The Adventures of Noddy (partially found British children's TV series; 1955-1958)
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 preserved within the BBC Archives, and footage occasionally gets used in documentaries and clip shows. Although episodes of other Noddy shows have been found, very little footage of the 1955 series resurfaced online.
In fall of 2017, part of the episode "Noddys 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 two episodes around late 2018. These episodes were "Noddys Taxi" and "The Enchanted Roller Skates" but without audio. 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 "Noddys Camera" 2 years prior emerged with 2 more episodes. These episodes were titled "How Noddy Came To Toyland" and "The Runaway Train", these episodes are currently awaiting transfer.
Home Releases
The majority of Physical Releases of “The Adventures of Noddy” were done by Walton Home Films, in partner with ITV.
Of the known releases by Walton, there are six.
- How Noddy Came To Toytown
- Noddys Taxi
- The Runaway Train
- The Flying Bed
- Noddys Broken Window
- The Enchanted Roller Skates
These releases can be seen in late 60’s ITV catalogues, but disappear along 1970.
(Editors note: Do work on cataloguing pictures of the catalogs)
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. |
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. |
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. |
Tessie Bear | Noddy's friend | Tessie Bear is depicted in the earliest episodes of the show and is the 2nd most important character. |
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. One of them appear in the episode "Noddy's Taxi". |
Episode List
Important note |
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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 | Sept 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 | June 1st, 1956 | Unknown | Yes | Partially Found |
The Birthday Flowers | June 6th, 1956 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
A Boxful of Noddy | June 13th, 1956 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
The Lost Cucumber | Jan 29th, 1956 | July 14th, 1957 | Unknown | Lost |
The Big Balloon | July 4th, 1956 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
Buried Treasure | July 11th, 1956 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
The Enchanted Roller Skates | Sept 23rd, 1956 | Unknown | Yes | Partially Found |
Noddy and the Moon | Sept 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 | March 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 | April 7th, 1957 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
A Visit to Kitchen Village | April 14th, 1957 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
Noddy's Big Mistake | April 28th, 1957 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
Noddy's Camera | May 12th, 1957 | Unknown | Possible | Partially Found |
Noddy Spring Cleans | May 19th, 1957 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
A Box of Spells | May 26th, 1957 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
Noddy Runs Away | June 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
Gallery
See Also
- Make Way for Noddy (partially found PBS Kids version of British children's TV series; 2005)
- Noddy (partially lost British children's TV series; 1975-1976)
- The Noddy Shop (found American-Canadian adaptation of British children's TV series; 1998-2000)
External Links
- IMDb page on The Adventures of Noddy. Retrieved 08 Jan '20
- Collection of screenshots of the show. Retrieved 08 Jan '20
- Episode list with air dates. Retrieved 08 Jan '20
- More confirmed air dates from the show. Retrieved 08 Jan '20
- The TV Brain listing confirming all episodes that exist of The Adventures of Noddy. Retrieved 08 Jan '20
References
- ↑ 1950s Childhood: From Tin Baths to Bread and Dripping. Retrieved 03 Dec '17
- ↑ TV Toys by Anthony A McGoldrick. Retrieved 03 Dec '17