Postman Pat

Postman Pat
Postman Pat and his black and white cat in the original programme.
Genre	Stop motion/Children's
Created by	John Cunliffe, Ivor Wood
Developed by	Ivor Wood
Written by	John Cunliffe
Voices of	Ken Barrie Lewis MacLeod Carole Boyd Kulvinder Ghir Angela Griffin Janet James Archie Panjabi Melissa Sinden
Theme music composer	Bryan Daly
Opening theme	"Postman Pat and his Black and White Cat"
Composer(s)	Simon Woodgate
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	6
No. of episodes	141 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Chris Rose Mandy Kamester Chris Bowden Jane Smith
Producer(s)	Debbie Pears Jo Jorden
Running time	15 minutes (Series) 25 minutes (Specials)
Production company(s)	Woodland Animations (1981-1996) Cosgrove Hall Films (2003-2008) Classic Media (2010-present)
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One (1981-1985) BBC Two CBBC (1986-2002) CBeebies (2003-present)
Picture format	4:3 576i (1981-1997) 16:9 576i (2004-Present)
Original run	18 September 1981 – present
External links
Website

Postman Pat is a British stop-motion animated children's television series first produced by Woodland Animations. It is aimed at pre-school children, and concerns the adventures of Pat Clifton, a postman in the fictional village of Greendale (inspired by the real valley of Longsleddale in Cumbria).^[1]

Postman Pat's first 13-episode season was screened on BBC1 in 1981. John Cunliffe wrote the original treatment and scripts, and it was directed by animator Ivor Wood, who also worked on The Magic Roundabout, Paddington Bear, and The Herbs. Following the success of the first season, and that of several TV specials in between, a second season of 13 episodes was produced by the same crew in 1996. Here, Pat had a family for the first time. A new version of the series has been produced by Cosgrove Hall from 2004, which expanded on many aspects of the original series. For the first time in the programme's history, Postman Pat was no longer sponsored by the Royal Mail, which previously had used the show as a marketing vehicle for them. This link was dropped in November 2000, with the Royal Mail spokesman saying the character no longer fitted in with the company's "corporate image." ^[2] Subsequent to this decision, Postman Pat was switched to being an employee of the fictional Special Delivery Service.

Plot

See also: List of Postman Pat episodes

Each episode followed the adventures of Pat Clifton, a friendly country postman, and his "black and white cat" Jess, as he delivers the post through the valley of Greendale. Although he initially concentrates on delivering his letters, he nearly always becomes distracted by a concern of one of the villagers and is usually relied upon to resolve their problems. Notable villagers include the postmistress: Mrs. Goggins, Alf Thompson: a farmer, and the local handyman and inventor, Ted Glen.

In the new series, Postman Pat Special Delivery Service (SDS), Postman Pat has been promoted to Head of the SDS and is now called upon to deliver anything. Each episode follows Postman Pat on a Special Delivery mission, from rescuing a runaway cow to delivering a giant ice cube. In his new role, Postman Pat commutes to the nearby town of Pencaster where he collects his special deliveries from the Pencaster Mail Centre. Postman Pat now has a new fleet of vehicles including a helicopter and motorbike, complete with side-car for Jess.

Setting

Postman Pat is set in the fictional English (Cumbrian) village of Greendale and the (North Yorkshire) town of Pencaster on the "Cumbria / North Yorkshire" Border.

Greendale is a large, busy village situated in the heart of the countryside. Running through the centre of the village is the High Street, home to Mrs Goggins' Post Office and shop, an unofficial meeting house for the residents. Located on the edge of the village is the railway station, home to the Greendale Rocket. Nisha Bains runs a popular café there while her husband Ajay runs a regular schedule on the Greendale Rocket to the nearby town of Pencaster. In the original series (1 and 2), Greendale consisted of windy and narrow country roads which usually had some involvement as to why Pat had problems with his rounds, as the lanes would be blocked or full of snow drifts that were not passable.

