Torchy the Battery Boy

Infobox television
show_name = Torchy the Battery Boy
format = Children's Adventure
runtime = 15 minutes
creator = Roberta Leigh
starring = Kenneth Connor
Jill Raymond
Olwyn Griffiths
Patricia Somerset
country = UK
network = ITV
first_aired = 1958
last_aired = 1959
num_episodes = 52

"Torchy the Battery Boy" was the second television series produced by AP Films and Gerry Anderson. It was another collaboration with author Roberta Leigh and was directed by Anderson, with music scored by Barry Gray, art direction from Reg Hill and special effects by Derek Meddings. The second series of 26 episodes was produced by Associated British Pathe, but Gerry Anderson and AP Films were not involved in their production. Both seasons are now available on DVD.

The series followed adventures of the eponymous boy doll with a battery inside him and a lamp in his head, and his master Mr Bumbledrop, voiced by Kenneth Connor (who is probably best known for being a member of the Carry On ensemble cast) who also voiced a number of other characters. Puppetry was still fairly crude then and their strings are easily visible unlike in later Gerry Anderson shows.

how Overview

Each show's titles started at night with a rocket outside a cottage and Torchy sitting inside it. It would take off with lots of sparks and then would begin the theme tune which would tell you about Torchy and his magic light as the rocket went through space. In the first episode we are introduced to Mr Bumbledrop who had lots of toys and loved children and his dog, Pom Pom, a white French poodle with straight hair which needs curlers in every time. Also to Bossy Boots, a nasty little girl who likes pulling her toys to pieces.

Flying kites, the bad children (Bossy Boots, her brother Bogey, etc.) playing in Mr B's garden tie their toys to the kites they are flying and a strong wind comes along and blows all of the kites and toys away as well as Pom Pom who tries to save them. The children leave and being all alone, Bumbledrop decides to make a boy for himself. In four hours it is completed and Torchy wakes up and knows Bumbledrop's name and all about his magic beam.

Torchy presses the switch on his jacket and uses his magic beam which can shine anywhere to find Bumbledrop's missing glasses then he bursts into song. Out in the garden, Torchy uses his magic beam to locate the lost toys on the twinkling star. Next morning Bumbledrop builds a rocket and by nightfall it is finished and Torchy flies off to the twinkling star (these are the scenes which are used at the start). In the second episode, the toys decide to stay on the twinkling star where they are safe from naughty children. As well as Flopsy the Rag Doll, there is Pilliwig the Clown. Flopsy who was Bossy Boot's doll hasn't got enough stuffing inside her because it has been pulled out so is a bit dim as her head is empty and uses the phrase "Piggle-poggle". In this magic land, there is lollipop fields, cream buns grow on trees as well as bullseye bushes.

The third episode has Torchy on the twinkling star where he meets Squish the Spaceboy (with a water pistol ray gun), who came from America and got to the twinkling star by rocket, which broke on arrival. Squish steals Torchy's rocket and manages to crash it too. Pom Pom gets to sing a song, being able to talk by the magic there. Torchy has to get back to Earth otherwise his battery will run down. We find that Torchy's magic beam allows him to talk to people it is shining on, even Bumbledrop on Earth. Episode four they go to an orchard where all the fruit is enormous and they built Frutown by hollowing out these fruits and living in them. Torchy uses a pineapple for his own house and Squish makes Flopsy a house out of a cherry.

In episodes 9 & 10, Bossy Boots wants her stuffed doll, Flopsy back so Torchy takes her to the twinkling star. It is Topsy Turvy Land where grown ups become as small as toys. Torchy lands A strange effect in the episode nine. As Torchy is singing a song, Bossy Boots fires a cannon and the picture shatters showing blackness and Torchy appears, face blackened. Bossy Boots learns her lesson there before being taken back to Earth. Other toys joined the show, notably ruler King Dithers who was as dithery as his name suggested and Pongo the Pirate who sailed the oceans in a pirate ship made of fruit. His comical song :

"I'm Pongo the Pirate and I live in a great fruit sloop and if I ever catch you, I'll make you walk the plank. Pongo bad, Pongo bold. Pongo never does what he's told. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Episode List

First Season

* 1) Pom-Pom And The Toys
* 2) Topsy Turvy Land
* 3) Torchy And Squish
* 4) The Building Of Frutown
* 5) Torchy And The Broken Rocket
* 6) King Dithers
* 7) Torchy Goes Back To Earth
* 8) Bossy Boots Goes To Topsy Turvy Land
* 9) Bossy Boots Is Taught A Lesson
* 10) A Bell For A Penny Farthing
* 11) A Trick On Pom-Pom
* 12) Torchy Is Stolen
* 13) King Dithers Loses His Crown
* 14) Pilliwig Gets A Present
* 15) Bad Boy Bogey
* 16) Torchy And The Strange Animal
* 17) Bossy Boots Forgets To Be Good
* 18) Hungry Money Box
* 19) The Naughty Twins
* 20) The Twins Learn A Lesson
* 21) King Dithers Goes Down To Earth
* 22) Torchy Escapes At Last
* 23) Torchy And The Man In The Moon
* 24) Bogey And The Statues
* 25) The Moon Falls Asleep
* 26) Torchy's Birthday

econd Season

* 27) Flopsy Goes On A Picnic
* 28) Torchy Gets A Surprise
* 29) Banana Bridge
* 30) King Dithers And Daffy
* 31) The Toys Get The Collywobbles
* 32) Bogey Learns Another Lesson
* 33) The Pollikan Bird Is Stolen
* 34) Torchy Has An Accident
* 35) Sparky The Dragon
* 36) Bogey Is Naughty Again
* 37) Pilliwig Cleans The Chimney
* 38) Pongo The Pirate
* 39) Pongo In The Goldmine
* 40) King Dithers' Birthday
* 41) Washing Day In Topsy Turvy Land
* 42) Gluebell Wood
* 43) Squish Falls Down A Well
* 44) Flopsy In Trouble
* 45) The Big Storm
* 46) Daffy's Birthday
* 47) Flopsy Makes A Christmas Pudding
* 48) Gilly Golly In Trouble
* 49) King Bumble Drop
* 50) A New Suit For Pilliwig
* 51) The Obstinate Donkey
* 52) Pom-Pom Gets The Hiccups

External links

*
* [http://www.fanderson.org.uk/prodguides/prodind.html#Torchy "Torchy the Battery Boy" at FANDERSON] , the official Gerry Anderson appreciation society.
* [http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/torchy.htm Television Heaven feature]