All else that’s Murray…
“Are you going to Trumpton?
Camberwick Green?
Can we come with you?”
Not quite as exciting as the Camberwick Green music box or as memorable as the Trumpton clock, the start of the third in the ‘Trumptonshire Trilogy’ seems to reflect this series — a little of an anti climax.
Whether it was budget restrictions, lack of creative freedom or too much of a good thing, Chigley always seems destined to be the poor relation.
Murray used exactly the same format as the first two, same crew, and even some of the previous characters and songs (which hadn’t happened with Trumpton). This didn’t help Chigley when trying to form its own identity and probably explains why most people group the whole three series together under the one banner.
In the final series, the action was moved from the amiable village of Camberwick Green and the cosmopolitan Trumpton to the more industrial area of Chigley. With most of the storylines revolved around the Creswell’s Chigleys Biscuits (CCB) factory or alternatively at Winkstead Hall, family seat of Lord Belborough, now open to the public as the family finances aren’t what they once were. The old eccentric liked nothing better than riding his little steam engine ‘Bessie’ around the countryside then stopping at six o’clock to play the Dutch organ, ably assisted (as always) by the butler Mr Brakett.
Looking back at the third instalment, it appears quite male dominated without having the excitement of the fire crew or the soldiers, these guys were a little ordinary —
Mr Bilton — Gardener
Mr Fletcher — Factory Manager
Willie Munn — Mr Clamps nephew
Mr Swallow — Wharf operator
Mr Rumpling — Barge owner
Mr Clutterbuck — Builder
Horace & Cyril — Bricklayers
Harry Farthing — Potter
Winnie Farthing — Harry’s daughter
Mr Gubbins — Dustman
Mr Sneed — Dustman
The absence of Miss Lovelace and her yappy pooches, kindly Mrs Cobbit with her flowers seller or Mrs Honeyman with her permanently attached baby, meant the show seems devoid of a little feminine charm. The final episode aired on the 29th December 1969, perhaps the time was right to give the format a rest as Chigley seems destined to be lost under the shadow of its two more famous siblings. As with the programmes, merchandise seems to be grouped together although there is a separate Chigley LP and a few jigsaws and books lurking.
Gordon Murray didn’t instantly come up with his most successful project, first honed his craft at the BBC (see Part I) working on other projects, one of which being ‘Rubovia’. The ‘Rubovian Legends’ to give it its first, full title was a traditional marionette style puppet show screened from 1955 – 1965. Initially shown in black and white, aired as three short plays initially followed by 26 further stories, focusing on the goings on in the capsule kingdom of Rubovia. This tiny realm, located somewhere in Eastern Europe, you can find it on a map next to ‘Borsovia’, was held in a time warp, yet to join the EU or even enter a song in Eurovision! The puppets were quite scary with exaggerated characteristics and with King Rufus bearing an uncanny resemblance to John Prescott in a Three Musketeers style wig, who can wonder it wasn’t an instant hit!
However Murray seemed confident, so much so he revisited the show again in 1976, only this time with more familiar rounded puppets and stop frame animation a la ‘Trumpton’. The same characters and settings were reused from the first time around, Roy Skelton (Zippy) returned to voice the entire cast instead of the original ensemble cast. The largely unchanged characters returned —
King Rufus — Ruler of Rubovia
Queen Caroline — Married to Rufus and keeper of Pongo
Lord Chamberlain — Courtier
Albert Weatherspoon — Gardener, photographer, magician, general handyman and do it all
Mac Gregor — Strange chap who wore a turban and spoke with a Chinese accent (altered slightly for revised series)
King Boris — Ruler of the neighbouring lands, Borsovia
Pongo & Puss — Royal pets, a little dragon and a cat
Farmer Bottle & Owl — New additions for the revised series
Although the ‘puppets’ were more homely and the songs more familiar the new look ‘Rubovia’ probably suffered as a result of being smart, sophisticated with good storylines but was put out in a preschool slot which simply went over the heads of most wee ones. The six shows produced at this time, along with the originals seem to be relatively forgotten except for the few diehard fans and the occasional rare jigsaw, book or game one comes across.
A reoccurring problem for Gordon Murray seem to be hitting the right audience this is borne out by his next venture airing during Multi Coloured Swap Shop on Saturday mornings alongside the likes of ‘Hong Kong Phooey’. ‘Skip & Fluffy’ two young boys, who looked like they could be Windy Miller’s long lost children, accompanied by a very jowly hound told stories, limericks and posed word games all spoken in rhyme. These 5 minutes slots must be imminently forgettable as the most I have seen of the pair is a series of jigsaws!
Again working with Swap Shop, 1979 saw ‘The Gublins’ hit the screen for the first time. This strange human / monkey / planet of the ape’s style hybrids were involved in 13 shows, each week seeing a different play unfold all in rhyme. A wide variety of characters were explored from a vicar to a mermaid. Again was this the correct target audience one wonders?? At least it survived to have a book release, a series of four, I believe by Dean & Son.
In addition to the odd Gordon Murray references in adverts (Quakers Oats) and in retro TV shows such as ‘Life on Mars’, the wonders of modern technology has meant the brilliance of Gordon Murray can be enjoyed time and again on DVD. Nickelodeon will also be showing the ‘Trumptonshire Trilogy’ until at least 2009 on Junior Classics and Junior Classics 2. So sit back, feet up and sing along with Windy Miller, Dr Mopp and all the gang. Alternatively you can get your ‘fix’ with some of the fantastic offering we have —
Take a look at the Chigley & Rubovia items we have on sale.
