Muffin the Mule
Muffin the Mule is a puppet character in a British television programme for children. The puppet had been made in 1933 for Hogarth Puppets. The original TV programmes featuring the animal character himself were presented by Annette Mills, sister of John Mills, and broadcast live by the BBC from their studios at Alexandra Palace from 1946 to 1952. Mills and the puppet continued with programmes that were broadcast until the year 1955, when Annette Mills died. The series then transferred to ITV in 1956 and 1957. A modern animated version of Muffin the Mule aired on the CBeebies channel between Autumn 2005 and early Summer 2011 in the United Kingdom.
History
The original mule puppet was created in the year 1933 by Punch and Judy puppet maker Fred Tickner for husband-and-wife puppeteers Jan Bussell and Ann Hogarth to form part of a puppet circus for the Hogarth Puppet Theatre. The act was soon put away, and the puppet was not taken out again until 1946, when Bussell and Hogarth were working with presenter Annette Mills. She named the puppet mule "Muffin", and it first appeared on television in an edition of For the Children broadcast on 20 October 1946. The animated animal character proved popular, and ran on BBC television up until the year 1955 when the BBC decided to discontinue the show after Annette Mills' death. Muffin reappeared on BBC television on 27 January 1957 with Jan Bussell as his companion.Typically, Muffin the mule danced on top of an old piano as Annette Mills played it. Muffin the Mule was supported by a host of other puppet characters who appeared occasionally, including Kirri the Kiwi, Zebbie the Zebra, Hubert the Hippopotamus and Sally the Sea Lion to name just a few. A separate series of 15-minute episodes, "Muffin the Mule", was broadcast from the year 1952, along with his signature tune, called "We want Muffin". Muffin became a television star, and a wide range of spin-off merchandise was made using the Muffin character, including books, records, ames and toys. Muffin also was made into one of the first-ever licensed kids' rides. A die-cast movable puppet was produced by [Lesney Products, "the first toy to be marketed under licence as a result of a successful TV appearances."
In the early 1950s, a Fleetway weekly magazine, Woman's Illustrated, featured on its children's page stories about Muffin the Mule and/or his friends. Some were written by Annette Mills and illustrated by Molly Blake, Annette's daughter, such as "Muffin meets the Rear Light" in 1953; others did not state who the illustrator was, such as in 1953 "Muffin's Good Deed" by Annette Mills, and many stories were written and illustrated only by Molly Blake such as "Willie Disappears" on 20 August 1955.
Bussell and Hogarth, and later their daughter Sally McNally, continued to use Muffin the mule in their own shows. Surviving original episodes are available on DVD. Archive footage of the original 1946 series was shown on a television set in the 2006 Doctor Who story "The Idiot's Lantern".
Book
A book containing some of the stories was published in the Soviet Union in the year 1958. At least 3 cartoons based on it were made in 1974 and 1975. These cartoons and the book make Muffin a donkey rather than a mule.- Muffin the Mule
- Created by
- Written by
Diane Redmond
- Voices of
David Holt
Jimmy Hibbert
Sue-Eliott Nicholls
- Theme music composer
- Opening theme
- Ending theme
United Kingdom
- No. of episodes
- Running time
- Production company
- Distributor
- Original network
- Original release
2005 TV series
The rights to Muffin The Mule were bought by Maverick Entertainment in the year 2003, and a new 26-part animated version of Muffin The Mule was shown on the CBeebies TV channel between September 2005 and May 2011. The new television series was also translated into Welsh as "Myffin y Mul" and broadcast in Wales on the S4C channel.Characters and Voice Cast
- Muffin - A male black and white intelligent mule who lives in a caravan and often acts like a big brother to all his friends in Muffinham village who he loves dearly. Muffin enjoys trying to help all his friends out, but he does tend to sulk or get cross if things do not go his way. He is, however, easily "jollied" out of these moods and is with masses of enthusiasm for life. He is also rather partial to a cup of tea and a slice of carrot cake. His friends all look to Muffin for guidance and despite his little "mischievous" nature, they would do anything for him too. Although Muffin can be quite cheeky, he puts on his red and yellow thinking cap whenever a problem occurs and always does his best to think of a possible solution.
- Peregrine - A male inventive penguin who lives in an igloo and is one of Muffin's closest friends and has appeared in virtually all the episodes with Muffin. He is very keen to help out, but he does tend to interfere and comes across as quite short and bossy, although he always means well. Peregrine is a very clever and important-but flightless bird, well, he always likes to think so, and spends most of the day working, occasionally on top secret things like, "How many sardines a living penguin can fit into his mouth". He does not suffer fools lightly and is always more than capable of telling them so.
