The Adventures of Noddy (partially found British children's TV series; 1955-1958)

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Noddy1955.jpg

Promotional image.

Status: Partially Found

The Adventures of Noddy was the first TV series to feature Enid Blyton's famous character Noddy. It was a string-puppet show that ran on ITV from 1955-1956[1] and BBC from 1955 to 1963.[2] The series was narrated by Enid Blyton (author and creator of the Noddy Franchise).

The entire series is rumored to be archived within the BBC Archives. Although episodes of other Noddy shows have been found, very little footage of the 1955 series resurfaced online.

In the fall of 2017, part of the episode "Noddy's Camera" was found to be shown in a VHS documentary special hosted by Phillip Schofield titled Best Children's TV of the Decade: '60s and '70s. In addition, some footage was also shown in a 1957 TV advert for "Kellogg's Sugar Ricicles" (later changed to "Kellogg's Ricicles" in the late 1960s).

Furthermore, a YouTube user named "Horipet" uploaded the home movie versions of "Noddy's Taxi" and "The Enchanted Roller Skates". It was not until late 2020 that a team on the Lost Media Wiki undertook finding a 16mm film reel of "Noddy and The Moon", it was recovered successfully.

On September 5th, 2020, another commercial for "Kellogg's Sugar Ricicles" by "{insert channel name here}" was uploaded showing the same Noddy puppet from the series.

One month later, the same user who had discovered "Noddy's Camera" 2 years prior emerged with 2 more episodes. These episodes were titled "How Noddy Came To Toyland" (which adapted the first book "Noddy Goes To Toyland" from 1949) and "The Runaway Train". “How Noddy Came To Toyland” was eventually released but “The Runaway Train” hasn’t.

Home Releases

The majority of Physical Releases of “The Adventures of Noddy” were done by Walton Home Films, in partnership with ITV.

Of the known releases by Walton, there are six.

- How Noddy Came To Toytown

- Noddy's Taxi

- The Runaway Train

Waltonfilmcatalog1.jpeg

- The Flying Bed

- Noddy's Broken Window

- The Enchanted Roller Skates

These releases can be seen in late 60s ITV catalogues but disappeared in 1970.


Whether or not other distributors sold episodes of “The Adventures of Noddy” is currently unknown.

Characters

Name Role Trivia
Noddy The main character He is one of the most influential children's book characters of all time, and is sometimes called "The Little Nodding Man." He is kind and charismatic but often gets into mischief. Between 1955 and 1969, Noddy was voiced by Denise Bryer who provided the voice of the character in various vinyl records and commercials.
Big Ears Noddy's Best Friend There's a lot of controversial stuff about Noddy and Big Ears. Such as when series author Enid Blyton depicted them sleeping together. While there is no issue with that, it was highly looked down upon when released in the 1960s. Voiced by Cyril Shaps who voiced Big Ears on various audio adaptations and commercials between the mid-1950s until 1959.
Mr. Plod Police Officer As we see in "Noddy's Camera" he is an amiable police officer and is a friend to all. In the 1955 series, he's depicted with sideburns, unlike his original book appearance. Peter Hawkins voiced Mr. Plod in the series and would later reprise as Mr. Plod in commercials for "Kellogg's Ricicles" and two tie-in records for the cereal.
Tessie Bear Noddy's friend Tessie Bear is depicted in the earliest episodes of the show and is the 2nd most important character. During the series' original broadcast, she was a brand new character to the franchise after debuting in the Noddy book "Noddy Gets Into Trouble" in 1954.
Angela Goldenhair Noddy's friend Angela Goldenhair is notable for appearing in extremely early Noddy Media, her entire existence is overshadowed by the more popular Tessie Bear.
The Goblins Antagonists The Goblins (alongside Big Ears) are the only characters that aren't toys. They enjoy playing tricks and causing trouble with Noddy being the easiest victim. The goblins show up in a few episodes (notably "The Enchanted Roller Skates").
The Golliwogs Neutral/Antagonists A group of mischievous dolls that enjoy causing trouble around Noddy and the citizens of ToyTown. The only Gollywog that was friendly was Mr. Golly (the owner of the ToyTown Garage). These characters created controversy due to being based on racist imagery, but they managed to stick around in the Noddy series as late as 1974 before being replaced by The Goblins while Mr. Golly was replaced by Mr. Sparks. One of them appear in the episode "Noddy's Taxi".

Episode List

Important note
The information presented here on The Adventures of Noddy is very misconstrued, and needs a lot of work.

