Oliver Postgate was and will always be a giant of children's television/animation/film and fantasy. He created hundreds of hours of food for young minds in the shape of the various projects, programmes and characters under the Small Films umberella, and what's even more amazing is that he did it with the help of only a handful of like minded enthusiasts in his tiny studio come barn.
They didn't call it Small Films for nothing. The company consisted of Postgate and Peter Firmin, and between them they cooked up among others, Ivor The Engine, The Clangers, Bagpuss, Noggin The Nog and The Pogles.
Oliver Postgate wrote the scripts, narrated most of the voices, did the sound effects, created the characters and took care of all the animation filming and sound production, while Peter Firmin drew and built the characters, made costumes and scenery and painted the sets. So, with cardboard cut out characters, often coloured by their children, elastic bands, string, sellotape, blue tack, cotton wool and other odds and ends they conjured up the magical worlds of Ivor, Noggin and all the other wonderful characters that transformed the lives of legions of school children, for five minutes each weekday evening during the 1970's before the boring world of grown ups and the six o'clock news.
Behind the scenes, Oliver Postgate called in Anthony Jackson to help with some of the voices. Peter Firmin's own daughter played the role of Emily in the unbeatable 'Bagpuss', while the characters where brought to life with the aid of Meccano, brass tacks, magnets, fuse wire and the timeless magic of stop start animation.
Simpler times, in a simpler world. Watch this affectionate documentary and re-live the magic that was Oliver Postgate and Small Films. Ivor the Engine of course is back in all new episodes made for BBC Wales, and even though most of the animation is now created using computers, none of the magic is lost. Thanks Oliver for enriching and shaping my childhood and my imagination.
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