Cosgrove Hall

This is a post I should have written many moons ago, for I estimate that I am made up of around 78% Cosgrove Hall. It was only when I came across some old episodes of  Trapdoor and found myself in stitches at the aristocratically paranoid moanings of ‘Boni’ the skull (voiced by the imitable Willie Rushton) that I suddenly realised that I have never posted about the wonders that Cosgrove Hall brought to many a childhood.

Cosgrove Hall were one of Britain’s foremost animation studios that started back in 1976 and being separated from the stuffy routines of the BBC they were given a relatively free rein to produce kid’s programmes for ITV.  As a result of some complicated mergers and a growing thirst for CGI cartoons, the company was sadly folded last year by its owners, ITV. To me this represents one of the single-most epic disasters in TV programming in the UK. A whole generation who work in our reasonably healthy creative industries here (games, advertising, design, film etc…)  have at least some dividends to pay to the influence of Cosgrove Hall. Because growing up in the 1970′s, 1980s (and to an extent the 1990s) meant that it was very difficult to avoid exposure to their incredible imagination. Coming  home from school to see Duckula, Dangermouse or the beautifully pastoral Wind in the Willows at 4.30pm was never a chore.  Have a flick through the TV at 4.30pm these days. Jesus, it’s depressing.

During the writing of this post I realised why it has taken my so long. I started my usual routine of research and suddenly found that three hours had expired with a couple of tears and some serious belly laughs thrown in. I think the fact that most of its theme tunes, catchphrases and characters are widely recognised is a testament to the skills of the employees of the company. Even so, the story and the imagination were always at the centre of every production that Cosgrove Hall worked on.

I’m in the process of trying to get one the guys from Cosgrove Hall to do a wee web interview for colourschool, so there may be an ‘ad addendum’ to this post if all things go well. In the meantime have a read of this interesting insight. It would also be a trifle unfair to talk about Cosgrove Hall without a little ode to everyone’s favourite toad…