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The
Adventures
of Portland Bill (1983)
producers: John Grace / FilmFair
for
Central Television
animation:
stop-motion animation
episodes: 26 x
11mins
''Oh, come with me to the rolling sea,
While the weather's calm and still..."
Portland Bill is the keeper of the Trinity
House lighthouse, on Guillermot
Rock, and he's ably assisted (or not-so), by
red-capped Ross and
goatee bearded Cromarty. Oh, and there's
Dogger, he's Bill's pet pooch.
Life in the lighthouse is never dull,
with all the repairs and cleaning to do,
storms to weather and inspections to pass.
Not to mention, the visiting
mermaids and ghostly penguins. Even so, from
time to time, Bill takes
his old rowboat The
Puffin over to the mainland, and the seaside village
of McGuillycuddy to stock up on provisions
from Eddy Stone's store, and
to catch up on all the village happenings
with Grandma Tiree, the crofter
Finisterre, Fastnet the fisherman and
old Mrs Lundy...
Hmm. Are you detecting a theme here? That's
right. All the characters
in this seaside series take their names
from the shipping forecast and/or
British sea regions and nautical terms.
McGuillycuddy surely takes its
name from Macgillycuddy Reeks in Ireland.
And even the lighthouse has
a real-life twist, having been inspired by
the Portland Bill lighthouse,
in Dorset.
"Portland Bill" was devised,
designed, scored and scripted by John Grace. Sadly,
John passed away in March 2004. His animation
CV was extensive and varied
and included "Pablo -The Little Red
Fox", "64 Zoo Lane", "Kipper", "Big
Hug",
"Boris the Bat" and "Ethelbert
the Tiger". His shows won a shelf-load of awards.
On top of all this, John co-created the
breakthrough CGI series "ReBoot" - what
a world away from the salty delights on offer
here...
Trivia Hounds will note that the late
great Norman Rossington provided the
"Portland Bill" voices and narration.
Norman's film and tv appearances included
"A Hard Day's Night", "Charge
of the Light Brigade", "Digby - The Biggest Dog
in the World", "I Claudius",
and three early Carry-On movies. He died, aged 70
in 1999...
Go
Eddy!
Eddy Stone is McGillycuddy's star resident.
He not only runs the village
store, but he also serves as the local
electician, postman, milkman,
policeman, mayor, meterman and waterboard
inspector!
Eddy keeps each of his professional hats
hanging - quite literally - on the
front of his delivery bike, as he cycles
around town. He also takes to the
sea in his boat The
Kipper, laden down with provisions for Bill and the boys
at the lighthouse.
Poor old Eddy is a worrier, he's always
fretting about something or other,
so it's just as well that Bill is often
on hand to take charge of affairs. Still,
he often finds the time to delve into
the pages of his favourite weekly.
"The Trino" is obviously fashioned
after a certain DC
Thomson title.
The comic's never mentioned by name, but
Eddy's seen reading it in
several episodes - and hastily putting it under
the counter whenever
Bill is around...
Portle
chortle...
Now here's a bit of fun spied in that
splendidly irreverent 80s comic Oink!
It's from the October 1988 edition #67
and it's a spoof on "Portland Bill" titled
"Portland Pratt". Dross, Crockerty
and the gang are expertly caricatured by
artist Ed McHenry. Charlie Brooker's script
has Bill/Pratt making a right fool
of himself when, after a day off from
lighthouse duty, he comes back and
switches off the light. Amongst the casualties
who wreck themselves on the
rocks is none other than the spinach-master
himself, Popeye!
Episode info
There were two series made, each comprising of 13 x 11minute episodes.
And the individual episodes featured
two 5 minute stories, with a musical
interlude betwen them.
The Hound is still tracking down the
second series titles, but below
is a list of the first series titles,
and some additional series notes.
Changeable Weather
Atmospheric Interference
The Tourists
Dogger's Best Trick
The Fishing Match A
Knot For Everything
The Seaweed Clock
The Wind Powered Vacuum Cleaner
Busy Day The
Good News Storm
The Sea Monster The
Whistling Kettle
Bedtime for Cromarty
Baking Day
The Brithday Surprise
Bird Watching
The Jam Session
The Lost Key
An Inspector Calls
Sick as a Parrott
Important message Portland
Bill and The Mermaid
Buried Treasure The
Big Shopping LIst
The Day the Sea Froze
The Fisherman's Ball
series notes
Changeable Weather
Introduces us to Bill, Ross
and Cromarty, who reveals his hometown when
he announces that he could have been "The
Leonardo da Vinci of Dunbar".
Tourists
Gives us our first look at McGuillycuddy.
We meet Eddy Stone and Grandma
Tiree at his store. Eddy is also billed
as being the town's electrician, postman,
milkman, policeman and mayor. Finisterre and
Fastnet also feature for the
first time, but they do not speak, and
are not named.
Busy
Day
This features Dogger's first
appearance. Fastnet is named. We then meet
Mrs Lundy for the first time, and
finally, Finisterre is named.
Birthday
Surprise
Now we learn that Eddy Stone is also
the McGuillycuddy meterman.
And we see him on board his boat, The
Kipper, for the very first time.
An
Inspector Calls
This stars Inspector Ronaldsway
in his first and only appearance.
Buried
Treasure
Eddy is seen with "The Trino"
for the first time, though the title is not revealed.
Dogger's
Best Trick
Eddy dons his policeman's hat, and a
new one; a waterboard inspector's hat.
A
Knot For Everything
We meet young Gail and Finisterre's
two escaped sheep, Flotsam and
Jetsom, before we're introduced to
Boulmer the Highland bull, who
pops up again in at least two later
episodes.
The
Lost Key
Introduce's us to Valencia. She's
a scrawny green and yellow
parrot belonging to Ross' Uncle.
Sick
as a Parrot
When Cromarty falls ill, he takes to his
bunk with a copy of The Trino!
Portland
Bill and the Mermaid
Ross meets a real-life mermaid, called
Belle.
The
Big Shopping List
Features "Oil" Derrick
from Texas. He's working on the Faroe oil rig.
Portland Bill on DVD
Portland
Bill - Atmospheric Interference
Region
2 / twelve stories / Abbey Home Media / March 2007
Portland
Bill - Changeable Weather
Region
2 / twelve stories / Abbey Home Media / June 2006
the Adventures of Portland Bill
by John Grace
designed
by John Grace and Barry Leith
series adapted for TV by Ian Sachs
anim
director: Barry Leith
exec prod: Graham
Clutterbuck
prod co-ord: Barrie
Edwards
music: Mik
Parsons
John Grace
editor: Robert
Dunbar
asst editor:
Andi Sloss
asst animators: Humphrey
Leadbitter
Heather
Boucher
model makers: Martin
Cheek
Gordon
Tait
Linda
Thodesen
as told by: Norman
Rossington
On
the web
Little
Gems
Once
again the Gems have come up trumps...
The
Gems chat to Mik Parsons
Better still, here's a splendid Little Gems
interview with Mik Parsons!...
Abbey
Home Media
Abbey distribute the UK DVDs. They have their
own web store too...
L.U.S.A.D.
John Grace used to hold a staff post
here at Loughborough University,
where he was a Research Fellow
in Animation Studies. He had been
helping to construct a centre of excellence
for animation students...