- Toytown
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For other uses, see Toytown (disambiguation).
Larry was the “little guy who always came out on top” [1]
Toytown[2] was a British radio series for children, based around a set of puppets created by SG Hulme Beaman[3], broadcast by the BBC for Children's Hour, which ran from 17:00 to 18:00 on the Home Service. There were also some short films made during the 1970s which were broadcast on ITV.[4] The series starred Larry the Lamb[5] ("I do my little be-e-est"), the perpetually inquisitive ovine central character and his eternally clever canine sidekick, Dennis the Dachshund, a German sausage dog. In each story a misunderstanding, often arising from a device created by the inventor, Mr. Inventor, occurs which involves the officious Ernest the Policeman,[6] the perpetually disgruntled Mr Growser the Grocer[7] and the narcissistic Mayor.[8]
The pool of stories was re-used until the end of Children's Hour. Larry the Lamb was always played (at least when broadcast from London) by Derek McCulloch, Dennis at various times by Norman Shelley, Ernest Jay and Preston Lockwood, the Mayor by Franklyn Bellamy and Felix Felton, Ernest the Policeman by Arthur Wynn, Peter Claughton and Stephen Jack and the Inventor usually by Ivan Samson.
The opening music was "The Parade of the Tin Soldiers" by Leon Jessel.
References
- ^ Hartley, Ian. Goodnight Children ... Everywhere. (New York, Hippocrene: 1993) ISBN 0882548921
- ^ Further information about the series
- ^ Other examples of his work
- ^ See examples of 1970s annuals
- ^ Brief characterisation
- ^ Episode revolving around his officiousness
- ^ Explanation of his catch phrase
- ^ For example in Be careful what you wish for he tells the wizard "I wish to be big!"...and inevitably is turned into a porcine burgher.
External links
Categories:- BBC Radio stubs
- BBC radio programmes
- Children's ITV television programmes
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