"Happy days and happy dreams, boys and girls.
       Snuggles forever..."
 

    Dr. Snuggles is a scatterbrained inventor/doctor and all-round jovial genius,
    with a menagerie of human and animal friends for company, and an equally
    large number of not-so-human-or-animals associates to "snuggle" up to.
    Top of the list are the doctor's housekeeper Miss Nettles, and a clever
    badger called Dennis. But Dr. Snuggles' extended family includes Mathilda
    Junkbottom the robot, Granny Toots and the Cosmic Cat, Cootboot
    the messenger bird, Winnie Vinegar the witch, the Treacle Tree and the
    all-walking, all-talking, wooden shed called Rickety Rick. Add to these
    Nobby Mouse, Woogie the freckled camel, Ticker the talking pocketwatch, 
    and - well - you can see that Snuggles is a friend to seemingly everyone
    and everything.

    But there are enemies abroad too, and the doctor's antagonists include the
    scheming Professor Emerald and his possum-assistant Horner, sneaky
    Willy Fox and Charlie Rat and mad Madame Midas - they all seek to
    undermine the good man's work when e'er they can.
  
    It's all very Heath Robinson, with the doctor using his fantastic, cockeyed 
    contraptions and creations to assist in the various escapades. Adventures
    takes us from the Doctor's little cottage out to the likes of  Woogie's residence
    in the Lavender Lullaby, Winnie Vinegar's Bottle House, the Salt and Pepper
    Mountains, and Professor Emerald's abode called Seaweed Castle, housed in
    the middle of the Viridian Ocean. Snuggles pogos around with the aid of
    Jefferson, a duck-headed umbrella. Rickety Rick transforms into a boat,
    on occasion, and there's also a wooden barrel-shaped flying ship called
    the Dreamy Boom Boom and an eccentric jalopy known as
    the Snuggletruck.

         

     This splendid toon was animated in the Netherlands, but qualifies for
     Toonhound by way of its original creator and writer Jeffrey O'Kelly who is
     100% British, and boasts a seemingly boundless imagination. Some top
     British talent was also involved in writing the scripts; namely John Lloyd
     (yes, that John Lloyd, comedy producer), Richard Kit' Carpenter (Robin Hood,
     Dick Turpin, etc), Paul Halas, and incredibly the eternal galactic hitchhiker,
     the late great Mr. Douglas Adams. Snuggles himself was voiced by the
     late great Sir Peter Ustinov.   

     Twenty five years on, the good doctor continues to be a fan favourite and
     indeed, it's those same fans who have inspired Jeffrey O'Kelly to revitalise
     his creation. A brand new series and a feature length production are now in
     production, and judging by the elements revealed on the official web site,
     Jeffrey and his team are putting together an even more expansive and incredible
     realm for the doctor and friends to roam (with Snuggles now voiced by Jim
     Broadbent too). Snuggleland is a limitless place indeed!...

 

      In the news

      Doctor Snuggles Giveaway
      The Hound had copies of the DVD to give away...

      The Hound: September 2002
      The return of Dr Snuggles...

 

     Titles and broadcast info
     
     It's often forgotten that ITV originally broadcast the adventures in
     5min chunks (65 x 5mins in total). The first story was shown over two
     days, Tuesday 30th and Wednesday 31st December 1980 at 4.15pm.
     The rest of the series aired in a regular week-day slot, between
     6th January 1981 and 2nd April 1981, once more at 4.15pm.

    Here are the 13 stories:

    The Fabulous Mechanical Mathilda Junkbottom
    The Astounding Treacle Tree
    The Spectacular Rescue of Miss Nettles
    The Unbelievable Wormmobile
    The Sensational Ballon Race
    The Magical Multi-Coloured Diamond
    The Remarkable Fidgety River
    The Fearful Miscast Spell of Winnie the Witch
    The Extraordinary Odd Dilemma of Dennis the Badger
    The Wondrous Powers of the Magic Casket
    The Turn of Events with the Unwelcome Invaders
    The Great Disappearing Mystery
    The Amazing Reflective Myth

 
    
  

     Dr Snuggles originals

     Our friends at Lollipop Animation have some original Snuggles cels
     for sale via their web site and gallery. You'll need deep pockets for
     these desirable pieces, but they're worth every penny!

     » Lollipop Animation

 

     Snuggles books

     Snuggles collectors might like to keep their eyes open for the tie-in
     storybooks published by Studio Publications around the time of the show's
     first UK transmission. These four books faithfully adapted the tv scripts and
     illustrated them with a quantity of top-quality shots from the episodes -
     although book No.3 sports an all-new title - which makes it well
     worth tracking down!...

     

    1.The Fantastic Flight of the Treacle Tree   
    2.The Spectacular Rescue of Miss Nettles
    3.The Mystery of the Enchanted Mushroom   
    4.The Magical Multi-Coloured Diamond 

 

     Dr Snuggles on DVD

     Doctor Snuggles: The Complete Collection
                 4 discs / R2 / Firefly Entertainment / May 2005

 

     written and created by Jeffrey O'Kelly

     television scripts:   John Lloyd, Richard Carpenter,
                                  Paul Halas, Douglas Adams
     original artwork:     Nick Price
     art director:           Angela Bloxham
     voices:                  Sir Peter Ustinov
                                  John Challis
                                  Olwen Griffiths

 

      On the web


       Dr Snuggles  
       The 'official' site, as run by the O'Kelly family and it's really rather good.
       A colourful interface offers up info on the original creation and series,
       as well as the very latest Snuggles news, including lots of info and
       downloads for the all-new Snuggles - coming soon!

       Arvid's Snuggles Site 
       Arvid's site is offered to us in swedish or english. This too is an excellent
       site brimming with details, info, pictures, facts, sounds, a thorough look at
       those characters and a little bit of magic thrown in for good measure...

       Snuggles Online
       Looks equally good, but it's not presented in English. Still, the multiple
       screen grabs alone are worthy of praise. Like before, all aspects of the
       show appeared to be covered superbly. Another excellent site, methinks...

       Shadoe's Place
       This one has been approved by Jeffrey O'Kelly himself, it seems.
       It's great on detail, but construction is a bit cold and its showing its age.
       But if you're patient navigating through the pop-ups and such you
       should be well rewarded...


 
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