THE TRUMPTONSHIRE TRILOGY CAMBERWICK GREEN,TRUMPTON AND CHIGLEY

All 3 series were made using stop motion model animation.

Actual 3D scaled down models are physically moved by the animator a tiny amount.A still photo is then taken and the process repeated until the illusion of continual motion is achieved.

And "tiny amount" does mean exactly that,because too big an alteration per frame and the action would appear crude and jerky.

So what you get is a v_e_r_y slow process.How slow  ?  Well just see if you can get your head around this......

It actually took 25 (twenty five) of those stills just to get 1 (one) second of footage.And even allowing for the use of 'stock',or reused bits of footage it still took around 4 weeks to film each 15 minute episode.

Pretty inconceivable to those of us mere mortals with average attention spans,I think you'll agree.

And this was despite cutting corners to work within the considerable time and budget restraints that a Public Service Broadcaster like the BBC had to impose.

The first bit of expediency was to avoid the issue of speech altogether.

Animating all the necessary lip movements was out of the question,so they simply didn't give the characters mouths. Thank you very much,problem solved !

Instead,the idea of speech was simply reinforced by all the usual body language that accompanies it.With plenty of arm and head movements when "talking" to each other.And basic nods and waves in response to direct questions from the narrator -ie. Q."Are you going to Chigley  ?" A. Nod  Q."May we come too  ?" A. Nod.

That said,in Camberwick,there were ocassional instances of mouths suddenly appearing to reinforce a simple exclamation Like when Mickey Murphy burns himself,we get a quick shot of an open mouth to accompany an "ouch" before it disappears just as quickly as it appeared.

More effective,and less bizarre than it may sound actually.Although even this was dropped for Trumpton and Chigley.

Corners were also cut getting the characters from A to B,because of all the work involved animating the leg movements.

Indeed,wherever possible the basic task of walking was avoided altogether.

Which is why some of the women were given floor-length skirts (easier to animate a glide than a stride !)

And why Miss Lovelace's 3 dogs had floor-length coats to avoid the comparative nightmare of messing about with 4 legs,nevermind 2.

The Pippin Fort boys also spent a lot of time in their truck.And that footage,together with the scenes where they were actually on foot -ie.the roll call/drill sequence- could be filmed once and simply reused where appropriate.

And perhaps the most obvious example of that use of stock footage was the Trumpton Fire Brigade call-out sequence. Because the sequence from when Captain Flack answers the phone to them driving away from the station is exactly the same each time.And the subsequent drive to the destination is only ocassionally varied by the inclusion of a different strategically placed bystander.

But as the viewers either didn't notice or care,then all this actually amounted to a very prudent use of available time and money rather than anything detrimental.

However,if you want to see what stop motion can achieve when the shackles are removed,then look no further than Aardman Animation's output.Because whilst the likes of ' Wallace and Gromit ' are done using plasticine or 'Claymation' instead of foam and wire,the basic technique is the same.And with an absolutely incredible eye for detail and painstaking lip-syncing included,it's as technically good as you're ever going to see.And as Trumptonshire was one of Nick Park's inspirations during his formative years,then the circle is complete.

Stop motion people must be a strange bunch of borderline "obsessive compulsives" though.

A bit like enduring an endless long haul flight,getting deep vein thrombosis,but at least having the satisfaction of actually making the in-flight movie.

But I reckon we should all be grateful they put themselves through it.Because the results are truely magical.

Ok,so hopefully it's brought you a little more appreciation of the medium,and made you want to Google to find out more. But why did they bother to use it at all when it was so time-consuming even with all the short cuts   ?

Well,the Beeb had started UK kids' programming back in the 1950's.And since its inception, the medium used for all non-human kids' productions had been string puppetry (marionettes).

All the classics of the 50's and 60's like Muffin the Mule,The Woodentops,Andy Pandy and The Flowerpot Men were made this way,because

1) They were immensely popular and so "if it ain't broke,don't fix it".

And, 2) They were relatively cheap to produce. (Two timeless broadcasting principles).

They were all made for the famous pre-school "Watch With Mother"slot.All shot in black and white and all transmitted live (yes,live).And very much involved in all this was puppet meister and Trumptonshire creator,Gordon Murray.