- Louise - A female white black-eyed lamb with an enthusiastic Cockney accent who lives in a pink and red knitted house of her very own, is also very close friends with Grace.
- Peter - A male brown bloodhound black-eared dog who lives in a kennel and has so much energy he just cannot sit still. He has a very good sense of smell and always wants to use it to try and help solve the mystery or the problem of every show. Although his enthusiasm to help out can get him into big trouble on occasions, like the time when he decided to bury all the precious things that his friends had, as he wanted to protect them and keep them safe from getting lost – on the face of it this does sound like a good idea, but only if he can remember where he buried them in the first place.
- Oswald - a male pink-headed ostrich with a thick British accent who lives in a shed but unfortunately has a tendency to walk around the village with his beak wide open, and so it is often heard in the village of Muffinham that his friends, are calling out "Don’t gape, Oswald!" to which Oswald generally replies with a “Duh”, even though he is caring and kind. He and Willie the Worm are the best of friends and inseparable and love to bury their heads in the sandpit for hours on end.
- Willie - A male pink worm with an unknown accent who is Oswald's best friend and is often carried around on top of Oswald's back.
- Grace - a female orange red-spotted giraffe with a soft, light English accent who lives in a lighthouse near Muffinham Beach and is incredibly elegant with her long neck and long eyelashes. Grace is very good friends with Louise, but whenever they go out for walks in the village of Muffinham, they make sure that each other are always looking their best. Although Grace's age is not made clear, Grace loves nothing more than a good natter with her friends "chewing the cud" over a spot of tea and a really good muffin – the edible variety.
- Monty - A male brown pink-eared monkey with a memorable British accent who not only lives in a tree house, but can frequently cause mischief in the village. The accidents that Monty sometimes causes are a continuous threat to the calm of Muffinham Village. If there is either chaos or a mishap anywhere in Muffinham village, the chances always are that Monty won't be far away.
- Morris Mouse - A male brown purple-nosed mouse with a memorable upper-class English accent who lives in a straw house with his wife, Doris. He enjoys doing gardening and is ever eager to try and solve problems, as opposed to Muffin.
- Doris Mouse - A female white purple-nosed mouse with a childish English accent who lives in the straw house near the village's orchard along with her husband, Morris.
Episodes (2005 TV series)
2. The Party - When Louise the Lamb decides to prepare a party in her garden one late Spring day in Muffinham, she invites everyone in the village, including Grace the Giraffe, who receives a gramophone from Postman Kangaroo. However, when Muffin agrees to help organize it for her and make preparations, Monty the Monkey overhears and, after being given the job of delivering the invitations to everyone in Muffinham, he becomes too curious and opens all six invitations whilst delivering them, causing him to disorganize them by mistake. In the end, after Monty eventually apologises to all the other animals for mixing up all the party invites, Morris and Doris Mouse and the other Muffinham Village residents do the jobs that they were meant to do in the first place, allowing the party to take place without chaos.
3. Muffin's Day Off - It is a sunny Spring day in Muffinham and Muffin the Mule is looking forward to a relaxing picnic. Unfortunately, the other residents of Muffinham need Muffin to help solve their problems. Monty the Monkey cannot cross the river, Peregrine the Penguin has lost his reading glasses, Morris and Doris Mouse cannot decide whether to have red or pink roses beside their front door, and Grace the Giraffe's hooves are purple instead of grey and black. Muffin the Mule comes to the rescue before sharing his picnic with all his friends - including Monty the cheeky Monkey.
4. No Place Like Home - It is a warm Summer day in Muffinham Village and Morris and Doris Mouse are both planning a surprise for Peter the dog - they are going to build him a brand new dog kennel to live in with the help of Muffin and all his crazy animal friends! However, when Peter overhears Morris and Doris Mouse talking about him moving away, he mistakenly thinks that they do not want him to live with them in their straw house any more and decides to find somewhere else in Muffinham to live. However, after visiting first Peregrine the Penguin, then Grace the giraffe, then Louise the Lamb, then Oswald the Ostrich and Willie the Worm and finally Monty the mischievous monkey, Peter the dog runs away and hides somewhere in the woods. In the end, it is Muffin the Mule who leads Peter to his new dog-kennel not far from Morris and Doris' garden and is relieved.
