Postman Pat
Postman Pat is a British stop-motion animated children's television series first produced by Woodland Animations.
It is aimed at preschool-age children, and follows the adventures of Pat Clifton, a postman who works for Royal Mail postal service in the fictional village of Greendale.
Postman Pat first 13-episode series was screened on BBC One in 1981. John Cunliffe wrote the original treatment and scripts, and it was directed by animator Ivor Wood, who also worked on The Magic Roundabout, The Wombles, Paddington, and The Herbs. Following the success of the first series, four TV specials and a second series of 13 episodes were produced during the 1990s. Here, Pat had a family shown on screen for the first time. A new version of the series was produced by Cosgrove Hall Films from 2003, which expanded on many aspects of the original series.
The series also aired on PBS Kids Sprout from 2007 to late-2008, and was also part of their Good Night Show block. It was replaced with PICME.
Plot
Each episode follows the adventures of Patrick Clifton, a friendly country postman, and his "black and white cat" Jess, as he delivers the post through the valley of Greendale. Although he initially concentrates on delivering his letters, he nearly always becomes distracted by a concern of one of the villagers, and is always keen to help resolve their problems. Notable villagers include the postmistress, Mrs. Goggins; Alfred and Dorothy Thompson, the farmers; PC Selby, the police constable; Pat and Sara Clifton; Jeff Pringle, the teacher; Ajay Bains, driver of the Greendale Rocket and Pencaster Flyer; Nisha Bains, the owner of the cafe; and the local handyman and inventor, Ted Glen.Setting
Postman Pat is set in the fictional village of Greendale and the nearby town of Pencaster, on the border between Cumbria and North Yorkshire.Greendale has a different character in the various Postman Pat series. In the original series, it was a small village with narrow, winding roads. The gentle pace of life allowed Pat plenty of time to enjoy the countryside as he passed through, or even stop on quiet days to have a picnic.
In the more recent series, Greendale became a big, busy village situated in the heart of the Cumbrian countryside. Running through the centre of the village is the High Street, home to Mrs Goggins's Post Office and shop, an unofficial meeting place for residents. Located on the edge of the village is the railway station, home to the Greendale Rocket. Nisha Bains runs a popular café there with Sara while her husband Ajay runs a regular schedule on the Greendale Rocket to the nearby town of Pencaster.
In the second series of the show, which aired in the mid-90s, the village at the centre of the series was briefly referred to as Garner Bridge, while Greendale was the name of the valley in which Garner Bridge was situated. In the episode Postman Pat and the Suit of Armour, Greendale Post Office is referred to as "Garner Bridge Post Office".
Pencaster is a large, bustling, modern town located within easy commuting distance for the villagers of Greendale. Situated on the waterfront, Pencaster is a hive of activity, boasting a market square in the centre surrounded by shops, houses, a large railway station, state-of-the-art buildings, and a boat jetty. It bears some resemblance to Lancaster, the county town of Lancashire, which likewise is a short commute from Longsleddale, the area used as the inspiration for Greendale.
Ingledale is another large, busy village town situated in the heart of the North Yorkshire countryside, only seen once in a special in 1991, set to make a second appearance in the revival.
Inspiration
John, interviewed about the series, has said that he chose the character of a postman since he needed a character who could visit the countryside and interact with many different people.The inspiration for the post office itself comes from one located on the Kendal street where John lived when he was writing the original treatment. The post office, at 10 Greenside, closed in 2003.
John did not retain rights to the character, and was disappointed by some of the tie-in media later released. He wrote the stories to the series Rosie and Jim, which he also presented, as a show which he could have tighter control of.
While John visited post offices for inspiration, he has said that the character and village was not based on any one place or person. He commented in 2015 that "I got maybe half a dozen people last year saying they were the inspiration."
