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THE TRUMPTONSHIRE TRILOGY
CAMBERWICK GREEN,TRUMPTON AND CHIGLEY
If it's true that the first viewing of anything always has the biggest impact,then we'd really better start with those lucky tots who saw the very first transmission of Camberwick Green.
Picture the scene,or relive it if you were lucky enough to be there......
It's 1.30pm,January 3rd,1966 and you've settled down to watch this new Watch With Mother series on BBC1.
You don't know much,if anything,about it.The tv is still only a half day,3 channel box of delights.And the concept of the BBC programme trailer is still viewed as somewhat vulgar by the Corporation.
But that's ok because it'll be a surprise.And,back then,none of us know any different.
And,yes,the makers may well have had the foresight to film it in colour,but colour broadcasting
hadn't started in the UK.But that's ok,because everything is in black and white so none of us know
any different.
Yes,yes.But what's it going to be about ? Will it be any good ?
Yet another string puppet effort I suppose ?
.........Andy Pandy,The Woodentops,The Flowerpot Men.....ho-hum.
And elsewhere ? Well,there's Sooty.But we all know that nice Mr.Corbett has his hand up his bum (er,Sooty's that is) -so where's the mystery there ? And how about those 2 highly strung,and ever so perky and pink singing pigs -what's all that about ? US cartoons ? Yes.Ok,great.But how about giving us something different ? Something really different.
Well,whatever it is,I've finished my eggy soldiers early to watch.It's a pretty dreary winter's day outside and the recent entertainment's been restricted to watching mum making lunch and Hammy having a thrash in his wheel -thin pickings indeed.So it's got my undivided attention,at least until she retrieves my slinky from the toilet (long story).
Anyhow,here we go.Cue theme tune and .............Oh,a clown (sigh).How original !..........
Understood.But I just wanted to try and show why they had such a big impact for me and so many others,when they first came out.Which maybe helps to explain just part of the reason why we're still talking about them 40 years on.
The next big "wow" moment was indeed when they first appeared in colour.
But I'm not sure it brought them any more to life for those of us weened on black and white.Because you really can't underestimate just how fantastic it was to see those 3D people magically moving around without strings.
But perhaps you really had to be there.
Don't get me wrong though.I didn't prefer them in black and white then,and nor do I now.
Christ,if only they had first appeared in colour.What a fantastic,surreal "PleasantVille" moment that would have been. Although I probably would've been in great danger of sensory-overload lol !
Obviously the general sense of awe reduced the more you saw.But,for me,it never dwindled to anything
less than an ongoing fascination and the fact so many of us religiously chose to watch the endless
repeats must say something about its qualities...........or something about us !
Great singalong songs and "real" 3D characters you believed in. 24 carat tv gold -plain and simple.
And,rest assured that the rest of this look into all things Camberwick is in glorious CamberColor...........
Hey.Hang on just a darn minute though.That clown's got no strings ! ..... Hey,and what's this box ? Look out,the music's stopping and...........
"Here is a box.A musical box.Wound up and ready to play.
But this box can hide a secret inside. Can you guess what is in it today ? "
No ! What is it ?!!..... Oh,look out,we've got some different music now..... It's starting to rotate..... the top's sliding apart ..... how's it doing that ?..... and who's this slowly emerging..... ?
Shhhh.The music's stopping again........
" It's Peter Hazell the Postman.....Hello Peter.....Are you very busy ? (nod).....Emptying all the pillar boxes ? (nod).....
Do they write a lot of letters in Camberwick Green ? (holds up sack and looks into it)..... Yes,I see they do......What are you going to do now,close the box ? (nod then slams door).....Well.that's closed and make no mistake ! (nod).....Do you take your sack to the Post Office now ? (several nods & extravagant swing of the sack over the shoulder)....
Can we come with you ? " (unsurprisingly another nod )
Hey,now some shrubbery has faded up behind him,so we must be in Camberwick.
Oh my God,he's walking unaided and whistling and singing as he goes......and......Well,never mind.Can't talk now.....
Mum,Mum !.....cancel my engagements,and tell Hammy to 'stand down' for the next 15 minutes. I'm busy !!
The Locations
Before listing all the characters,it'd be as well to put them into some sort of context.
So this is the world they inhabit-Camberwick Green in the County of Trumptonshire.A small,country hamlet based around a village green.
Well,I say "Green",but it's actually a large tree with a seat round it and a small (very small) bit of greenery.
But a proper village green would've probably meant extra demands on the animator's...like a cricket match maybe ?
And this option provides a nice turning circle for the vehicles if nothing else !
All the houses are detached.Well,link-detached in the case of the Bakery and Fishmongers.And there's a real mish mash of architectural styles,with Doc Mopp's Georgian splendour sitting next to a Post Office which looks as though it's on loan from the Swiss Alps.
We never get to see the whole Green in one shot,so I've placed the buildings in rough situ-order below to help you visualise the layout.
And either side of the Bakery and Doc Mopp's house ? Brief stretches of brick wall and open countryside.(see pic 4)
Very civilised shopping hours too -9 till 5 except half-day early closing at 1pm on Wednesdays & Saturdays and closed all day Sundays ie.pretty much what shoppers experienced in the UK in 1966.
Peter Hazell this week.
But 12 other characters also got their chance.
And at that tender age the suspense was fab.
A really nice lead-in.Simple but very effective.
-of which Windy would doubtless approve.
YOU'RE HERE
We watch from
this side-
which we never
get to see.