5. Peregrine Helps Out - One chilly Autumn day in Muffinham, 4 of the village residents have problems. A noisy seagull is building a nest on Grace the Giraffe's lighthouse roof, Willie the Worm is fed up of always moving slowly around the village, Louise the Lamb's drainpipe is broken and the bung for Morris and Doris' water butt is rotten. Peregrine the Penguin is annoyed that everyone in Muffinham Village always goes to Muffin the Mule with all their problems, but is delighted when he is finally asked for advice, despite him eventually making an aircraft for Willie the Worm, which unknowingly solves everyone's problems in an unusual way before finally crashing straight into the hole in Morris and Doris' water butt with a tremendous bang, damaging the water butt itself in the process.
6. Moving House - Poor Oswald the Ostrich is desperate to fly and Peregrine the Penguin's flipping device gets him up in the air quicker than a gun's bullet. But he crash lands into Peter the dog's kennel without warning! Peregrine was only trying to help, but despite babysitting Peter in his igloo, his actions leave Muffin homeless too, when, that night, the caravan rolls down the hill along with Muffin fast asleep on board, in spite of Muffin himself suddenly forgetting clean about Morris and Doris' armchairs, which Morris and Doris Mouse tell Muffin earlier on about "falling to bits".
7. Whodunnit? - Things keep on mysteriously disappearing without a trace in Muffinham Village, Peregrine the Penguin's pen, Louise the Lamb's wool curlers, Morris Mouse's spade, and even Willie the clever Worm. Unfortunately, it turns out that a thief trap that Peregrine the Penguin eventually decides to build is not really needed, just because Muffin the mule then tells Peregrine the Penguin that there never really was a thief and that it was only Peter the dog who was trying to keep the things safe all along by just burying them underground.
8. Oswald's Garden Party - Oswald the Ostrich plans a bumper garden party for all his friends in Muffinham Village and wants to grow everyone's favourite food. Unfortunately, his big, clumsy feet accidentally squash all the seeds and plants. Willie the worm does his best to help out, and, along with his other worm friends, he comes up with a good solution - soft, crumbly compost.
9. Oswald's Big Egg - It's a warm Spring day in Muffinham Village, but Monty the Monkey is desperate for someone in Muffinham to bake him a real cake, despite him being asked by Willie the Worm to scare away some crows which are attacking Oswald's garden.
10. Muffin's Photo Shoot - Muffin the Mule decides to take some pictures of all of his friends, in spite of Grace the Giraffe taking a quick shower to be able to look perfect for the special occasion and Louise the Lamb wanting Grace's sparkly necklace which she unfortunately loses, but Peregrine the Penguin eventually finds it trapped inside an old leaf-blowing machine, along with several fallen tree leaves, which he kindly lends to Morris and Doris, despite eventually trying unsuccessfully to empty it when it finally becomes full of dead tree leaves.
11. Muffin's Mules United - Muffin the Mule keeps fit by skipping, and everyone in Muffinham village wants to know how they can join in and get fit too. Team sports is the answer, so Muffin starts his own football team, Muffin's Mules United. During their first-ever training session, however, Muffin and his friends realise that they don't have a goal-keeper, so they try to persuade the fitness-shy Grace the giraffe to go between the goal-posts - but she is just not that keen on doing anything too strenuous. However, when Peter the Dog runs off the football pitch, Grace the giraffe goes to get him back, and when she does - she is Muffin's football team's star player, and all is well.
12. Apple Pie Order - It is a cool Autumn day in Muffinham Village, and Monty the monkey is mischievously stealing some apples from Morris Mouse's trees. Muffin and Morris the mouse come up with ghostly plans to catch the thief, despite Louise the Lamb planning to go to Grace the Giraffe's lighthouse for tea and having to look her best. Doris Mouse, on the other hand, wants to make some home-made apple pies for everyone else in the village, which she eventually does.
13. Muffin's Harvest Home - It is the Muffinham Harvest Home Supper, and everyone in the village is busy cooking. Muffin the Mule is harvesting his oats, Grace the Giraffe is making toffee apples, Oswald the Ostrich and Willie the Worm are making deliveries and Louise the Lamb is making carrot cake. Doris the mouse has trouble making spiced apple jellies for Peter the Dog and the other residents of the village, as Monty the monkey steals her bright pink jelly bag without warning and gives it to Muffin in mistake for a hay net, to which Muffin can hang up in his caravan.
14. If the Cap Fits - It is a windy Autumn day in Muffinham Village, and while Muffin the Mule is galloping to Louise the Lamb's rescue, a sudden gust of wind blows his thinking cap away without him noticing. How can Muffin solve any problems without his thinking cap? While Muffin worries about what to do, Peregrine the Penguin, Monty the Monkey, Oswald the ostrich, Willie the worm and most of all Louise the lamb all set out to make him a new thinking cap. In the end, it is Morris the mouse who comes up trumps and returns the thinking cap to its rightful owner, Muffin, following a sunhat fight with Doris.
