Trumpton
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Trumpton (1967) is a stop-motion children's television show from the producers of Camberwick Green. Scripts are by Alison Prince; all other production details are identical to Camberwick Green.
The action in the new series moves to the imaginary town of Trumpton, not far from Camberwick Green. Each episode begins with a shot of Trumpton Town Hall Clock, "telling the time, steadily, sensibly; telling the time for Trumpton". (The musical box device used in Camberwick Green was dropped from the new series, perhaps because some children found it upsetting.) The townsfolk then appear and go about their daily business. These include the Mayor, Mr Troop the Town Clerk, Chippy Minton the Carpenter and his apprentice son, Nibbs, Mrs. Cobbit the Florist, Miss Lovelace the Haberdasher and her trio of annoying pekinese dogs, and Mr. Platt the clockmaker. Not forgetting the ever-ready Trumpton Fire Brigade, Captain Flack's gallant crew, whose roll-call can be recited by every British television viewer of a certain age: Pugh! Pugh! Barney McGrew! Cuthbert! Dibble! Grubb! (Pugh and Pugh are twins.) This roll-call is heard in every episode (except one in which Cuthbert is omitted because he is on leave), because the Fire Brigade is continually being called out to attend some emergency or other - but to Captain Flack's annoyance, never an actual fire! (Actually the reason for this is that fire would be too difficult to animate.)
Although all of the characters and settings are new, the style of the programme follows the pattern established by Camberwick Green, in which domestic problems are cheerfully resolved by the end of the show, leaving the last minute or so for the Fire Brigade to become the Fire Brigade Band and play the episode out.
As with Camberwick Green, the original masters seem to be lost; surviving versions often suffer from technical flaws.
The third and final series in the sequence was Chigley.
The show was immortalized by the cult 80's indie band Half Man Half Biscuit with their song "Trumpton Riots" which contained humourous, satirical references to the show.
External links
- The Trumptonshire Web (http://www.t-web.co.uk/trumpgo.htm)
- The Trumptonshire Trilogy (http://trumpton3.homestead.com)
- Trumpton3D (http://trumpton3d.com)