If you live on Pigeon Street here are the people you could meet

This week I am looking at a cult preschool cut-out cartoon that will bring back memories for many. If you want to transport yourself back here is the theme for a slice of nostalgia.

A Slice of History

Pigeon Street was a cut-out animated children's television series aimed at preschool children. It was written by Michael Cole and shown initially on the BBC in 1981 as part of its 'See-Saw' strand. The unmistakable voice of George Layton was the leading voice of the show, with a few other voice actors filling in small parts.

Although there feels (well, to me anyway) that there were many episodes, only two series, each with eight and five episodes respectively, that lasted for fifteen minutes were ever made. The series, however, was repeated for another thirteen years until late 1994 on the BBC, with several other networks broadcasting until 2001.

Alan Rogers and Peter Lang of Cut-Out Animation co-created the cartoon, with the duo later going on to create the nursery rhyme series with similar energy, Rub-A-Dub-Dub.

Cut-out animation is a type of stop-motion animation using flat characters, props and backgrounds. These are cut from materials such as paper, card, fabric or photographs which would be used as puppets for stop motion.

The shows featured the everyday adventures of characters living on Pigeon Street, consisting of apartments and terraced housing in an un-named British city. The street was also home to several also pigeons who appeared in each show but rarely featured in the show's plot. Characters included Clara, the long-distance lorry driver. Her husband Hugo, the chef; Mr Baskerville, the detective. Mr Jupiter, the astronomer. Mr Macadoo, the pet shop owner, and twins Molly and Polly are only distinguishable by the letters M and P on their jumpers. Songs were created around most of the characters and repeated throughout the shows appealing to the younger viewer.

Characters

The characters in the animation were seen as regular residents of the street. However, the creators cleverly made each one memorable from their characteristics and songs about them.

There is quite a long list of characters, so here are some of my favourites, although it does seem more soap opera than animation!

Betty Cox was the local school's dinner lady and is wife to William, the window cleaner and mum to Jim, their son.

Bob Pottage was the bike shop's owner, cleverly named ‘Bob’s Bikes.’ Bob is the brother of Reg, who is the park sweeper. Reg is married to Doreen, who is the owner of the laundrette.

Clara Newman, AKA Long Distance Clara was my favourite for her progressive style, it was only 1981, and she was a long-distance lorry driver! She was married to married to Hugo, the chef.

Dr Glossop was the local doctor and married Fiona Glossop, obsessed with making strawberry Jam. They had three children, Molly and Polly, the twins (best song of the show) and their elder brother Gerald. 

Mr Jupiter always carried his telescope and seemed to sleep on a park bench so that he could continue looking at the night sky. He had a pet dog named Flash.

Mr Baskerville lived in the apartment block (number 13) and was a detective, so he always carried his magnifying glass and didn’t go anywhere without his dog, Watson.

Finally, Mr Macadoo, the local pet shop owner and all round extrovert. He lived with his pet cat, Tom.

Although not as popular as other cartoons I have featured famous, Pigeon Street was well developed, thoughtful and, for its target market, well constructed to help pre-schoolers

Fun Facts:

• The show used cut-out animation that was rarely used in mainstream animation at the time, even though it had been around (and filmed) since the mid-1920s

• The show never mentioned a city or town where it was set.

• In early 2000, some original voices and animators tried to bring back the series.