1. The Murphy's Family Bakery
2. Mr.Carraway's Fish Shop (Open in Pic 2 & Closed in 5)
3. Mrs.Dingle's Post Office & General Stores
4. Dr.Mopp's House / Surgery.
5. The 'Green' around which they're located.
So it's Doc Mopp's house to right of the P.O.
and the Bakery to left of the Fish Shop
MISSING ! - One Chemist's Shop
2.
3.
4.
5.
Interior shots of the above ? We get to see the following:-
The Bakery 1A- This is the only area shown downstairs 1B-Only one scene elsewhere,in Paddy and Mary's room.
The FishMongers None- We never get past the threshold.
The Post Office 3A-The shop & post office counter.As the hub of the village,it's not used as much as you might have thought. No other rooms are ever shown.
Doctor Mopp's House 4A- Only one scene-shot inside a downstairs room.
Locations outside the Green
Ok,so that's base camp if you like.And now we have the various locations dotted around outside.
Although whilst they're obviously not that far away,just how far is anyone's guess,because it's never made clear.
One of those cluster-type signposts pointing every whichway would be very handy for us navel-gazers.But in the absence of that we can only live off scraps like Mickey Murphy saying that Colley's Mill is "quite a long way" from his shop. Or the fact that son Paddy can rollerskate from there to the Dairy.
And we're also not told where they are in relation to each other either.
You'd have thought Gordon would've paced it all out for us wouldn't you ? lol
Anyhooo....here they are,and in no particular order.And I've tried to select the widest/best views of them we're given.
"Missing ! One Chemist's" perhaps should have been on a card in the Post Office window.
Because whilst we all knew Mrs.Honeyman was the wife of the Chemist,we never actually saw the shop (or him for that matter).Presumably it's opposite the bakers / fishmongers ? ie. where we the viewers sit.
Colley's Mill ( Windy's residence ) In addition to the Mill itself,we get 3 other constituent parts
Pic 1 shows the "Granary" to the left .Pic 2 the Well to the right. And Pic 3 the "Cookhouse"-which is only ever seen in one episode and only from this angle,so we don't know where it is in relation to the other bits.And the reason there's only half of it on view is because it's shot from the other end to double up as Roger Varley's house -also only shown once.A simple,but effective little ruse to save some time
And just for good measure,Windy's bit also appears to double as the back of the Bakery for one scene.Just as well a lot of houses have the same styles and paint colours of course or we'd be on the phone to continuity !
Bell's Farm >>>
The best overview
<<< Crockett's Garage Tripp's Dairy >>>
2 typically ghastly bits of bland 60's minimalism here.
But don't shoot the messengers -the model makers were doubtless just grateful for the absence of any time-consuming fiddly-twiddly bits.
Pippin Fort >>>
"A military academy
-a school for boys who want to
be soldiers."
Locations mentioned but never shown.
The first 2 are both courtesy of the Pippin Fort troupe.
Incidentally,was I the only one who missed the bit about them being "boys who want to be soldiers" and not proper adult soldiers.Oh,I was.Oh,ok.
Well,they were always good value however old they were supposed to be.But,in my defence,we do see Private Lumley driving the baker's van in Mr.Murphy's episode.So you tell me ?
Anyhow,"Camberwick Common" is mentioned in one episode as a place where they "play their tracking games".
And in another episode,we're told that "every tuesday after parade,the boys go to "the swimming pool".It's their favourite sport."
Pity we didn't get to see the former but we were never going to get to see the latter now were we ! They must have had a laugh tossing in that one.A swimming pool packed full of people is enough to make any stop motion animator reach for the valium.
There's a reference to "the packing station" by Windy in the Farmer Bell episode,in relation to his egg production. But that's all we get on that.
In Mrs Honeyman's episode,she assumes the presence of workmen on the Green is a prelude to the building of "an electricity sub station".Everyone's up in arms and rallies together to stop it,because we're told,
".....nobody wants the Green to be changed.They like it just the way it is".
Fortunately,it's all been a misunderstanding and they're only there to install "a new drain" (hurrah)
And the sub station ? Well we're told that it's going to go behind Crockett's Garage.The best place for it imho, and a close run thing to decide which of the 2 would look worse (is there such a thing as a bland carbuncle ?)
So a brief look into some future development there but,miraculously,40 years later and....it's still exactly the same !
All of which goes to prove that Camberwick Green is the only part of Britain where phrases like 'green belt', 'conservation area' and 'S.S.S.I' actually mean something.
Well,maybe there and Greendale !
The Camberwick Pt.2 page has all the characters,their song lyrics,means of transport and closing titles
1
2
3
So those are all the locations dotted around outside the central hub of The Green.
Excluding a scene in Windy's cookhouse and one in Bell's milking parlour,we never get to go inside any of them.
No great loss frankly,although I do actually remember 2 things I always wished we'd been shown:-
1) The Mill workings -some nice chunky machinery and suitably clunky sound effects would've gone down a treat. And,
2) A parade ground set inside the walls of Pippin Fort which meant we could've seen that great portcullis-type gate working.
And so you can go on I suppose.And if they'd had the time and money,they may well have done.
Fortunately,you can usually rely on a kid's imagination to fill in the gaps.
1B
1A
3A
4A
THIS IS PART 1 -The Opening Titles and Locations. PART 2 with the Character pics,biogs,songs & Closing Titles is HERE
" Yes,well that's all fine 'n' dandy Jay,but when I first saw them they were in colour.
So is this a private party or can we all join in ?! "
1.
Windy's
Roger's
THE GREEN
