2007 NEWS

Let's face it.After 40+ years it's a remarkable testimony to the series that they still generate any news at all quite frankly.And just when you think it's all gone quiet............

"Trumptonshire Tales"- live stage event.

Following the sell-out success of the first 2 events in Bristol and London,the gang popped up to Scotland and spent a week at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival,August 7th to 14th. And,by all accounts,the country that put the 'Mc' in PC McGarry was more than happy to prove that Trumps is quintessentially British rather than parochially English.

More info on the Brian Cant page.

THE TRUMPTONSHIRE TRILOGY

CAMBERWICK GREEN,TRUMPTON AND CHIGLEY    

SITE HISTORY

I decided to start this site at the end of 2003.

I'd been thinking about having a go at site design for a while,if only because practically everyone else seemed to be doing it.And I'd been told it was fun and potentially addictive.Which certainly sounded persuasive,but I didn't have a subject in mind to base it on.

Until.......I rediscovered my Trumptonshire book collection that had been wrapped in some old blankets and put in some tea chests.Along with lots of other items mum had had the foresight to save.

And anyone who's found items from their childhood will know just how powerful they can be.

So,suitably inspired,I found myself one of those online website builder packages and off I went.

The site launched in Jan.2004 as little more than a shell,with the URL of trumpton3.moonfruit.com.But it was indeed both 'fun and addictive' and actually quite cathartic.And I was perfectly happy in the knowledge that I was talking to myself as it was buried so deep in Google that even I gave up looking.

So it was genuinely something of a shock when like-minded people started emailing.Especially as they'd been largely preceeded by Viagra spam,and the content was based more on a series of personal thoughts and recollections rather than anything particularly informative.

Which is probably why I got a lot of questions about "who did what,to whom,and when ?" And as I felt strangely dutybound to supply the answers,the site kind of just grew steadily from there,and becoming far more factually-based in the process.

Part of the journey did involve a server move unfortunately,as I'd rather innocently picked a sitebuilder that used Flash- and at a time when everyone just had a 56k connection.

So,a year on from launch,Flash was ditched,load times and visibility improved and,a few years later,here we are in 2008

The site's still very much active and there's more to come.

And thanks for taking the time to visit. Jay

Trumptonshire takes up residence in NickleOdeon multiplex

From March 5th (until at least 2009) the series will air on its "Junior Classics" and "Junior Classics 2"

channels.And as they're devoted solely to UK TV animated kids' programmes,then I suppose the only

question is "what took them so long ?!".Plenty of other period goodies there too,although it's a pity

they clearly don't think today's kids will get much out of them,because both channels only broadcast

in the evening.

Of course,if you're one of the few people left in the country (er,like me) who still has only 5 channels,

and thinks that's probably still one too many,then there's always the trusty dvd boxset.

So,there's really no escape I'm afraid.

Camberwick boundary changes incorporate primetime ......and Mars.

The Beeb is currently a Trumptonshire-free zone of course,which sadly seems more like a divorce than

a seperation the longer it goes on.But it's still happy to acknowledge its lasting legacy with the

ocassional nod and a wink.And the latest is a little animated pastiche of the famous Camberwick music

box opening sequence that's been included in an episode of the 2nd series of the hit primetime show

"Life On Mars".

Why   ? Well,in case you haven't seen it,it's about a modern day plain clothes British cop in a coma,who

wakes up only to find himself doing the same job in the 1970's.So the timeframe's kind of appropriate I

suppose and most of the audience would probably have got the gag.

It was done by Hot Animation,a subsiduary of Hit Entertainment responsible for Bob the Builder and an ever-growing stable of kids tv shows.Which is interesting,if only because it's one of its' rivals,Entertainment Rights,that currently handles all things Trumptonshire.

But just be warned that PC McGarry he ain't.And once he emerges from the music box that's where the tone changes and the similarities end.Bit of a laugh though,and very well done actually.Although I doubt they needed,sought or got Gordon Murray's blessing !!

I've uploaded a scan of a brief Radio Times look behind the scenes of it's creation Here

The official Beeb site for the series is Here if you're wondering what you may have missed.

And if you'd like to see it,there were several examples on YouTube last time I looked (put "Life on Mars"+Camberwick into 'search').Because it's a bit too tenuous a link to Trumptonshire to include it here really.

2006 NEWS.........

.....3 complete series dvd's were released seperately in the first half of the year.

And all 3 then re-appeared in the Autumn,unaltered,stuffed in a cardboard box and rather shamlessly

re-marketed as a completely new boxset

.....BBC Radio 4 marked the 40th anniversary of Camberwick's 1st broadcast with a half hour

retrospective.And I've added a transcript Here

.....And the Quaker Oats ad campaign continued it's Carry On Windy feel (ooh-er)

CONTACT INFORMATION.

It's always good to hear from you. You can either use the guestbook,above -and my thanks to those few intrepid souls that have !

Or you can email me HERE. All friendly correspondance gets a quick and friendly reply. Jay.