was originally screened 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.

Plot

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

Jess the cat (voiced in the second series by Donald Sinden's niece, Milly Sinden) is very vocal in every episode, commenting on the actions and follies of the human characters with a varied range of meows.

Episode list

Main article: List of Postman Pat episodes

Characters

PEN15

Vehicles

  • Pat's van — Driven by Postman Pat. (1981-)
  • Ted's Truck — Driven by Ted Glen and based on a mid 30s Bedford Truck. (1981-)
  • Dr Gilbertson's car — Driven by Dr Gilbertson and based on a Morgan Plus 8 (2005-)
  • PC Selby's Car — Driven by PC Selby and is based on a Rover P6. (1991-)
  • The Greendale Rocket — a train driven by Ajay Bains. (2003-)
  • Amy's 4x4 — Driven by Amy Wrigglesworth based on a 2002 Range Rover. (2005-)
  • Sam's Van — Driven by Sam Waldren and is based on a Bedford Minivan. (1981-2002)
  • Ajay's Motorbike - Driven by Ajay Bains. (2003-)

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 series. It was re recorded by Simon Woodgate, with Ken singing, for the new series.

Songs by Bryan Daly (1981 - 2002 series)

  • Postman Pat and His black and White Cat (Theme tune and Opening titles)
  • Postman Pat (The Magpie Hen)
  • Farmers (The Sheep In The Clover Field)
  • Handyman (Thirsty Day)
  • Mobile Shop (Difficult Day)
  • Jess The Cat (Takes A Message)
  • Tuba (The Tuba)
  • We'll Win Through (The Barometer)

Songs by Simon Woodgate (2003 on)

  • What's in his bag? (Opening titles theme, USA, Japan, and other territories)
  • What's in his bag? (Closing titles 2003 on - all territories)
  • Back on track (The Greendale Rocket)
  • We don't need an open road (Postman Pat and The Greendale Rocket)
  • It's a magical Christmas (Postman Pat's Magical Christmas)
  • Football Crazy (Postman Pat goes Football Crazy)
  • Now it's time to put on a show (Postman Pat Clowns Around)
  • Sailing on a pirate ship (Postman Pat and the Pirate Treasure)
  • You can do it (Popstars)
  • Fruity Feeling (Pink Slippers)
  • We are the Greendale Knights (Greendale Knights)
  • Let's get help from Ted Glenn (Incredible Inventions)
  • What's her name? Mrs Goggins! (several episodes series 3,4, and 5)
  • The Greendale Anthem (Spotty Situation)
  • Follow the music (Pied Piper)
  • Cooking (Cuisine) (Fantastic Feast)
  • Arthur Selby (Stolen Strawberries)
  • In a Rainbow (Pot of gold)
  • It's Jess the cat! (theme in most episodes)

In other countries

  • 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 New Zealand, the series has aired on TV2 (New Zealand) in English.
  • In Catalonia (Spain), Postman Pat is broadcast as Pat el carter, in Catalan language, on Televisió de Catalunya.
  • 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 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.
  • Postman Pat is known as Postmand Per in Denmark.
  • In Norway he is known as Postmann Pat and he has repeatedly been broadcast 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 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 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.[2]
  • In Austria, Postman Pat is broadcast on ORF since 2006 with the name "Postbote Pat".
  • 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 "Paulo o Carteiro" and is shown on RTP2 and MOV, dubbed into Portuguese.
  • In Israel Postman Pat is known as "Dar Ha'davar" and is shown on channel one, dubbed in to Hebrew.
  • In Croatia Postman Pat is known as "Poštar Pat" and was shown on HRT 2, dubbed in to Croatian.

Postman Pat's van

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.

Setting

In episodes of the show from the mid-90s (ref: Postman Pat and the Suit of Armour; Postman Pat has the Best Village), the area is referred to as Garner Bridge. Garner Bridge is in Greendale. For example, in the episode Postman Pat and the Suit of Armour, Mrs. Goggins' Post Office is referred to as "Garner Bridge Post Office".

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.[3]

References

  1. ^ BBC - Cumbria - Entertainment - Postman Pat
  2. ^ Blockbuster Online - Postman Pat [Animated TV Series]
  3. ^ Longleat - As featured on BBC's Animal Park
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