There are many different sources with opposing information regarding what is listed.

Important Note, as of 10/29/2020
An important distinction came to light upon the discovery of “Noddy and The Moon”. That distinction was the actual length of a Noddy episode.

All 6 Walton Home Film Releases that contain Noddy episodes are only 4 minutes in length, while “Noddy and The Moon” was found to have a length of 14 minutes.

To summarize, while the Walton Home Film Releases contain complete Noddy episodes, their completeness (or the lack thereof)remains exclusive to those versions; this includes a lack of audio.

Episode Title First Known Broadcast Date Second Known Broadcast Date Home Film Release Status
Hello Little Noddy Sep 25th, 1955 Unknown Unknown Lost
How Noddy Came to Toyland Oct 2nd, 1955 Unknown Yes Partially Found
Noddy's New Car Oct 9th, 1955 Unknown Unknown Lost
Noddy's Taxi Oct 16th, 1955 Unknown Yes Partially Found
Noddy Does Some Gardening Oct 23rd, 1955 Unknown Unknown Lost
Noddy Goes Shopping Oct 30th, 1955 Unknown Unknown Lost
Big Ears' Smokey Chimney Nov 13th, 1955 Unknown Unknown Lost
Noddy's Burglar Nov 20th, 1955 Unknown Unknown Lost
Big Ears Leaves Home Nov 27th, 1955 Unknown Unknown Lost
The Invisible Paint Dec 4th, 1955 Unknown Unknown Lost
Noddy's Unlucky Day Dec 11th, 1955 Unknown Unknown Lost
Big-Ears and the Magic Spell Dec 18th, 1955 Unknown Unknown Lost
The Magic Bicycle Jan 1st, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
A Present for Noddy May 25th, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
Noddy´s Runaway Train Jun 1st, 1956 Unknown Yes Partially Found
The Birthday Flowers Jun 6th, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
A Boxful of Noddy Jun 13th, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
The Lost Cucumber Jan 29th, 1956 Jul 14th, 1957 Unknown Lost
The Big Balloon Jul 4th, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
Buried Treasure Jul 11th, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
The Enchanted Roller Skates Sep 23rd, 1956 Unknown Yes Partially Found
Noddy and the Moon Sep 30th, 1956 Sometime in 1963 Unknown Found
The House that Wasn't There Aug 11th, 1957 Unknown Unknown Lost
The Three P's Oct 14th, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
A Kennel for Bumpy Mar 11th, 1956 Aug 25th, 1957 Unknown Lost
The Missing Money Box Oct 28th, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
A Snowy Day Nov 4th, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
Cuckoo's Nest Nov 11th, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
The Snow Goblin Nov 18th, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
Sticky Business Nov 25th, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
Flying Bed Dec 2nd, 1956 Unknown Yes Partially Found
Mr Plod's Secret Dec 9th, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
Bicycle Bother Dec 16th, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
The Big Bang Dec 23rd, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
More Invisible Paint Dec 30th, 1956 Unknown Unknown Lost
Noddy's Radio Jan 6th, 1957 Unknown Possible Lost
Noddy Longlegs Jan 13th, 1957 Unknown Unknown Lost
Sports Day Jan 20th, 1957 Unknown Unknown Lost
Noddy's Dream Jan 27th, 1957 Unknown Unknown Lost
Big Ears Learns to Drive Feb 3rd, 1957 Unknown Unknown Lost
The Moon Rocket Feb 10th, 1957 Unknown Unknown Lost
Noddy Goes to School Apr 7th, 1957 Unknown Unknown Lost
A Visit to Kitchen Village Apr 14th, 1957 Unknown Unknown Lost
Noddy's Big Mistake Apr 28th, 1957 Unknown Unknown Lost
Noddy's Camera May 12th, 1957 Unknown Unknown Partially Found
Noddy Spring Cleans May 19th, 1957 Unknown Unknown Lost
A Box of Spells May 26th, 1957 Unknown Unknown Lost
Noddy Runs Away Jun 2nd, 1957 Unknown Unknown Lost
Chemistry Set May 23rd, 1958 Unknown Unknown Lost
One Lucky Day Unknown Unknown Unknown Lost
The Kangaroo Unknown Unknown Unknown Lost
The Dark Wood Unknown Unknown Unknown Lost
Fly Away Cake Unknown Unknown Unknown Lost

Footage

Commercial for Kellogg's Sugar Ricicles.

High-quality footage from another commercial for Kellogg's Sugar Ricicles.

Gallery

See Also

External Links

References