Lizzie Dripping

infobox television
show_name = Lizzie Dripping


caption = Title card for the episode "Lizzie Dripping By The Sea". All episodes had simple titles set against this moving background image.
format = Children's television
Fantasy
runtime = 25 minutes
creator = Helen Cresswell
starring = Tina Heath
Keith Allingham
Sonia Dresdel
Geoffrey Matthews
Barbara Mitchell
Candida Lucy Rowe
Jane Lowe
Sheila Raynor
Graham Roberts
Caroline Rowe
David Barson
Tom Georgeson
Ann Morrish
country = flagcountry|United Kingdom
network = BBC1
first_aired = 13 March 1973
last_aired =
19 March 1975
(Non-consecutively)
num_episodes = 8 (excluding pilot on "Jackanory Playhouse")
list_episodes = List of Lizzie Dripping episodes
imdb_id = 0173571

"Lizzie Dripping" (released in its second year under the title, "Lizzy Dripping Again") was a British television children's programme made by the BBC in 1973 and 1975. It was written by Helen Cresswell and set in the country village of Little Hemlock, where a young girl with a vivid imagination (played by future "Blue Peter" presenter Tina Heath) encounters a local witch (Sonia Dresdel) whom only she can see and hear. This singular ability is further complicated by the fact that Penelope has established a reputation for being an imaginative liar, making it even more difficult for her to convince others that her witch is real.

eries production

In 1972, the long-running "Jackanory" children's television series spun itself off into something slightly different. Where "Jackanory" had been a simple 15-minute reading of a story, designed to encourage kids themselves to read, the new "Jackanory Playhouse" would be a full-cast anthology series dramatizing traditional folk tales. The producers of "Playhouse", however, quickly made an exception for noted British children's author, Helen Cresswell. She was commissioned to write a wholly original play, and delivered "Lizzie Dripping and the Orphans". [http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/jackanory.htm Television Haven's overview of "Jackanory"] It is unclear whether this was originally meant to be a pilot, but following the success of the December 1972 broadcast, a full series of "Lizzie Dripping" was ordered by the BBC.

Unlike other BBC properties by Helen Cresswell, "Lizzie Dripping"'s status as a series based on previous novels is somewhat ambiguous. The characters and situations were original to the so-called pilot. The first series followed too closely on that pilot for Cresswell to have written and published books in the intervening time. However, the 1975 series was mostly based upon three "Lizzie Dripping" novels that she had published in 1974. Thus, the property is a mixture of elements which first appeared on television and some that first appeared in print.

The show's location work was filmed in Eakring, Nottinghamshire, which was, at the time, Helen Cresswell's home. [http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/lizzie.htm Television Haven's fact sheet on "Lizzie Dripping"] The episodes were directed by Paul Stone, who had been a director on "Jackanory" since 1969 and would later spend the 1980s producing some of Britain's top children's dramas.

tructure

Unlike many other limited-run British children's shows, "Lizzie Dripping" is mostly episodic, rather than serial. Stories are confined to a single episode, although minor elements may be shared across several episodes. This self-containment is ensured by the use of in-story narration. In the pilot this narration was supplied by Hannah Gordon. However, when the series proper began in March 1973, the narration was provided by the titular character, played by Tina Heath. Thus, the contextual perspective of each episode had been shifted from the third person to the first person.

Title character

To those outside the United Kingdom, a confusing aspect of the show is the name of the main character. "Lizzie Dripping" is a slang term in the Nottingham area for a spunky girl who has difficulty distinguishing between fact and fiction. It is therefore not the name of the main character, but a label applied to her. The titular character's proper name is Penelope Arbuckle.

"Lizzie" in other media

The series has been at least partially released on VHS. In 1990, the BBC put out the first three stories of the second series under the banner, "Lizzie Dripping and the Little Angel". At that time, the British Board of Film Classification gave the collection the rating of U. This video was only released in PAL format.

While an adaptation of the 1973 series appeared at the conclusion of the broadcast of that series, original "Lizzie" books have been in continuous publication in the UK since their publication as Jackanory Story Books in 1974. Though most of the publication activity in the years since the television show ended has surrounded republication of work done in 1973 and 1974, there have been occasional new stories, such as 1994's "Lizzie Dripping on Holiday".

Some of the stories have seen audio release as well. The most notable may be a 2001 BBC Audiobooks "Cover to Cover" recording by Tina Heath called simply, "Lizzie Dripping".

Footnotes