Pencaster is a large, bustling, modern town located within easy commuting distance for the villagers of Greendale. Situated on the waterfront, Pencaster is a hive of activity, boasting a market square in the centre surrounded by shops, houses, a large railway station, state-of-the-art buildings and a boat jetty.

In the original series of the show from the mid-90s, the area is referred to as Garner Bridge.^[3] Garner Bridge is in Greendale. For example, in the episode Postman Pat and the Suit of Armour, the village Post Office is referred to as "Garner Bridge Post Office".

Ingledale is another large, busy village town situated in the heart of the North Yorkshire countryside part of the "Cumbria / North Yorkshire" Border, only seen once in the short second series of 1991.

The inspiration for the post office itself comes from the post office located on the street where Cunliffe lived when he was a child. The post office was at 10 Greenside in Kendal and was fully functional up until its closure in 2003.^[4]

Characters

See also: List of recurring characters in Postman Pat

• Patrick Clifton (Postman Pat) was the village postman for Greendale and has now been promoted to head of the 'Special Delivery Service' in nearby Pencaster. Pat lives at Forge Cottage in Greendale with his wife Sara and son Julian, who is six years old.^[5]
• Jess the Cat — Jess is Pat's black and white cat. He is inseparable from Pat and goes everywhere with him.

Postman Pat Special Delivery Service

In the latest series, Postman Pat Special Delivery Service, Postman Pat has been given a promotion to Head of the Special Delivery Service (SDS). Despite the promotion, Pat does, however, now have a boss, Ben, who tends to give him instructions (whereas he was his own master before the "promotion"). Pat also seems to make more mistakes in his work since moving to SDS, largely because the new format is always based on one delivery, which has to go wrong somehow (thus often because of Pat's errors).

Postman Pat SDS features an expanded and diverse cast, a fleet of new vehicles, and the new town of Pencaster. Postman Pat Special Delivery Service first screened on BBC2 on 29 September 2008. The new series was commissioned by the BBC and produced by Entertainment Rights and Cosgrove Hall.

Postman Pat's vehicles

• Royal Mail fleet service van (Pat 1)

Pat's bright red van is a small 'box' type van based on a Bedford HA, with the registration, "Pat 1". For the first eight episodes of series one, it featured a generic crown-style symbol, which was designed to be similar to the official Royal Mail symbol. When the Royal Mail gave the programme makers permission to use their official symbol, the crown was replaced with the proper Royal Mail symbol.

• In later episodes, Pat uses a minibus called "Pat 2", which could carry passengers and freight as well as parcels, offering Postbus service. From series 4 onwards his post bus was painted yellow to become the school mini bus.

Postman Pat's Special Delivery Service vehicles

• SDS Van (Pat 2)

Pat’s all new eco-van, much bigger than the small van and can carry special deliveries.

• SDS Helicopter (Pat 3)

Postman Pat now has his pilot’s licence and his own helicopter, which he uses to complete tricky special deliveries across Greendale and Pencaster.

• SDS Mini Van (Pat 4)

New Special Delivery Service mini van. Based on Pat's Pat 1 van. (Although Pat 1 can still be seen parked at SDS headquarters in some episodes, such as in the episode The Disco Machine).

• SDS Motorbike (Pat 5)

Pat’s all new motorbike, complete with side-car for Jess.

Other vehicles

• Mobile Shop

a blue shop van shaped like a Bradford 5 x 5 van driven by Sam Waldron (who is only seen in the first two series from 1981-1997)

• Greendale Rocket

An old steam engine that has a mail carriage at the back driven by Ajay Bains

• 4-wheeler jeep and trailer

A 4 x 4 jeep with a trailer that is driven by Amy Wrigglesworth.

• Forklift

A red forklift that is operated by Ben Taylor (and sometimes by Pat) at the Pencaster Sorting Office.

• Food van

A food delivery van that has fruit painted on the side driven by Michael Lam.

• Old farm truck

An old farm pickup truck that is driven by Ted Glen.

• Greendale police car

A police car that is driven by P.C. Selby.

