"Molly's Gang is here!"
 

    Molly, her brother Phobo, clever Coral and doleful Gavin are a young gang of alien
    friends who live on the planet Gallyfrip. This jolly quartet plan games and adventures
    from their cosy, tree house den, with Molly as their appointed leader. But being
    the leader can be tricky, and Molly has numerous problems, headaches and
    decisions to make so that their games can run smoothly and everyone can
    have fun being part of the gang and exploring their little planet. With her say-so,
    the gang can then slide down their helter-skelter off to adventure.

    In the very first episode, called "Vote For Me", we see how the four friends vie
    to be chosen as gang leader and how Molly wins the vote, much to the chagrin
    of Phobo. We're also introduced to the gang's "munster" mascot Duster who crash
    lands on their planet in his conker-style spaceship. Duster doesn't speak, he
    simply rolls his eyes and sneezes a lot. Phobo adopts Duster as his best friend
    and buddy, and decides that having a new pal is probably better than being
    leader anyway.

       
     
    This friendly series is always bright and busy and little details catch the eye,
    like the way the film makers have given Phobo a cute Teddy Bear to carry around,
    and there's Gavin's preference for sliding down their tree house chute headfirst.     
    The other Gallyfrip inhabitants are fun too. There's Hubble the befuddled gardener
    and Miranda the scientist with her wool-harvesting robot Noot (who bears more
    than a resemblance to Marvin The Martian!). But it's the shaman-like figure of
    Homer, who gives away the secret of this show's origins. He's recognisably
    similar to the mystic Pildit from that fan-favourite series The Dreamstone.
    And that's probably because "Molly's Gang" was brought to us by Martin
    Gates, the prolific animation producer of that show and others like The Snow
    Queen, "The Ugly Duckling", "Bimble's Bucket", "The Wind in the Willows" and
    many more. "Molly's Gang" is a rare Gates' excursion into stop-motion territory.

    The voices on this show are interesting. The four members of Moll'y's gang
    are actually voiced by younger actors, giving them just the right tone and making
    a welcome change  from the usual adults-playing-children routine of other series.
    Of course, this show was produced nigh-on a decade ago, so those same voice
    artistes are all grown up now. Take Scarlett Strallen there, she's since voiced
    Princess Loretta in The Big Knights and has recently featured on the West End
    stage in the musical version of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". Looking down the
    credits one also spies the adult voice of Gary Martin all present and correct:
    He's a Martin Gates regular, adding his voice to a number of productions,
    plus he has attained True Blue toon immortality for being the voice of Honey
    Monster in those ever popular Sugar Puffs adverts. Interesting to note that Gary
    has recently leant his voice to Captain Black in the new CGI "Captain Scarlet"
    for Gerry Anderson.    
        
    But let's get back to "Molly's Gang". This jolly series seems to have slipped
    under many toon radars. Whilst its adult appeal is perhaps limited (it's not as
    eccentric or esoteric as, say, Huxley Pig or Philbert Frog ) it's still a lovely
    little series, well worth tracking down again on DVD...

 

    Episode titles

    Vote For Me         Moving
    Woolly                 Rubbish
    Hungry                Sticky
    Wet                    Dizzy
    Colour-Stones      Tired
    Bouncy                Lost
    Wobbly

 

     Molly's Gang on DVD

      Molly's Gang: The Complete First Series
                Region 2 / all 13 episodes / 4 Front / Sept 2005

      Molly's Gang: Woolly and Other Stories
                Region 2 / 4 episodes / Kids Club / July 2002

 

     a Martin Gates production
    original concept by Julie McKay and John Gilluley
   
    producer:            Martin Gates
    director:             John Gilluley
    writers:              Julie Mckay, John Gilluley, Sue Radley
    assoc prod:        Tom Parkhouse
    prod secretary:  Sarah Absalom
     prod manager:    Stuart Lock
     asst producer:    Marion Edwards
     animation:         Daryl Marsh, Philip Dale
    art director:       Julie McKay
    film editor:         Simon Cox
    dubbing ed:        Kevin Brazier
    dubbing mix:       Dave Humphries
    music:                Dave Cooke
     lighting cam:       Simon Paul
     sets & models:    Graham Maiden, Sophie Brown,
                             Barbara Cowdery, Philip Dale,
                             Angela Haycock
     puppets:              Rowena  Damant Kidd
    voices:              Jacqueline Clarke
                             Benjamin Guy
                             Gary Martin (Hubble / Homer / Duster)
                             Liza McLean
                             Michael Smith
                             Scarlett Strallen

 

     On the web


      Carlton TV 
      Molly and friends are in Carlton's animation library...

      Phil Dale
      "Molly's Gang" was Phil's first animation job. Since then, he's
      animated Stefan Schaffler's Oscar-nominated film "The Periwig-Maker"
      and more...

      The Dave Cooke Files
      The chap behind the music, Dave Cooke, has written the scores for "The
      Pondles", "Bananaman", "Astro Farm", and "Mr Men & Little Miss" as he
      identifies on his web site...

      Gary Martin 
      Gary gets vocal about his career here!...


 
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