Clangers

"Soup Dragon" redirects here. For the Scottish alternative rock band, see The Soup Dragons.

Clangers
Created byOliver Postgate
Narrated by
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of series
  • 2 (original)
  • 3 (revival)
No. of episodes
  • Original series: 26 (plus 1 special)
  • Revival series: 104 (plus 2 specials)
Production
Camera setupSingle camera
Running time
  • 10 minutes per episode (1969–1972, 1974)
  • 11 minutes per episode (2015–2020)[1]
Production companies
  • Smallfilms (1969–1972, 1974, 2015–2017)
  • Coolabi Productions (2015–present)[1]
  • Factory (2015–present)
  • Ingenious Media (2015–present)
Original release
NetworkBBC1
Release16 November 1969 (1969-11-16) –
10 October 1974 (1974-10-10)
Network
Release15 June 2015 (2015-06-15) –
11 March 2020 (2020-03-11)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Clangers (usually referred to as The Clangers)[2] is a British stop-motion animated children's television series, consisting of short films about a family of mouse-like creatures who live on, and inside, a small moon-like planet. They speak only in a whistled language, and eat green soup (supplied by the Soup Dragon) and blue string pudding. The programmes were originally broadcast on BBC1 between 1969 and 1972, followed by a special episode which was broadcast in 1974.

The series was made by Smallfilms, the company set up by Oliver Postgate (who was the show's writer, animator and narrator) and Peter Firmin (who was its modelmaker and illustrator). Firmin designed the characters, and Joan Firmin, his wife, knitted and "dressed" them. The music, often part of the story, was provided by Vernon Elliott.

A third series, narrated by Monty Python actor Michael Palin, was broadcast in the UK in June 2015 on the BBC's CBeebies TV channel, gaining hugely successful viewing figures, following on from a short special broadcast by the BBC earlier that year. The new programmes are still made using stop-motion animation (instead of the computer-generated imagery which had replaced the original stop-motion animation in revivals of other children's shows such as Fireman Sam, Thomas & Friends and The Wombles). Further new series were made in 2017 and 2019.[3]

Clangers won the British Academy Children's Award for Pre-School Animation in 2015.[4]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference graun was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Sheridan, Simon (2004). The A-Z of Classic Children's Television: From Alberto Frog to Zebedee. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. pp. 85–87. ISBN 1903111277.
  3. ^ "Clangers celebrates 50th anniversary with brand new third series". Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  4. ^ "2015 Children's Pre-School Animation | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 11 July 2017.