• Pencaster Flyer

A blue and red high speed train that is driven by Ajay Bains to carry mail and passengers between Greendale and Pencaster.

Movie

Postman Pat: The Movie - You Know You're The One, a 3D computer-animated feature film will be released in early 2013 and will star Stephen Mangan as the voice of Pat. David Tennant, Rupert Grint and Jim Broadbent also star in the movie but their roles are currently unknown.^[6]

Spinoff

A spinoff to the series was made called Guess with Jess which follows Pat's cat Jess now with the ability to talk and his adventures with the farm animals. The Postman Pat characters and setting have also been used in the UK in television advertisements for the company Specsavers.

Music

Music for the original 1981 series was by Bryan Daly, who wrote a number of songs including the well-known theme tune. For the 2003 series, pop writer Simon Woodgate (of echobass) scored the show and wrote new songs, including a new opening and closing theme "What's in his bag?". The theme tune "Postman Pat & His black and white cat" was originally sung by Ken Barrie for the original series in the 80s and 90s. The tune was released as a single in the U.K. where it reached number 44 in the charts in July 1982.^[7]

The theme tune and songs for the new series and sequel, Postman Pat Special Delivery Service (including "Special Delivery Service, What's it going to be today?), was recorded by Simon Woodgate at Echobass Studios.

Books

Over 12 million book titles have been sold worldwide to date and there are a further 17 titles to be released in the UK in 2009. This growing collection includes Postman Pat storybooks, integrated learning books, colouring books, and multi-character magazines.

DVD and VHS releases

• BBC Video (1986-2001)
• Abbey Home Media (1990-1995)
• Entertainment Rights (2003-2010)
• Classic Media (2011-present)

With over four million DVDs and videos sold globally, there is a growing collection of titles available for Home Entertainment release, including feature length specials and interactive games. Titles include:

• Postman Pat - ABC & 123 Stories
• Postman Pat - Read Along with Postman Pat
• Postman Pat - Magic Christmas
• Postman Pat - Clowns Around
• Postman Pat - In A Muddle
• Postman Pat - Ice Cream Machine
• Postman Pat - The Pirate Treasure
• Postman Pat Boxset - Ice-Cream Machine/Clowns Around
• Postman Pat - Great Dinosaur Hunt
• Postman Pat - The Giant Snowball
• Postman Pat - Popstars
• Postman Pat - Football Crazy
• Postman Pat - Great Big Party
• Postman Pat Boxset - Magic Xmas & Giant Snowball
• Postman Pat - Go-Kart Race
• Postman Pat Popstars/Great Big Party
• Postman Pat's Summer Spectacular
• Postman Pat - Christmas Eve
• Postman Pat - Big Boat Adventure
• Postman Pat Boxset - Great Dinosaur Hunt/Giant Snowball/Spotty Situation/Ice Ladder/Big Butterflies/Spooky Sleepover/Greendale Movie/Train Inspector
• Postman Pat Boxset-Pirate Treasure/Green Rabbit/Flying Saucers
• Postman Pat Boxset - Christmas Eve/The Giant Snowball/Magic Christmas
• Postman Pat Special Delivery Service - A Brand New Mission
• Postman Pat Special Delivery Service - Pat to the Rescue
• Postman Pat Boxset: Great Big Party/Postman Pat: Great Dinosaur Hunt/Postman Pat: The Icecream Machine
• Postman Pat Special Delivery Service: Flying Christmas Stocking
• Postman Pat Special Delivery Service: A Speedy Delivery
• Postman Pat - Happy Birthday Pat

