The Adventures of Twizzle

The Adventures of Twizzle
The Adventures of Twizzle title screenshot
Genre	Adventure Children's Fantasy
Created by	Roberta Leigh
Written by	Roberta Leigh
Directed by	Gerry Anderson
Voices of	Denise Bryer Nancy Nevinson
Narrated by	Nancy Nevinson
Composers	Leslie Clair, arranged by Barry Gray
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	52
Production
Producers	Gerry Anderson Roberta Leigh
Cinematography	Arthur Provis
Editor	David Elliott
Camera setup	Single
Running time	13 mins approx. per episode
Production companies	AP Films Banty Books
Original release
Network	ITV Network
Release	13 November 1957 (1957-11-13) – 10 June 1959 (1959-06-10)

The Adventures of Twizzle is the first television show produced by AP Films and specifically Gerry Anderson, after being approached by author Roberta Leigh (who also co-produced with Anderson) and her colleague Suzanne Warner. Sources vary as to who directed the series. In addition to his production duties, Anderson also directed the episodes with photography by Arthur Provis, Anderson's founding partner at AP Films. The music for the songs was written by Leslie Clair (a pseudonym for Leslie Solley) and scored by Barry Gray. Art direction was by Reg Hill and special effects were by Derek Meddings, all of whom would become long-time collaborators of Anderson. Twizzle, and all the puppets for the 52 episodes, were made by Joy Laurey. There were two Twizzle puppets made for filming, one for conventional shots and the second for stunt shots when Twizzle's arms and legs became longer, a trick that relied on a system of curtain rings and puppet strings pulled inside the puppets' arms and legs.

Twizzle has the ability to extend (or "twizzle") his legs and arms; he wears a pixie-like hat and has a cat companion known as "Footso". "Twizzle" was voiced by a Nancy Nevinson who also narrated the series. Denise Bryer did Footso and the other voices.

The series follows Twizzle's adventures as he uses his abilities to get out of trouble. A total of 52 episodes were made in black and white, although only the first, Twizzle and Footso, is believed to still exist. It was included as an additional feature on the boxed set of the series of Space Patrol released in 2003.

Overview

Twizzle's legs looked suspiciously like drinking straws with lines around them in a swirling pattern and undoubtedly the figure was pushed up from below while the straw-like legs were twisted around to give the "Twizzle" effect. Twizzle originally lived in a toy shop and was nearly sold to a naughty girl named Sally Cross but he hides and escapes in the night before the child returns the following day to buy him. He hides in a dog kennel where he finds Footso who has run away from home.

Twizzle proved useful in a fire by saving a child on a high window when no ladder was available for which he was given a racing car as a reward but after crashing it he swapped it for a breakdown truck which he uses for rescuing toys. Footso had large feet which sometimes trip him up, hence his name. Later came Jiffy the Broomstick Man (a cross between a broom made of twigs and a man who could sweep the floor on his own) who Twizzle and Footso rescued from the clutches of a stereotypical evil witch (who had threatened to burn him) when he flew up the chimney to escape her. The witch returned in a later episode and there was another narrow escape by all. Jiffy could fly by lying horizontal and would fly other people out of trouble. Twizzle and Footso built Straytown where stray toys (misfits) could live and lived in a cabin there. This theme was later carried over to Torchy the Battery Boy. Both ideas bear a resemblance to Peter Pan and Neverneverland.

All had their songs which were entertaining time-wasters, with Footso "dreaming of herrings and kippers and creamy cream" after which he'd say "Purr! Purr! Purr! Meowwll!", the latter loudly and then the show would continue (a theme Anderson later carried into Four Feather Falls). The songs were written by Roberta Leigh. There was also Chawky the white faced Golliwog who would complain: "Who wants a white-faced Golliwog?" and Candy Floss, a "Mamma Doll" who could not say "mamma" as well as Bouncy, a ball who had lost his bounce. There was also a thin Teddy Bear as well as a China Doll and a Jack in the Box. An occasional visitor to Straytown was The Toy Inspector who would check on the toys living there.

Episode guide

1. Twizzle And Footso
2. Twizzle And Footso Get Caught
3. Twizzle Saves The Doll
4. The Breakdown Van
5. Footso Is Stolen
6. Twizzle And The Golliwog
7. Jiffy And The Chawky Quarrel
8. Footso Disappears
9. Twizzle And The Broken-Down Toy
10. Twizzle Builds Stray Town
11. A Flag For Stray Town
12. Jiffy's New House
13. Twizzle And Footso Go Fruit Picking
14. Twizzle Has Some Fun
15. Twizzle And Candy Floss Open A Cake Shop
16. Twizzle Saves The Broken-Down Toys
17. Twizzle Gets Lost
18. Jiffy Opens A Barber Shop
19. Another Racing Car
20. Twizzle And His Friends Go To The Circus
21. The Toys Go To School
22. Bouncy The Ball
23. Jack-In-The-Box
24. Twizzle Catches Cold
25. The Naughty Girl
26. Jiffy's New Twigs
27. Twizzle And The Snowman
28. Twizzle And The Thin Teddy Bear
29. The Lazy Broomstick Man
30. Twizzle And The Polly Moppet
31. Footso And The Magic Seeds
32. Jiffy And The Polly Moppet Quarrel
33. Footso Gets A New Tail
34. Twizzle Is Naughty
35. Twizzle Is Stolen
36. Chawky Gets A Present
37. Twizzle And The Toy Inspector
38. Twizzle And The Naughty Breakdown Van
39. Orange And The Banana Tree
40. Jiffy's Birthday
41. Polly Moppet Disappears
42. Naughty Polly Moppet
43. Footso And The Naughty Girl
44. Stray Town Thief
45. Twizzle Papers The Cabin
46. Twizzle And Footso Go Camping
47. Twizzle Goes To The Seaside
48. Twizzle Goes To The Fair
49. Twizzle Goes Fishing
50. Twizzle Goes To The Zoo
51. Candy Floss's Birthday
52. Footso Has A Toothache

Annual

There was a British annual brought out in 1960 by Brin Brothers Ltd, called More Twizzle Adventure Stories, "The lovable T.V. character by Roberta Leigh". It had 91 pages of text stories and comic style stories (18 of them with the one page introduction). Illustrations were by F. Woof. Apart from the covers and frontispiece which are in full colour, the rest of the illustrations are black and white with one other colour (red, orange, blue or green). The annual is printed on cheap cardboard-like paper and is now very rare though not sought after.

External links

• The Adventures of Twizzle at IMDb
• The Adventures of Twizzle at the BFI's Screenonline
• The Adventures of Twizzle at Fanderson, the official Gerry Anderson appreciation society
• Television Heaven