Cast
In the first series Ken Barrie voiced all the characters and narrated the series. In Series 2 Carole Boyed joined to voice all the female characters and child characters except Granny Dryden who was still voiced by Barrie. In Series 3 Kulvinder Ghir, Janet James and Archie Panjabi joined to voice the new characters and the child characters while Boyed continued to voice Charlie and Sarah, Melissa Sinden and Jimmy Hibbert also joined to voice the animal characters and Angela Griffin joIned in Series 5 to voice a new character. In Series 6 Lewis MacLeod replaced Ken Barrie as Pat.In Series 7 Barrie left completely and Bradley Clarkson and Dan Milne joined to take over the rest of Barrie's characters. Joe Trill joined in Series 8 to voice a new character.- Lewis MacLeod as Postman Pat, Ben Taylor, Robot 1, Sat Nav, Alf Thompson, Sean McGuinness
- Ken Barrie as Postman Pat, Matt Clifton, Mrs. Goggins, Ted Glen, Alf Thompson, Dorothy Thompson, Bill Thompson,Reverend Peter Timms, Julia Pottage, Katy Pottage, Tom Pottage, PC Arthur Selby, Lucy Selby, Sylvia Gilbertson, Sarah Gilbertson, Jeff Pringle, Charlie Pringle, Rebecca Hubbard, Sam Waldron, Granny Dryden, Peter Fogg, Major Forbes, George Lancaster, Santa Claus, Train Inspector, Pumpkin Wrigglesworth, Narrator, Radio Greendale Speaker, John, George, Countdown Sequence Voice
- Carole Boyd as Sara Clifton, Julian Clifton, Mrs. Goggins, Dorothy Thompson, Bill Thompson, Julia Pottage, Katy Pottage, Tom Pottage, Betty Pottage, Lucy Selby, Sylvia Gilbertson, Sarah Gilbertson, Jackie Gilbertson, Charlie Pringle, Rebecca Hubbard, George's Wife, Radio Weather Woman
- Kulvinder Ghir as Bill Thompson, Tom Pottage, Ajay Bains, Bessie Thompson, Michael Lam, Robot 2, Grizzly, Shopper-Bot 3000
- Janet James as Julian Clifton, Lucy Selby, Lauren Taylor
- Archie Panjabi as Katy Pottage, Nisha Bains, Meera Bains
- Melissa Sinden as Jess Clifton, Polly Clifton, Dotty Pringle, Bonnie Goggins
- Angela Griffin as Amy Wrigglesworth, Lizzy Taylor, Flora, Rowena Roberts, Duchess of Pencaster
- Bradley Clarkson as Ted Glen, Arthur Selby, Ned Glen
- Dan Milne as Reverend Peter Timms
- Joel Trill as Chris Beacon
- Professor Brian Cox as Professor Ryan Farrow
Postman Pat: Special Delivery Service
The series features an expanded and diverse cast, a fleet of new vehicles, a world full of gadgets and the new town of Pencaster. Postman Pat: Special Delivery Service first screened on BBC2 on 29 September 2008. The new series was commissioned by the BBC and produced by Entertainment Rights and Cosgrove Hall Films.
A new series aired in 2016.
Outside the main broadcast series
Film
, a British-American 3D computer-animated comedy children's feature film version of the British stop-motion animated children's television show, was theatrically released on 23 May 2014 in the United Kingdom. The film was distributed and produced by Lionsgate and Icon Productions and animated by Rubicon Group Holding. The story revolves around Pat entering a talent show audition which leads to robots taking over his postal service whilst he is away. The film stars Stephen Mangan as the voice of Pat and also features Jim Broadbent, Rupert Grint, David Tennant, Ronan Keating, Susan Duerden, Sandra Teles, TJ Ramini and Peter Woodward.Spin-off
A CGI spin-off to the series was made called Guess with Jess which follows Pat's cat Jess now with the ability to talk and his adventures with the farm animals. The series debuted on 9 November 2009 and ended in 2013.Music
Music for the original 1981 series was by Bryan Daly, who wrote a number of songs including the well-known theme tune. For the 2003 series, pop writer Simon Woodgate scored the show and wrote new songs, including a new closing theme "What's in His Bag?". The theme tune "Postman Pat & His Black and White Cat" was sung by Ken Barrie for the original series in the 1980s and '90s. An extended version of the tune was released as a single in the UK where it reached number 44 in the charts in July 1982.The theme tune and songs for Postman Pat Special Delivery Service, was recorded by Simon Woodgate at Echobass Studios.