UK VHS Releases

VHS video title	Year of release	Episodes
Postman Pat 1 (BBCV 4028)	1986	Postman Pat's Finding Day, The Sheep in Clover Field, Letters on Ice
Postman Pat 2 (BBCV 4029)	1986	Postman Pat and the Magpie Hen, Pat's Foggy Day, Pat Goes Sledging
Postman Pat 3 (BBCV 4030)	1986	Pat's Thirsty Day, Pat's Windy Day, Pat's Difficult Day
Postman Pat's Big Video (BBCV 4168)	1988	Pat's Rainy Day, Pat's Tractor Express, Postman Pat's Birthday, Pat Takes a Message
Postman Pat's New Video (BBCV 4691)	1991	Postman Pat and the Toy Soldiers, Postman Pat Takes the Bus
The Very Best of Postman Pat (BBCV 4869)	1992	Pat's Windy Day, Pat's Tractor Express, The Sheep In The Clover Field, Postman Pat and the Magpie Hen, Pat's Thirsty Day
Postman Pat's Birthday (BBCV 5468)	1994	Postman Pat's Birthday, Letters On Ice, Pat's Windy Day, Pat's Foggy Day
Postman Pat Takes a Message (BBCV 5469)	1994	Pat Takes a Message, Pat's Thirsty Day, Pat Goes Sledgeing, The Sheep in the Clover Field
Postman Pat's Finding Day (BBCV 5470)	1994	Postman Pat's Finding Day, Pat's Tractor Express, Pat's Rainy Day, Pat's Difficult Day, Postman Pat and the Magpie Hen
Postman Pat and the Tuba (BBCV 5472)	1994	Postman Pat and the Tuba, Postman Pat and the Barometer
Postman Pat's Bumper Collection (BBCV 5683)	1995	Postman Pat Takes the Bus, Postman Pat Goes Sledgeing, Postman Pat's Difficult Day, Postman Pat and the Toy Soldiers, Postman Pat's Birthday
Postman Pat– 2 on 1 (BBCV 5814)	1996	Contains the episodes from "Postman Pat 1" and "Postman Pat 2", as shown above: Postman Pat's Finding Day, The Sheep in the Clover Field, Letters on Ice, Postman Pat and the Magpie Hen, Pat's Foggy Day, Pat Goes Sledgeing
Postman Pat and the Hole in the Road (BBCV 5891)	1996	Postman Pat and the Hole in the Road, Postman Pat and the Suit of Armour, Postman Pat in a Muddle, Postman Pat Misses the Show
Postman Pat's Bumper Bag (BBCV 6223)	1997	Pat's Windy Day, Pat's Rainy Day, Pat Takes A Message, Postman Pat and the Tuba, Postman Pat and the Barometer
Postman Pat Has Too Many Parcels (BBCV 6123)	1997	Postman Pat Has Too Many Parcels, Postman Pat Follows the Trail, Postman Pat Has The Best Village, Postman Pat Paints The Ceiling
Postman Pat's Big Surprise (BBCV 6539)	1998	Postman Pat and the Big Surprise, Postman Pat and the Robot, Postman Pat takes Flight, Postman Pat and the Beast of Greendale
Postman Pat's Big Surprise (Limited Edition) (BBCV 6706)	1998	Postman Pat and the Big Surprise, Postman Pat and the Robot, Postman Pat takes Flight, Postman Pat and the Beast of Greendale, Postman Pat and the Mystery Tour
Postman Pat's Special Delivery (BBCV 6770)	1999	Postman Pat Follows a Trail, Postman Pat and the Hole in the Road, Postman Pat and the Tuba
Postman Pat- More Adventures from Pat and his friends (2 on 1 BBCV 6952)	1999	Contains the episodes from "Postman Pat 3" and "Postman Pat's Big Video", as shown above: Pat's Thirsty Day, Pat's Windy Day, Pat's Difficult Day, Pat's Rainy Day, Pat's Tractor Express, Postman Pat's Birthday, Pat Takes a Message
Postman Pat's Big Video (BBCV ?)	2000	Postman Pat and the Robot, Postman Pat Paints the Ceiling, Postman Pat and the Suit Of Armour, Postman Pat Has Too Many Parcels, Postman Pat Misses the Show, Postman Pat and the Mystery Tour
Postman Pat's Favourites (BBCV 6985)	2000	Postman Pat in a Muddle, Postman Pat has the Best Village, Postman Pat and the Big Surprise, Postman Pat Takes Flight, Postman Pat and the Hole in the Road, Postman Pat and the Beast of Greendale
Postman Pat's Prize Post Bag (BBCV 7143)	2001	Postman Pat Takes the Bus, Postman Pat and the Toy Soldiers, Postman Pat and the Tuba, Postman Pat and the Barometer

