Trumpton


Trumpton is a British stop-motion children's television series from the producers of Camberwick Green. First shown on the BBC from January to March 1967, it was the second series in the Trumptonshire trilogy, which comprised Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley.
Trumpton was narrated by Brian Cant, and animation was by Bob Bura, John Hardwick and Pasquale Ferrari. Scripts were by Alison Prince; all other production details were identical to Camberwick Green.

Story and structure

The action takes place in the fictional town of Trumpton, a short distance from the equally fictional village of Camberwick Green, the focus of the first series in the Trumptonshire Trilogy. Each episode begins with a shot of Trumpton Town Hall clock: The townsfolk then appear going about their daily business: the mayor, Mr Troop the town clerk, Chippy Minton the carpenter and his apprentice son Nibs, Mrs Cobbit the florist, Miss Lovelace the milliner and her trio of Pekingese dogs, Mr Clamp the greengrocer, Mr Munnings the printer, and Mr Platt the clockmaker.
Although most of the characters and settings are new, the style of the programme follows the pattern established by Camberwick Green, in which domestic problems are cheerfully resolved by the end of the show, leaving the last minute or so for the fire brigade to become the town band and play the episode out.
The fire brigade is perhaps Trumpton's most-recognised feature. Captain Flack's roll-call was recited in all but one episode: Puppeteer Gordon Murray has explained that "Pugh and Pugh are twins you must understand – not Hugh, Pugh." In the episode "Cuthbert's Morning Off", Cuthbert's name is omitted. They are continually being called out to attend some emergency or other, but to Captain Flack's annoyance never an actual fire. The main reason for this was the difficulty of animating fire, water, and smoke, although a naked flame was successfully animated in episode 8, for the abortive lighting of a bonfire. Nonetheless, after "Right men, action stations!", the fire brigade often absent-mindedly deployed the fire hose and received a rebuke from Captain Flack.
Writer Gordon Murray has said that the communities of the series are "representative of real locations which are one-and-a-half miles from each other in an equidistant triangle", but declined to name them for fear of the area being "inundated with tourists".

Episodes

Episode titles were given in Radio Times but were not shown on-screen.
  1. "The Bill Poster"
  2. "Miss Lovelace and the Mayor's Hat"
  3. "Mrs Cobbit and the Ice Cream Man"
  4. "Miss Lovelace and the Statue"
  5. "Mr Platt and the Painter"
  6. "The Mayor's Birthday"
  7. "Telephones"
  8. "The Rag and Bone Man"
  9. "The Window Cleaner"
  10. "Cuthbert's Morning Off"
  11. "The Plumber"
  12. "Pigeons"
  13. "The Greenhouse"

    Characters

The Fire Brigade

Unusually, Trumpton Fire Brigade has two theme songs. The first, commencing with the famous roll call of firemen's names, accompanies every turnout of the Brigade; the second, ending every episode, forms the habitual tune played by the Brigade at the Thursday band concerts. The Fire Brigade appears in every episode. Captain Flack always has a speaking part, as do Fireman Grubb in episode 1 and Fireman Cuthbert in episode 10. In episode 4 the Mayor states "I can't think what Trumpton would do without its Fire Brigade".
As Camberwick Green is only two miles from Trumpton it is not surprising that many of the familiar Camberwick Green characters make an appearance.
In 2011, BBC Studios and Post Production digitally restored all 39 episodes of the Trumptonshire trilogy after William Mollett, son-in-law of the creator Gordon Murray, found some original footage in an attic. He then approached the BBC to see if it could track down the missing 40‐year‐old original footage, which was eventually traced to the BBC broadcast archive but it soon became very clear that its age meant that restoration would be a difficult and delicate task. Murray and Mollett enlisted the expertise of BBC Studios and Post Production, which cleaned, scanned and digitally restored the film footage frame by frame.

Appearances in popular culture

Aired April 20, 2007, in the second episode of season four 'Conference', Peep Show's Alan Johnson addresses the Project Zeus team and rhetorically posits as to whether 'the inventors of google sat around watching Trumpton'.
In 1984, 17 years after the broadcasts on BBC in 1967. Longman Video released eight of the episodes on video as part of its Children's Treasury collection. There were two releases, each containing four episodes
VHS video titleYear of releaseEpisodes
Trumpton 1983Nick Fisher the Bill Poster, Miss Lovelace and the Mayor's Hat, Mrs Cobbit and the Ice Cream Man, Miss Lovelace and the Statue.
Trumpton 2 1984Mr Platt and the Painter, The Mayor's Birthday, Telephones, The Rag and Bone Man

later in 1989 the BBC released a video with the last three episodes.
VHS video titleYear of releaseEpisodes
Trumpton 1: The Greenhouse 10 April 1989The Greenhouse, The Plumber, Pigeons.

then in 1996–1997 Telstar Home Entertainment as part of its 'Star Kids' range released two videos.
VHS video titleYear of releaseEpisodes
A Trip to Trumpton 1996Nick Fisher the Bill Poster, Miss Lovelace and the Mayor's Hat, Mrs Cobbit and the Ice Cream Man, Miss Lovelace and the Statue.
Tales from Trumpton Town 1997The Mayor's Birthday, Mr Platt and the Painter, The Rag and Bone Man, Telephones

In 2002 a three DVD set entitled The Complete Collection'' was issued by Telstar Video Entertainment Limited. It featured one disc each of Trumpton, Camberwick Green and Chigley, each disc having all 13 episodes of the respective series.

Credits