Tugs (TV series)

Tugs
Created by
Written by
  • David Mitton
  • Robert D. Cardona
  • Chris Tulloch
  • Tarquin Cardona
  • Gloria Tors
  • Roy Russell
Directed by
  • David Mitton
  • Chris Tulloch
Voices of
Narrated byPatrick Allen
Theme music composer
Composers
  • Junior Campbell
  • Mike O'Donnell
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producerJ. Nigel Pickard
ProducerRobert D. Cardona
Production locationsShepperton Studios, Surrey, England
CinematographyClearwater periscope lens system
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running timeApprox. 15-20 minutes
Production companiesTugs Limited
Clearwater Features
Television South
Original release
NetworkITV (CITV)
Release4 April (1989-04-04) –
27 June 1989 (1989-06-27)
Related
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Tugs (stylised as TUGS) is a British television series produced by Tugs Ltd., for Television South (TVS) and Clearwater Features Ltd.[1] and first broadcast on ITV from 4 April to 27 June 1989. It was created by Robert D. Cardona and David Mitton, who had previously produced the first two series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. Set in the Roaring Twenties, the series focuses on the adventures of two anthropomorphized tugboat fleets, the Star Fleet and the Z-Stacks, who compete against each other in the fictional Bigg City Port: "the biggest harbour in the world".

The theme tune and incidental music was composed by Junior Campbell and Mike O'Donnell, who also wrote the music for Thomas & Friends (from 1984 to 2003).[2]

Despite a second series being planned in advance, when TVS Television lost its franchise to Meridian Broadcasting, the series did not continue production past 13 episodes. Following the initial airing of the series throughout 1989, television rights were sold to an unknown party, while some models and sets from the series were sold to Britt Allcroft. Modified set props and tugboat models were used in Thomas & Friends from 1991 onwards, with footage from the original programme being heavily dubbed and edited for use in the American children's series Salty's Lighthouse.

After Clearwater's liquidation in 1990, Mitton joined The Britt Allcroft Company to continue working on Thomas & Friends in 1991, while Cardona went on to direct Theodore Tugboat, a similarly natured series set in Canada.[3] All thirteen episodes of the show were released on VHS between 1988 and 1990.

  1. ^ "TUGS airdates". BFI. Archived from the original on 16 April 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2007.
  2. ^ "Who Drove Thomas To Success?". sodor-island.net. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
  3. ^ Theodore Tugboat - Nighttime Adventures. ISBN 0780629248.