The Wombles (1973 TV series)


The Wombles is a stop motion animated British television series made in 1973–1975. The Wombles are creatures that live underground, collecting and recycling human rubbish.
After the first Wombles book, published in 1968, was featured on the BBC1 children's television programme Jackanory, the BBC commissioned producer FilmFair to create a television series of the books. The series was produced by Graham Clutterbuck and directed by Ivor Wood using stop-motion. The characters were all voiced by actor Bernard Cribbins. Sets and model making were by Barry Leith. Two series of 30 five-minute episodes were produced, with the first series airing in 1973, animated by Ivor Wood, and the second in 1975, animated by Barry Leith.
The original television series was regularly screened for many years. After FilmFair was acquired by the Canadian company Cinar Films in 1996, a new series of episodes was created, with three new Womble characters.

Series 1 (1973)

  1. Orinoco & The Big Black Umbrella : Orinoco goes for a spin on a windy day.
  2. The Rocking Chair : Great Uncle Bulgaria's rocking chair breaks and Orinoco gets stuck in a tyre.
  3. A Sticky Ending
  4. Great Uncle Bulgaria's Keep Fit Lesson : Great Uncle Bulgaria relives his younger years with a football.
  5. A Safe Place : Great Uncle Bulgaria needs somewhere to store an old history book.
  6. Peep-Peep-Peep : Wellington invents a telephone using cans and string.
  7. The Purple Paw Mystery : Tomsk makes a mess of making ink.
  8. Bungo's Birthday Party : Bungo thinks the others have forgotten his birthday.
  9. The Invisible Womble : Orinoco becomes convinced he's become invisible.
  10. Orinoco Sees The Light : Orinoco's joke that Wellington should try planting a lightbulb has an unexpected outcome.
  11. The Conkering Hero : Wellington finds a new use for conkers.
  12. One Pair Of Feet : Wellington nearly gets spotted by a Human Being and is saved via a cardboard box.
  13. Tobermory On Television : Tobermory puts on his own TV show.
  14. Crossed Lines : Great Uncle Bulgaria demands that Tobermory improves the Burrow telephone system.
  15. Blow The Womble Down : Orinoco finds a vacuum cleaner.
  16. Madame Cholet Returns madame cholets first appearance
  17. Weighing In Time : Orinoco is shamed into exercising by a new weighing machine.
  18. Musical Wombles
  19. Wombles And Ladders
  20. Orinoco And The Ghost : Orinoco is reluctant to go out at night after hearing a scary story.
  21. A Game Of Golf : Tomsk teaches Great Uncle Bulgaria to play golf.
  22. North, South, East, West
  23. The Picnic : Tomsk and Bungo foolishly trust Orinoco to carry their picnic basket.
  24. Games In The Snow : The Wombles get snowed in after a night of heavy snow fall.
  25. The Snow Wombles : The Wombles hold a snowman making competition.
  26. What's Cooking? : The Burrow chimney is blocked
  27. Spring Cleaning Time
  28. Marrow Pie : Orinoco grows a marrow.
  29. The Cement Mixer
  30. The Circus Comes To Wimbledon : The young Wombles put on circus acts.

    Series 2 (1975)

  31. Bungo Up A Tree : Bungo gets stuck up a tree.
  32. Time And Slow Motion : Tobermory organises the young Wombles' tidying-up methods.
  33. Tomsk In Trouble : Tomsk cannot make his bed so builds a hammock.
  34. The Largest Womble In The World : Orinoco uses a coat and a pair of boots to trick Bungo and Tomsk.
  35. Running Out Of Steam : Wellington, Tomsk and Bungo make their own train.
  36. Orinoco's Midnight Feast : Orinoco's greed ruins a midnight feast.
  37. Speak Up : Tomsk accidentally joins the water pipe to the telephone pipe
  38. The Vanishing Pancake : Orinoco goes fishing for pancakes after being shooed out of the kitchen.
  39. Madame Cholet & the Blackberries : Nobody will pick any blackberries, and that makes Madame Cholet angry.
  40. The Fruit Machine : Orinoco and Wellington make a 'mid-morning snack machine'.
  41. Portrait Of Great Uncle Bulgaria : Great Uncle Bulgaria's portrait is ruined.
  42. Very Behind The Times : An enormous road to be built causes panic.
  43. Burrow Hot Line : Papers and wet laundry get muddled on the washing line.
  44. Trunk Call : Tomsk gets stuck in a hollow tree trunk.
  45. MacWomble The Terrible : A Scottish relative comes to stay.
  46. A Single Piper : MacWomble's constant bagpipe playing drives everyone crazy.
  47. Porridge For Breakfast : MacWomble sends the young Wombles out to gather bracken to make porridge.
  48. Highland Games : The Wombles do their version of the Highland Games.
  49. Home Sickness : Seeing that it is Burns Night, MacWomble is feeling homesick. So the other wombles decide to cheer him up.
  50. Goodbye MacWomble : MacWomble decides to head back home after the Loch Ness Monster has been sighted.
  51. Hiccups : Tomsk and Bungo get hiccups after eating hot buttercup crumpets.
  52. Wellington's Film Show : Wellington makes a film about the Wimbledon Burrow.
  53. Pirate Gold : Tomsk and Wellington hunt for pirate treasure.
  54. Warm & Cosy : The Wimbledon Burrow needs insulating.
  55. Autumn Leaves : Wellington, Orinoco and Tomsk invent a new way to collect fallen leaves.
  56. The Wombles Times : The young Wombles make their own newspaper.
  57. Operation W.R.A.P. : The young Wombles learn first aid.
  58. The Secret Snorer : Orinoco is tasked with guarding the Wombles' herb garden.
  59. Womble Fool's Day : The young Wombles play practical jokes.
  60. Womble Summer Party : The young Wombles perform magic tricks.

    Specials