In 2013 Classic Media released Postman Pat SDS series 2. The new 26-episode series retained Bryan Daly's original theme tune and Simon Woodgate's closing song, however new character themes and incidental music was composed by Sandy Nuttgens.
There is also an album called Postman Pat: Songs and Music From the TV Series, released by Post Music in 1982.
The theme song has undergone several adaptations; from 1994 to 1996, the theme tune had additional instruments such as synthesised strings and a tambourine. A similar edit was made to the 1995 album version, which was an edit of the original 1982 album version.
Books
As of 2009, over 12 million books, including storybooks, integrated learning books, colouring books, and multi-character magazines, have been sold worldwide.Advertising
The Postman Pat characters and setting have also been used in the UK and Australia in television advertisements for the company Specsavers.US VHS releases
Celebrity Home EntertainmentTitles include:
- Vol.1 Postman Pat takes the Bus 16
- Vol.2 Postman Pat and the Tuba 18
Titles Include:
- Postman Pat's ABC Story Episode 14
- Postman Pat's 123 Story Episode 15
- Read Along With Postman Pat Episode 20
- The First Season was released on 13 separate VHS tapes: 1 episode per tape. It is unknown when these were released.
US DVD releases
As Postman Pat has never been as popular in the United States, only one DVD title, Postman Pat: The Movie, was released by Paramount Pictures in 2015.UK DVD and VHS releases
- Longman Video
- BBC Video
- Abbey Home Media
- Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
- Entertainment Rights
- Postman Pat – ABC & 123 Stories
- Postman Pat – Read Along with Postman Pat
- Postman Pat – Magic Christmas
- Postman Pat – Clowns Around
- Postman Pat – Ice Cream Machine
- Postman Pat – In A Muddle
- Postman Pat – The Pirate Treasure
- Postman Pat Boxset – Ice-Cream Machine/Clowns Around
- Postman Pat – Great Dinosaur Hunt
- Postman Pat – The Giant Snowball
- Postman Pat – Popstars
- Postman Pat – Football Crazy
- Postman Pat – Great Big Party
- Postman Pat Boxset – Magic Xmas & Giant Snowball
- Postman Pat – Go-Kart Race
- Postman Pat Popstars/Great Big Party
- Postman Pat's Summer Spectacular
- Postman Pat – Christmas Eve
- Postman Pat – Big Boat Adventure
- Postman Pat Boxset – Great Dinosaur Hunt/Giant Snowball/Spotty Situation/Ice Ladder/Big Butterflies/Spooky Sleepover/Greendale Movie/Train Inspector
- Postman Pat Boxset-Pirate Treasure/Green Rabbit/Flying Saucers
- Postman Pat Boxset – Christmas Eve/The Giant Snowball/Magic Christmas
- Postman Pat Special Delivery Service – A Brand New Mission
- Postman Pat Special Delivery Service – Pat to the Rescue
- Postman Pat Boxset: Great Big Party/Postman Pat: Great Dinosaur Hunt/Postman Pat: The Ice Cream Machine
- Postman Pat Special Delivery Service: Flying Christmas Stocking
- Postman Pat Special Delivery Service: A Speedy Delivery
- Postman Pat – Happy Birthday Pat
Original series DVD releases
- Postman Pat – Postman Pat Takes a Message
- Postman Pat – Postman Pat and the Hole in the Road
UK VHS releases
| VHS video title | Year of release | Episodes |
| - | - | |
| Postman Pat 1: Letters On Ice | 3 November 1986 | Postman Pat's Finding Day, The Sheep in the Clover Field, Letters on Ice |
| Postman Pat 2: Postman Pat and the Magpie Hen | 3 November 1986 | Postman Pat and the Magpie Hen, Postman Pat's Foggy Day, Postman Pat Goes Sledging |
