Charlie Chalk

Charlie Chalk
Format	Stop Motion
Created by	Ivor Wood
Directed by	Derek Mogford
Starring	Michael Williams, John Welles, Barbara Leigh-Hunt
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	13
Production
Producer(s)	Ivor Wood
Running time	15 minutes per episode (approx)
Production company(s)	Woodland Animations
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC
Original run	20th October 1988 – 19th April 1989

Charlie Chalk was a short-lived stop motion animation series produced in 1987 in the UK by Woodland Animations, from the creators of Postman Pat and the two other children's television programmes that are Gran and Bertha.

Synopsis

It tells the story of Charlie Chalk - a jolly clown who, after falling asleep whilst fishing out at sea, ends up on a strange island by the name of Merrytwit (as explained in the title sequence before each episode). Characters had to be aware of coconuts which constantly fell from the trees on the island.

The pilot episode of the series (entitled 'Shipwrecked Charlie') finds Charlie having just landed on Merrytwit, and after making friends with some of its inhabitants, decides to stay and build a home there. The following episodes follow Charlie and his new friends on various adventures on the island.

Main characters

• Charlie Chalk - A clown, he was out on a fishing trip, when he ended up on Merrytwit Island. In the theme tune, he is described as "Got a funny way of walking and a wacky way of chalking". He was voiced by Michael Williams. His 'funny way of walking' was developed when on occasion he would tumble in an acrobatic circus-style through frames, around obstacles, or just to show folks how happy he was. He also had the ability to do magic tricks as well.

• Captain Mildred: The boss, who loves to see everyone hard at work and has the practice of listing things that have to be done: "a: do this; b: do that" etc. She lives on the beached ship Buttercup. She shows strong influences of Margaret Thatcher.

• Mary the Hover Fairy An old fairy whom often proves useful due to her ability to cast spells...provided her magic wand, Houdini, hasn't wandered off again. She is getting old, so has decided to settle down on Merrytwit. She now lives on Buttercup, serving as Mildred's first mate.

• Lewis T. Duck: A small duck with a short temper! He is full of ideas, and believes them to be the best, so is quick to inform people that he is "always right". He can be quite friendly, but lacks patience. The 'T' stands for 'The'.

• Arnold the Elephant: A pink elephant, who is quite jolly, but also very clumsy, much to the annoyance of Lewis, who always seems to be on the receiving end of Arnold's bouts of clumsiness!

• Edward: A monkey who spends his time sleeping and has quite a dislike for work.

• Trader Jones: Trader is the island's odd job man. Not only does he drive a bike which acts as a taxi and a means of transporting goods, he also owns a general supplies store on the island: 'if you want it, he's got it.' He never accepts money; he trades. A supply of bananas may cost you a days beachcombing.

• Bert: A giant monster, discovered by Charlie, Arnold and Lewis in The Mountain that Moaned episode. He lives inside a cave, and whilst an extremely friendly monster, he is quite lacking in intelligence.

• Litterbug: A tiny little bug who is kept busy tidying up litter around the island. He often complains about the amount of litter, but doesn't realize there'd be far less litter if his sack didn't have a hole in it! Being so tiny, he isn't always noticed, a fact which further frustrates him.

Episode list

The series consisted of 13 original episodes, as listed below:

#	Title	Summary	Broadcast Date
1	Shipwrecked Charlie	Charlie lands on Merrytwit and meets Edward, Trader Jones, Captain Mildred, Arnold and Lewis T. Duck. They all agree that the first thing Charlie must do is build a house... but where?	20th October 1988
2	Arnold's Night Out	Charlie finds a treasure map and he, Lewis and Arnold decide to go looking for it. Arnold is being clumsey and Lewis orders him to find the treasure by himself. Arnold ends up finding it.	27th October 1988
3	The Coconut Harvest	In the middle of the coconut harvest, Trader Jones makes a wish, and before anyone knows what's happened, Mary the Hover Fairy appears. She grants Trader's wish, and he discovers the magic may not be the best way to harvest coconuts.	3rd November 1988
4	The Sneezes	Charlie unfortunately has to cancel the big expedition to find the Bye Bye Beast because he's got the Sneezes. But when Trader Jones' cure for the dread disease happens to include the elusive Beast's favourite food, Charlie's luck changes.	10th November 1988
5	Jumping Bananas	Litterbug, on his constant quest for tidiness, picks up Mary the Hover Fairy's wand when she puts it down half way through a spell. When the poor creature is chased by a crowd of jumping bananas, he finds out that there could be such a thing as being tidy.	17th November 1988
6	The Mountain That Moaned	One day Arnold claims that the mountain moaned and everyone doesn't believe him. So Charlie and Lewis decide to set off and see why does the mountain moans. The mountain leads them to a new friend.	24th November 1988
7	Edward Keeps Fit	It's inspection day on Merrytwit and Captain Mildred decides it's time lazy Edward took some exercise.	1st December 1988
8	The Feast	Charlie is helping Trader Jones beach combing when they stumble upon a cookery book. Trader decides to prepare the first Merrytwit feast, but when coconuts and bananas are the only ingredients available, the feast doesn't quite work out as planned... NOTE: This was the first end of the intro that two Charlie Chalks were green instead of red.	8th December 1988
9	There Are No Roads On Merrytwit	Lewis T. Duck, who's always right, discovers a local atrocity that there are no roads on Merrytwit. So he decides to build one...	15th December 1988
10	Mildred's Day Off	Captain Mildred is becoming bored of her day to day life of living on her boat she calls a home, so she decided to take her best friend Mary the hover fairy with her on a short holiday.	22nd December 1988
11	Bert's Boring Day	The cave monster Bert is having a boring day, he has run out of interesting things to do in Merrytwit, but his day soon livens up when his friends plan a day full of fun. The beginning of the intro yellow square on the pink background was small instead of big.	5th April 1989
12	Return Of The Litter	It will soon be Litterbugs birthday; Charlie and the other inhabitants of Merrytwit cannot think of a gift to give Litterbug for his birthday, they decide to explore the island for the perfect gift.	12th April 1989
13	Goodbye, Hello	Although Charlie is enjoying his new life on Merrytwit, he also misses the circus and his old friends back home, so Charlie decides to say goodbye to Merrytwit and his newfound friends and go back to his old life as a clown.	19th April 1989

TRAVIA - all episodes have been copyrighted in 1987, but not broadcasted on TV as part of Children's BBC until 20th October 1988.

Merchandise

• Charlie Chalk - The Complete Collection features all 13 episodes and is currently available in the UK. It was made by Right Entertainment plc in 2005.
• In 1994, Redrock Records released a Charlie Chalk LP. It included the several incidental songs played on the show and the full Charlie Chalk theme song which includes some previously unheard lyrics.
• A new Charlie Chalk CD has been developed in America.
• The UK based restaurant chain Brewers Fayre originally used Charlie Chalk as their mascot, but this image has since changed to the firm's own 'Brewster the Bear' who has nowadays been replaced with new kids character called 'Penny the Pineapple'.

UK VHS Releases

all 13 episodes have been released on three BBC Videos in the UK from 1988 to 1991

VHS video title	Year of release	Episodes
Charlie Chalk - Shipwrecked Charlie (BBCV 4195)	1988	Shipwrecked Charlie, Arnold's Night Out, Coconut Harvest, Sneezes, Jumping Bananas
Charlie Chalk - The Mountain That Moaned (BBCV 4427)	1990	The Mountain That Moaned, Edward Keeps Fit, The Feast, There are No Roads on Merrytwit.
Charlie Chalk - Mildred's Day Off (BBCV 4636)	1991	Mildred's Day Off, Bert's Boring Day, Return of the Litter, Goodbye Hello.

then in 1995 a WHSmith Exclusive Children's Video by Tempo Video/Abbey Home Entertainment was released in store.

VHS video title	Year of release	Episodes
Charlie Chalk - Jumping Bananas (975927)	1995	Sneezes, Return of the Litter, Mildred's Day Off, The Feast, Jumping Bananas

then also in 1995 two 'Tempo Kids Club' videos (each with 2 stories on each tape) in the Abbey Home Entertainment series.

VHS video title	Year of release	Episodes
Charlie Chalk - There are No Roads on Merrytwit (978225)	1995	'There are No Roads on Merrytwit' and 'Edward Keeps Fit'
Charlie Chalk - Coconut Harvest (986725)	1995	'Coconut Harvest' and 'Goodbye, Hello'

in 1999 The Contender Group released two videos under the 'Nippers' children's video label.

VHS video title	Year of release	Episodes
Charlie Chalk Bumper Video (NIP11063)	1999	Shipwrecked Charlie, Arnold's Night Out, The Coconut Harvest, Sneezes, Jumping Bananas
The Adventures of Charlie Chalk (NIP11085)	2000	The Mountain That Moaned, Edward Keeps Fit, Mildred's Day Off, Return of The Litter

Credits

• Created by: Ivor Wood
• Written by: Jocelyn Stevenson
• Voices By: Michael Williams, John Wells, Barbera Leigh Hunt
• Music and Lyrics by: Mike Redway
• Director Of Animation: Derek Mogford
• Film Editor: Martin Bohan
• Song Vocals: Ken Barrie
• Props: Brian Driver
• Produced by: Woodland Animations Ltd
• © Woodland Animations Ltd 1987

References

External links

• Charlie Chalk at Cjetech.co.uk

• Charlie Chalk at the Internet Movie Database

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