Broadcasters in other countries

• In mainland China, the series launched on China’s dominant broadcast platform, China Central Television (CCTV) in July 2008. The show was dubbed into Chinese.
• In Hong Kong, Postman Pat Special Delivery has aired on ATV World in English.
• In New Zealand, the original series has aired on TV2 (New Zealand) and the new SDS series currently screens on Kidzone, the children's show on TVNZ6.
• In Australia Postman Pat is on Cartoon Network and ABC Kids.
• In 2005, Postman Pat was sold to the Japanese division of Disney Channel, finally putting to rest a long-standing misconception in the UK that Japanese television would not take the series because having only three fingers and a thumb on each hand (as Pat does) was a Yakuza symbol. The series is dubbed into Japanese.
• In the United States, newer episodes of Postman Pat initially aired weekdays at 8:00 AM Eastern time on the HBO Family cable network. The 2004 series currently broadcasts weekends on the Qubo Channel. The episodes are unaltered, leaving intact the accents and other distinctly British elements of the series.
• In Israel Postman Pat is known as "Dar Ha'davar" and is shown on Channel One, dubbed in to Hebrew.
• In India, Postman Pat was shown under the heading of "Half Ticket Express" which included various other shows aimed at children.
• In Iran, Postman Pat was broadcast in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The show was dubbed into Persian under the name Pat-e Postchi.^[8]
• In Malaysia, Postman Pat originally aired on RTM1 in the early 1990s. It reappeared on NTV7 in English in 2008. It is also shown on Astro Ceria bilingually, in both Malay and English. As of November 2009, NTV7 has completed airing of the 2004 series and is airing Postman Pat SDS in its place. As of January 2010, Astro Ceria no longer broadcasts Postman Pat. NTV7 airs Postman Pat SDS on weekends at 9:00AM as usual.
• In the Philippines, the series aired on TV5, dubbed into Tagalog.
• In Canada, Postman Pat is shown on the Treehouse Children's Network.^[9]
• In Arabic postman pat is known as ساعي البريدand shown on baraem.web|url=http://baraem.tv