A man who'd managed to pull off the tricky feat of translating a boyhood fascination into a successful career.First with a touring production company,putting on shows in schools and other small venues,and then as part of the BBC in-house production team.

But even he wasn't blind to the simple physical constraints that strings placed on the content........

ie. Q. how does a puppet walk through a doorway A. with great difficulty !

And as the 60's progressed,it was becoming increasingly clear that the clock was ticking for other reasons as well.....

With the introduction of commercial television in the late 50's the BBC began to experience competition for the first time, and was finding the experience distinctly hard going.

A point rather neatly encapsulated by the alternative puppet offerings from the famous husband and wife team of Gerry and Sylvie Anderson.

Backed by Lew Grade's cash,they comfortably stole the high ground,both in terms of overall production values and just the sheer scale of what they were attempting.In fact,by the mid 60's,commercial tv was simply doing a lot of things 'bigger' which,to a rapidly increasing tv audience hungry for spectacle,usually meant 'better'.Allbeit a rather dubious conclusion to draw if understandable.

But perversley,the Anderson's had also highlighted puppetry's deficiences.Because they'd conclusively proved that no amount of money or Supermarionation could hide the strings or get rid of those characteristically jerky movements.And in an age of great social and technical change,when Man was striving to land on the Moon,that sort of thing was beginning to look increasingly lame.

So,in 1965,rather than waste money on pale imitations using a medium that was fundemantally flawed,the Beeb bit the bullet,got the scissors out and commissioned the first kids' programme using 3D stop motion model animation.

By the end of the decade BBC puppetry production was dead,and an important chapter in kids tv history was over.

And that first ground-breaking series ?  Camberwick Green.

Ok,no strings but why stop motion in particular   ?

Well it offered the opportunity to show kids a much more believable form of make-believe.

Trumptonshire was a 3d world,and needed a more convincing 3D reality than line drawn cartoons or glove puppets like Sooty and Basil Brush could ever.And they were the only other options.

So whilst it was neither quick nor cheap,stop motion really was the best solution available.And the 2 are so inextricably linked that a CGI remake today would probably be a disaster.

But the really big surprise in all this was the man chosen to spearhead this brave new world -none other than our very own string-meister general,Mr.Murray.

And ex-BBC employee Mr.Murray,as he'd left at the time of the programme's commission in 1965.A move apparently prompted,a year earlier,by the amalgamation of the Children's Department and Women's Programming,to form the Family Programmes Department  -".....suddenly I found myself in a meeting entirely surrounded by arguing women,which was most unpleasant.And as my contract with the BBC was due for renewal,I decided to leave."

Er,quite !

But leaving did mean that he was free to take his career to the next level,by producing the content himself,gaining more creative freedom and retaining the rights.And that kind of virtuous circle sounded a bit like this..........kerching !

Of course,these days independant production companies produce large swathes of network tv and no-one thinks twice about it.Their idents can be seen on the end credits of most programmes,and just as much on the Beeb as on commercial stations.But back then it was another story,and certainly the vast majority of BBC production was still done in-house.

But if you could get a toe in the door like Murray,then the potential rewards were clear.And especially with kids tv because of its naturally cyclical market.Get yourself a hit,hope it has legs and you'd be surfing wave after wave of new viewers reaching your target age group.

What you also had to do though was get a handle on the merchandising,because a disproportionately large part of the income would come from that rather than broadcasting fees.To the extent that most tv animation ventures,even today, are actually loss makers until it starts to kick in -assuming it ever does.

And whilst not the huge co-ordinated operation it is these days,it'd be completely wrong to assume that all that commercialism only really started with the likes of George Lucas's Chewbacka and chums.Because even the very early Watch With Mother favourites spawned a a darn sight more than just a few annuals and a pop-up book.

And the BBC may have been ad-free,but it certainly wasn't restricted from licensing anything it could get someone to manufacture.And sales were helped considerably by a much less fragmented market than today.

So,all told,plenty of reasons to be a rights-holding producer,both then and now.

And all this would've sounded particularly attractive to our Mr.Murray of course,having lived on a meagre BBC salary for so long. And of course it did indeed sound great -on paper.

But there were 3 rather major hurdles to clear before you could start thinking about finding yourself a good accountant.

• First,you had to get your project commissioned.
  

• Second,you had to get it made.
  

• And third,you had to hope enough people watched it to give it some legs.
  