| Postman Pat 3: Postman Pat's Thirsty Day | 3 November 1986 | Postman Pat's Thirsty Day, Postman Pat's Windy Day, Postman Pat's Difficult Day |
| Postman Pat's Big Video | 10 March 1986 | Postman Pat's Birthday, Postman Pat's Rainy Day, Postman Pat's Tractor Express, Postman Pat Takes a Message |
| Postman Pat's New Video | 4 November 1991 | Postman Pat Takes the Bus, Postman Pat and the Toy Soldiers |
| The Very Best of Postman Pat | 5 October 1992 | Postman Pat And The Magpie Hen, The Sheep in the Clover Field, Postman Pat's Tractor Express, Postman Pat's Thirsty Day, Postman Pat's Windy Day |
| Postman Pat: Postman Pat's Birthday and other stories | 5 September 1994 | Postman Pat's Birthday, Postman Pat's Thirsty Day, Postman Pat's Foggy Day, Letters on Ice |
| Postman Pat: Postman Pat Takes a Message and other stories | 5 September 1994 | The Sheep in the Clover Field, Postman Pat's Windy Day, Postman Pat Goes Sledging, Postman Pat Takes a Message |
| Postman Pat: Postman Pat's Finding Day and other stories | 5 September 1994 | Postman Pat's Finding Day, Postman Pat and the Magpie Hen, Postman Pat's Rainy Day, Postman Pat's Tractor Express, Postman Pat's Difficult Day |
| Postman Pat and the Tuba | 3 October 1994 | Postman Pat and the Tuba, Postman Pat and the Barometer |
| Postman Pat's Bumper Collection | 2 October 1995 | Postman Pat Takes the Bus, Pat Goes Sledging, Pat's Difficult Day, Postman Pat and the Toy Soldiers, Postman Pat's Birthday |
| Postman Pat – 2 on 1 | 1 April 1996 | Postman Pat's Finding Day, The Sheep in the Clover Field, Letters on Ice, Postman Pat and the Magpie Hen, Postman Pat's Foggy Day, Postman Pat Goes Sledging |
| Postman Pat: Postman Pat and the Hole in the Road | 2 September 1996 | Postman Pat and the Hole in the Road, Postman Pat and the Suit of Armour, Postman Pat in a Muddle, Postman Pat Misses the Show |
| Postman Pat: Postman Pat Has Too Many Parcels | 15 September 1997 | Postman Pat Follows the Trail, Postman Pat Has The Best Village, Postman Pat Paints The Ceiling, Postman Pat Has Too Many Parcels |
| Postman Pat and the Big Surprise | 7 September 1998 | Postman Pat and the Big Surprise, Postman Pat and the Robot, Postman Pat takes Flight, Postman Pat and the Beast of Greendale, Postman Pat and the Mystery Tour |
| Postman Pat's Special Delivery | 12 April 1999 | Postman Pat Follows a Trail, Postman Pat and the Hole in the Road, Postman Pat and the Tuba Episode 18 |
| Postman Pat – More Adventures from Pat and his friends | 15 November 1999 | Postman Pat's Thirsty Day, Postman Pat's Windy Day, Postman Pat's Difficult Day, Postman Pat's Birthday, Postman Pat's Rainy Day, Postman Pat's Tractor Express, Postman Pat Takes a Message |
| Postman Pat's Big Video! | 2 May 2000 | Postman Pat and the Robot, Postman Pat Paints the Ceiling, Postman Pat and the Suit of Armour, Postman Pat and the Mystery Tour, Postman Pat Has Too Many Parcels, Postman Pat Misses the Show |
| Postman Pat's Favourites | 2 October 2000 | Postman Pat in a Muddle, Postman Pat Has the Best Village, Postman Pat and the Big Surprise, Postman Pat Takes Flight, Postman Pat and the Hole in the Road, Postman Pat and the Beast of Greendale |
| Postman Pat's Prize Postbag | 8 May 2001 | Postman Pat Takes the Bus, Postman Pat and the Toy Soldiers, Postman Pat and the Tuba, Postman Pat and the Barometer |
Broadcasters in other countries
- In mainland China, the series launched on China's dominant broadcast platform, China Central Television in July 2008. The show was dubbed into Chinese.
