"Hidden away, not too far from here, is the land of
      Do-As-You're-Told, where Stoppit and Tidyup live..."
 

    Do-As-You're-Told is a strange, colourful place whose inhabitants are named after
    all those little chastising phrases, comments, commands and demands directed
    at children by their overbearing parents. Stoppit is a small pink-red furball. He lives
    in the Do-As-You're-Told dump and has has a famously short temper. Tidyup is
    always neat and tidy, as his name implies, and he lives in a neat and tidy gherkin
    house with a neat and tidy garden full of more gherkins. He likes gherkins, does
    Tidyup. He also likes Stoppit and knows that if his furry friend is throwing a fit then
    a good basketball-style bounce will usually calm him down.

    

    Stoppit and Tidyup's friends and associates come in a myriad of shapes and sizes
    and all bar-one feature in their respective episode titles:   

      Bee Have and Bee Quiet     Eat Your Greens
      Comb Your Hair                 Wash Your Face
      Go and Play                      Say Please and Say Thankyou
      Hurry Up                          I Said No
      Don't Do That                   Calm Down 
      Clean Your Teeth              Go To Bed       
      Take Care                          
      
    And the missing character? - A wee mean beastie called Not Now, who is
    actually I Said No's pet. None of these creations actually speak decipherable
    words as such. Instead they gabble, grunt, squeak and hum whilst series
    narrator Terry Wogan unravels the tale for viewers.

    "Stoppit and Tidyup" was created by Charles Mills and Terry Brain, the duo
    behind CMTB Animation who had previously brought us the plasticene delights
    of Berk, Boni and the strange inhabitants beneath The Trapdoor. Sadly, only
    one series of thirteen episodes was produced.

    » Mills and Brain and the third member of their CMTB triumverate, Steve Box,
       have since scaled great animated heights working for Aardman Animation.
       They have credits on the likes of "Creature Comforts","Cracking Contraptions",
       Chicken Run, "The Wrong Trousers", A Close Shave, "Timmy Time" and
       Curse of the Were-Rabbit (this film being co-written and co-directed by
       Steve Box).

    » Trivia Hounds may like to know it's Mr Brain who provides the myriad munster
        sounds in the series. Also, if you're touring Do-As-You're-Told look out for the
        Gherkin Forest, the Valley Of The Sit-Downs, and Say-Pardon Swamp.
    
    » Fans should seek out the twelve tie-in books from Price Stern Sloan Ltd,
        and a 1989 Grandreams Annual illustrated by Mr Box and Mr Brain - that's
        a thumbnail, below, leading to a larger cover scan...

        

 

     broadcast info

     The series was first transmitted once a week on BBC1, between
     12th September and 5th December 1988...



     Stoppit and Tidyup on DVD


      Stoppit and Tidyup
                Region 2 / thirteen episodes / 4 Front / April 2004

 

      series devised by Charles Mills and Terry Brain

      written directed and animated by
      Charles Mills, Terry Brain and Steve Box

     producer:     John Howson
     editing:        Robert Copeland
     dubbing:      Glentham Studios
     narrator:      Terry Wogan

 

     On the web


     No lnks right now...


 
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