And it was no coincidence that Murray had effectively been unemployed for a year since leaving the Beeb.A period he attributed largely to a frosty silence from his former employer.Not that they owed him anything of course.

But he'd at least used the time well by dreaming up the Camberwick concept and when they began looking round for some new kids' programme ideas he was ready.

And,fortunately,they were very receptive,and asked to see a pilot.Although he'd have to fund it himself.Which was a considerable personal financial consideration for an ostensibly unemployed  man in his mid forties with "a growing family".But,no pilot meant no series and no indy film-making career.So.....

Well,there's not much point trying to build up the suspense because clearly he did make it,the Beeb commissioned an initial 13 episode series off the back of it and the rest is history.

But unlike us,he wasn't to know all that and he must've been one very relieved man when the white smoke went up.

In fact,so much so that he wasn't about to quibble over the contract typing error that turned the original "Candlewick" working title into the "Camberwick" we're all familiar with.

You do have to wonder just how much he benefited from being so well known to them as a former employee though.

Or,put another way,would the concept have been strong enough to stand up on its' own if he hadn't been  ?

Well,only they know the answer to that.

But let's just be grateful they got it together -incestuous or not !

Although if they had said "no",he'd have struggled to find it another home (never mind hang on to his own) Not the least because the only other channels were the ITV regions.And of those,the biggest player likely to even consider such a project was fronted by Lew Grade,or Low Grade Lew as Eric Morecambe used to call him.

Which would've been particularly unfortunate as he was the money behind the Anderson shows,and only then because he thought they'd sell well in the States (wrong !)

So no joy there you suspect.Although I'd have paid good money to have been a fly on the wall during the pitch.... "Yes,but where are the explosions  ?" and "where's the love interest  ?" and "if they want to watch a windmill go round they can take a trip Holland  !!"  etc etc.

So the lack of channels meant it was clearly a buyer's market,in total contrast to today,where broadcasters are so desperate for content that all we end up with is a lot of desperate content.

But,on the other hand,if you were actually able to get your show on to British screens,then the lack of choice meant you had the luxury of a huge captive audience.Just BBC 1 and 2 and ITV.No Channels 4 & 5,satellite cable ........

Phrases like "don't touch that dial" and "stay with us" were largely irrelevant because there was nowhere else to go. Remotes were available in the US,but there was little point having them here.And changing channel was still a rare enough event that people actually got out of their chairs to do it. Hard to imagine now.

And audience figures were also boosted by the absence of a VCR safety net.So if you missed something,your only hope was catching the repeat -which admittedly wasn't that forlorn a hope even then. Happy days ? Well,you tell me ?

Anyhow,that was all very well,but Murray still hadn't actually made the series.

And he adopted a suitably Trumpton-like "sum of the parts" approach to the production process.Athough this was more down to the familar theme of a lack of cash rather than anything particularly altruistic.

So he opted not to form a production company and have staff permanently on the payroll,and simply farmed out the various production requirements to a handful of freelance workers in and around London.And no permanent staff meant no central overheads and no recurring costs.

But where he really scored was that all his out-workers opted to take one-off payments for their work.

Had they taken a smaller upfront fee and a share of the rights they'd have been laughing of course.And,to be fair,this was offered to them.But 20-20 hindsight's a wonderful thing.And whilst they all doubtless took comfort from the fact they'd worked with him before,no-one knew at the time whether it would actually take off.And with bills to pay.........

Unfortunate.

Particularly as countless repeats,and tons of merchandise will have done little to ease their pain.

But Murray still retains sole commercial rights to this day (except for the music).And why not,when he was the guy who came up with the idea,shouldered the risk and saw it through to the end.

Post-Trumptonshire   ?

Such creations are usually once in a lifetime events.And how on earth do you follow something like that anyhow   ?

Well,it's possible of course, but why give yourself an ulcer trying when it's already provided you with a place in tv history, and the option of early retirement  ?

Which may explain why the post-Trumptonshire projects were so sporadic and why they barely registered by comparison. ("The Gublins" anyone ?)

But if your sole epitaph is that you were the "Creator of Trumptonshire",and put smiles on millions of young kid's faces then you've not done too badly have you   ?   And amen to that.

ON THIS PAGE - The Story of the Making of Trumptonshire

HALF WAY THERE !