15. Louise Loses Her Top - Louise the Lamb feels horrified when she wakes up one morning to find that Monty the monkey has accidentally stolen her woollen roof, along with a plate of oatmeal biscuits that she had made for Muffin the mule the day before, following a brief chat with Peregrine the inventive penguin. Muffin the Mule and the gang are all keen to help, as Louise the Lamb has been so kind to them. With some help from some scaffolding and Grace the giraffe, Louise's knitted house comes back to life, despite Monty the monkey not being able to knit unaided.
16. Creepy Crawly - Louise the Lamb and Grace the Giraffe have a problem with a spider and a fly. Nonetheless, Muffin the mule and Morris Mouse eventually deal with the creepy crawlies using a glass jar, despite Morris Mouse himself needing some help with picking some newly-grown raspberries from a cropper-grass-breeze that he grew the previous day with Doris Mouse's help.
17. Magnetic Muffin - Muffin the mule saves the day when he finds some treasure under the sea, along with a special-but-precious necklace, which Grace the giraffe loses during a picnic and a walk along Muffinham Beach with Louise the Lamb.
18. Jurassic Farce - When Morris Mouse digs up some old bones, he thinks that he has found the remains of a dinosaur, so he enlists the help of Peregrine the Penguin, Muffin the Mule and the rest of their friends to rebuild it. During a game of hide and seek with Willie the Worm, however, Oswald the Ostrich stumbles across the model and thinks that he has seen a monster. He gathers the troops together in order to help him battle it, but before they can tell him what it really is, he has charged into it and sent it crashing, all over the place. Peregrine the Penguin is not pleased. Eventually, when everyone in Muffinham Village helps Morris Mouse to rebuild the dinosaur, including Grace the giraffe, the animal residents themselves discover that the dinosaur is still incomplete, that is, until Peregrine the Penguin asks some searching questions. Will the last dinosaur bone ever be found?
19. Oswald's Sandpit - It is a hot Summer's day in Muffinham Village and Oswald the Ostrich has nearly run out of sand in his sandpit, much to the disappointment of Morris and Doris Mouse. Oswald keeps banging the end of his beak on the sandpit's base, much to Willie the Worm's frustration. Whilst reading a magazine and watching Louise the Lamb sit in her deckchair in her front garden and reading, Monty the Monkey wants a drink and some cake, but the sun is too hot and strong. However, Muffin the Mule eventually comes to the rescue with a good solution and takes the other animals to Muffinham Beach, where, despite meeting Grace the giraffe there, they collect just enough sand to load into the sandpit, which, the following morning, makes Oswald the Ostrich feel better and sets Willie the Worm and the other Muffinham residents giggling like mad.
20. Grow Up, Peter Pup - Peter the dog overhears Morris Mouse saying that he should grow up and move out, so, the following morning, after a bad night's sleep in his dog-kennel, he leaves home. However, Peter the Dog still misses his warm milk and his pink fluffy slipper. Luckily, Muffin the mule explains to him that growing up is difficult for everyone in the world.
21. Penguin of the Year - Peregrine the Penguin gets too big for his boots when, one cool Autumn day in Muffinham Village, he is named Penguin Of The Year.
22. Don't Gape, Oswald - Willie the Worm wants Oswald the Ostrich to stop gaping. Will Oswald ever feel good and complete Willie's mission?
23. Make My Day - Muffin the Mule, Louise the Lamb and Peregrine the inventive Penguin are going to Muffinham Beach to fish for the day, so Grace the giraffe is relying on Monty the monkey to go shopping for her birthday party. On the way home, Monty finds a tall cherry tree and he fills his fuel tank up along with the tree's fruit. Then, he unknowingly leaves the party food on the path and lets Peter the dog eat it all. What will poor Muffin the Mule and the gang have to eat at Grace the giraffe's birthday barbecue party then?
24. Crossed Wires - Louise the Lamb is feeling so annoyed that she called and called for Muffin the Mule, but Muffin did not respond, because he was just too far away for her to be heard properly.
25. Paint Your Wagon - Louise the Lamb goes round to Muffin the Mule's field for Breakfast, but she suddenly feels disgusted by the state of his old caravan, so she decides that it needs a new lick of paint.
26. Pain in the Belly - Poor Grace the giraffe has to look after Muffin the Mule for some time, as nearly everyone else in Muffinham village, particularly Louise the Lamb, has stomach aches, meaning that they are not able to do much at all - except maybe stay in bed and try to recover.