Hickory House (TV series)

Infobox Television
show_name = Hickory House
genre = Children's television series
presenter = Alan Rothwell
Nicolette Chaffey
Louise Hall-Taylor
Amanda Barrie
Julia North
voices = Barry Smith
theme_music_composer = Derek Hilton
country = UK
language = English
num_seasons = 5
num_episodes = 129
producer = John Coop
runtime = 20 minutes
network = ITV
picture_format = 4:3
audio_format = Monaural sound
first_aired = 12 March 1973
last_aired = 1 July 1977
imdb_id = 0824972

"Hickory House" was a British television programme aimed at pre-school children. It was produced by Granada Television from 1973 to 1977 and broadcast on weekday lunchtimes [ [http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/33069 "Hickory House" at the BFI Film & TV Database] ] .

Each programme was usually hosted by a pair of presenters, most often including Alan Rothwell. The setting was normal house, but in Hickory House household objects were brought to life through puppetry. The puppet characters included Humphrey Cushion (a grey cushion with a fondness for bananas), Dusty Mop (a mop with a long red nose) and the Handle Family. The puppets were created by Barry Smith's Theatre of Puppets.

All 129 episodes survive in Granada's archive, although none have yet been released on DVD.

Trivia

* "The animated opening title sequence of Hickory House began with Granada Television's "G" logo transforming into a house. This innovation was used again in 1978 with the game show 3-2-1, when Yorkshire Television's "Y" logo was worked into an animated title sequence. Curiously, this later programme also featured a character named "Dusty" based on a household item (in this case, a dustbin)."

References

External links

* [http://www.thechestnut.com/snippets-5.htm "Hickory House" at thechestnut.com]
* [http://www.sausagenet.com/program.asp?mode=view&progid=66&progname=Hickory+House "Hickory House" at sausageNet]