- In Sri Lanka, Postman Pat first series was broadcast over Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation in the early 1990s.
- In Hong Kong, Postman Pat Special Delivery has aired on ATV World in English. The original series and specials were also aired on ATV World in English in the 1990s as part of their children's lineup Tube Time. When Tube Time ended in 1999, the series was then repeated on ATV World on its own.
- In New Zealand, the original series has aired on TV1 and later on TV2 and the new SDS series currently screens on Kidzone, the children's show on TVNZ6. The 2003 series was also broadcast on TV3.
- In Australia, Postman Pat has aired on ABC, Max, Nickelodeon, ABC Kids, ABC2, Boomerang, Cartoon Network, ABC1 and ABC 4 Kids. The ABC Australian transmissions of the series were also shown in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
- In 2005, Postman Pat was sold to the Japanese division of Disney Channel, finally putting to rest a long-standing misconception in the UK that Japanese television would not take the series because having only three fingers and a thumb on each hand was a Yakuza symbol. The series is dubbed into Japanese.
- In the United States, newer episodes of Postman Pat initially aired weekdays at 8:00 AM Eastern time on the HBO Family cable network. The 2004 series used to broadcast weekends on the Qubo channel; the episodes were unaltered. Postman Pat no longer airs in the United States.
- In Iran, Postman Pat was broadcast in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The show was dubbed into Persian under the name Pat-e Postchi.
- In Israel, Postman Pat first aired as Dar haDavar on the Israeli Educational Television in 1994, then as Dani haDavar on the Hop! Channel in the early 2000s and then on the IETV again as Dan haDavar. All three versions were dubbed into Hebrew.
- In the Philippines, the series aired on TV5, dubbed into Tagalog. Cartoon Network also broadcasts until 2008 or 2009. The series was broadcast on the defunct Filipino television network Studio 23.
- In Canada, Postman Pat is shown on the Treehouse Children's Network. The original series also aired on cable and satellite television on its youth and children's network YTV and on digital television on the BBC's channel for children BBC Kids.
- In South Africa, Postman Pat was broadcast on M-Net being shown on their children's block K-T.V.. It was later moved to SABC 2 and later returned to air on M-Net with its 2003 series and Special Delivery Service.
- In Malaysia, Postman Pat aired on TV3 and was shown on Friday afternoons at 5:32pm with the series being reedited into two episodes.
- In Thailand, Postman Pat was played on UBC Movies and Kids and was also reedited into two episodes.
- In Namibia, Postman Pat was shown on SWABC during the mid 1980s. In 1992 the M-Net network was launched and broadcast for the first time in Namibia which included the series' airings, broadcasts and reruns on M-Net as well as being part of K-T.V. for Namibian viewers. The next few years M-Net was launched and broadcast in several African countries including Botswana and Ghana in 1993, Nigeria in 1994, Kenya and Zambia in 1995 and Tanzania in 1997. Franchises to the channel were launched in other African countries including Zimbabwe in 1995, Malawi in 1997, Angola in 1998 and Mozambique and Ethiopia in 2000.
- In Singapore, Postman Pat was broadcast on Premiere 12. It started airing in Singapore for the first time on 8 August 1997. Later in the 2000s and 2010s, the 2003 series and Special Delivery Service both aired on Central and Okto as part of their lineup of children's programmes.