Europe

• In the Faroe Islands he is known as Pedda Post and he has repeatedly been broadcast by Sjónvarp Føroya.
• In Scotland, Postman Pat is shown not only in English but also sometimes broadcast as Pàdraig Post, in the Gaelic language, on BBC Scotland.
• In Wales, no Welsh language version of Postman Pat is currently screened. However, there are VHS tapes available of the original series translated into Welsh that were produced by Sain Video.
• In the Netherlands the series was also shown dubbed in Dutch. There the series is called Pieter Post. It was first broadcast by NCRV, later on Kindernet and Nickelodeon.
• In Catalonia (Spain), Postman Pat is broadcast as Pat el carter, in Catalan language, on Televisió de Catalunya.
• In Italy Il postino Pat has aired at various times on the RaiSat Ragazzi channel, Raitre and RaiSat YOYO.
• In Poland the adventures of Listonosz Pat is shown on MiniMini and TVP1.
• In Russia he is known as Pochtalion Pat . It was first broadcast by Carousel.
• In Denmark Postman Pat is known as Postmand Per and his cat is called "Emil" .
• In Spain Postman Pat is known as Pat el cartero and is shown dubbed in Spanish on Clan TVE.
• In Norway he is known as Postmann Pat and his cat is called "Miss". The series has been repeatedly broadcast by the NRK. The 1981 series was narrated by actor Sverre Anker Ousdal, whereas the new series are now dubbed in Norwegian. Some parts of the dubbed series are available as DVDs.
• Pósturinn Páll is how Pat is known to the viewers of Sjónvarpið, the public Icelandic television network.
• YLE TV2 of Finland airs the adventures of Postimies Pate. The original 1981 series were also released on VHS in the mid-80's; in those releases, Postman Pat was translated as Posti-Pat.
• In Austria, Postman Pat has been broadcast on ORF since 2006 with the name "Postbote Pat".
• In Galicia (Spain), Postman Pat is known as "O carteiro Pat" and used to be broadcast on TVG, in Galician language. "O carteiro Pat" is a remembered character for people in their 30's, as they watched the TV series on their childhood. Theme tune was translated as "Carteiro Pat e o seu gato Jess".
• In the Basque Country (Spain), Postman Pat is known as "Patrick Postaria" and used to be broadcast on ETB 1, in the Basque language.
• In Sweden, Postman Pat is known as "Postis Per" and is shown on Nickelodeon and TV4, dubbed into Swedish. Some parts of the dubbed series are available on DVD.
• In Portugal, Postman Pat is known as "O Carteiro Paulo" and is shown on RTP2, MOV and Canal Panda, dubbed into Portuguese.
• In Croatia Postman Pat is known as "Poštar Pat" and was shown on HRT 2, dubbed into Croatian.
• In Czech Republic Postman Pat is known as "Pošták Pat" and is shown on ČT1, dubbed into Czech.
• In Cyprus Postman Pat was known as Taxydromos Pat and was shown dubbed in Greek on the national channel Cybc(RIK).
• In Ireland Postman Pat is shown on RTE Two's the Den. Postman Pat SDS is now also shown Weekdays at 11:05.
• In Germany, Postman Pat has been broadcast on Super RTL with the name "Postbote Pat".

Postman Pat Village at Longleat

Longleat House has an outdoor reproduction of Greendale village, including the Post Office, the Clifton's house and the Greendale station. It also has a miniature scale model of Greendale.^[10]

Award nominations

• BAFTA Children's Awards 2006

• Nominated for Best Pre-school Animation Series^[11]

Parodies

• Harry Enfield and Chums

Harry Enfield and Chums featured a parody entitled "Il Postino Pat", with an operatic reworking of the theme tune and the characters speaking in Italian. At the end there is a revolution in Greendale and Pat is shot by fascist soldiers.

Harry and Paul made 5 parodies of Postman Pat in "Parking Patewayo"

References

1. ^ BBC - Cumbria - Entertainment - Postman Pat
2. ^ BBC News, "Postman Pat get the Sack", 19 Nov 2000. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1031114.stm
3. ^ Postman Pat and the Suit of Armour; Postman Pat has the Best Village
4. ^ Visit Cumbria - Best Banks Post Office, Kendal, retrieved 6 January 2009
5. ^ "Postman Pat gets 'high-octane' 21st century makeover". Yahoo. 2008-09-24. http://uk.tv.yahoo.com/blog/article/26656/. Retrieved 2008-09-29. 
6. ^ Chitwood, Adam (September 16, 2011). "Stephen Mangan, Rupert Grint, Jim Broadbent and David Tennant to Voice POSTMAN PAT: THE MOVIE – YOU KNOW YOU’RE THE ONE". Collider.com. http://collider.com/postman-pat-movie-rupert-grint/115328/. Retrieved September 16, 2011. 
7. ^ "Chart Stats". http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=9846. Retrieved 24 March 2011. 
8. ^ Blockbuster Online - Postman Pat [Animated TV Series]
9. ^ "Postman Pat at Treehouse TV". http://treehousetv.com/watch/shows/postman_pat/default.aspx. 
10. ^ Longleat - As featured on BBC's Animal Park
11. ^ "Past Winners and Nominees - Children's - Awards - 2006". BAFTA. http://www.bafta.org/awards/childrens/nominations/?year=2006. Retrieved 17 March 2010. 

External links

• Postman Pat website
• Postman Pat at BBC Online
• Postman Pat at the Internet Movie Database
• Postman Pat at TV.com
• Postman Pat at the BFI's Screenonline