Pipkins

From Freepedia

Pipkins (originally Inigo Pipkin) was a British children's TV programme. Hartley, Pig, Topov and the gang, were the stars of ATV's legendary pre-school series which ran from January 1973 to 29 December 1981.

When the show started, the main character was an elderly puppet maker called Inigo Pipkin (hence the original title), played by George Woodbridge. The puppets were his creations, and over the course of the first series, viewers saw Mr Pipkin bring to life Topov the monkey and Octavia the ostrich. However, Woodbridge died in March 1973, during the recording of the second series. In 1974, in a first for children's television, Inigo's death was worked into the programme, predating the Mr. Hooper episode on Sesame Street by 9 years. From this episode onwards the show was renamed Pipkins, and Inigo's assistant, Johnny (Wayne Laryea), took over.

The direction of Pipkins had to change; from hereon in the show ceased to centre around a puppet workshop. The characters became "The Help People", helping anyone in need of a hand. Johnny left Pipkins around 1978, to be replaced by Tom (Jonathan Kydd). Tom moved on in 1980, his place taken by Peter Potter (Paddy O'Hagan). The familiar workshop set was replaced around 1979 with new interiors built up off the ground to enable puppeteers to work standing up and move around more freely.

The programme ended when ATV became Central Independent Television, and was replaced by Let's Pretend. In common with other 1970s shows, a lot of Pipkins episodes, including the first Inigo Pipkin, are missing from the archives. However, Nigel Plaskitt who played Hartley, made off-air recordings of many episodes and some of these have been released on DVD in the UK.