- In the Middle East and Saudi Arabia, Postman Pat was broadcast on the Arabic children's television station MBC 3 and on cable television on Nickelodeon for Showtime Arabia and the former children's cable television network Fun Channel for Orbit.
- In Kuwait, Postman Pat was played on the country's English network KTV2.
- In Jordan, Postman Pat was shown on the English television network Channel 2.
- In Ghana, Postman Pat was broadcast on TV3.
- In Brunei, the original Postman Pat series and specials were aired on RTB.
- In United Arab Emirates, Postman Pat was shown on e-Junior.
Europe
- In Scotland, Postman Pat is shown not only in English but also sometimes broadcast as Pàdraig Post, in the Gaelic language, on BBC Scotland.
- In Ireland, Postman Pat was broadcast on RTÉ2 and aired on their biggest children's block The Den From 14 September 1989 onwards.
- In the Netherlands, the series was also shown dubbed in Dutch. There the series is called Pieter Post. It was first broadcast by NCRV, later on Nick Kindernet and Nickelodeon.
- In the Czech Republic, Postman Pat is known as Pošťák Pat and is shown on, dubbed into Czech.
- In Galicia, Postman Pat is broadcast as O Carteiro Pat, in Galician language, on Televisión de Galicia.
- In Catalonia, Postman Pat is broadcast as Pat el carter, in Catalan language, on Televisió de Catalunya. In fact, the original 1981 series was one of the first animation series shown on the channel, in 1984.
- In Italy, Il postino Pat has aired at various times on the RaiSat Ragazzi channel, Raitre and RaiSat YOYO.
- In Poland the adventures of Listonosz Pat is shown on MiniMini and TVP1.
- In Spain Postman Pat is known as Pat el cartero and is shown dubbed in Spanish on Clan TVE.
- In Iceland, Pósturinn Páll is how Pat is known to the viewers of Sjónvarpið, the public Icelandic television network.
- In Austria and Germany, Postman Pat has been broadcast on ORF and Super RTL with the name "Postbote Pat".
- In France, Postman Pat is called "Pierre Martin" and was played on France 3, Nickelodeon Junior, Piwi+, and Mini TFO, dubbed French.
- In Portugal, Postman Pat is known as "O Carteiro Paulo" and is shown on RTP2, MOV and Canal Panda, dubbed into Portuguese.
- In Sweden, Postman Pat is known as Postis-Per and is shown on TV4, dubbed into Swedish.
- In Denmark, Postman Pat is known as Postmand Per and is shown on DR, dubbed into Danish.
- In Norway, Postman Pat is known as Postmann Pat and is shown on NRK, first narrated in Norwegian by Sverre Anker Ousdal in the first seasons, then dubbed into Norwegian in the modern seasons.
- In Finland, Postman Pat is known as Postimies Pate and is shown on YLE, dubbed into Finnish.
- In Greece, Postman Pat was also known as "Taxydromos Pat" and was shown on ALTER until the station's closure. From November 2016 to January 2017, it was shown on ERT2.
Postman Pat Village at Longleat
Award nominations
In 2006, Postman Pat was nominated for "Best Pre-school Animation Series" at the BAFTA Children's Awards.Parodies
- Harry Enfield and Chums featured a parody entitled "Il Postino Pat", with an operatic reworking of the theme tune and the characters speaking in Italian. At the end there is a communist revolution in Greendale and Pat is shot and killed by fascist soldiers.
- Harry and Paul parodied Postman Pat in series 3 and 4 with "Parking Pataweyo", an African immigrant working as a stereotypically uncompromising traffic warden, played by Daniel Kaluuya, whose name and theme tune are based on Pat's.
- Spitting Image in 1987 the topical satirical puppet series, featured "Temporary Postman Pratt" in a send-up of Royal Mail's employment of temporary postal workers during busy times. In the opening titles, Pratt can be seen driving a familiar van along country roads before running over a black and white cat. Pratt likes to clear his workload as quickly as he can by dumping the post rather than delivering it. He is portrayed as a student who is lazy and rude.