Letters on Ice

Episode Overview

Release Details

Series

1

Series no.

1.12

Number

12

Released

20 September 1982 (UK)
31 July 1985 (New Zealand)
25 June 1991 (Australia)

Episode Guide
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Postman Pat Goes Sledging	Postman Pat Takes a Message

Letters on Ice is the twelfth episode of the first series which was first broadcast on 20th September 1982. It was entirely written by John Cunliffe and narrated by Ken Barrie.

Summary[]

Greendale is having a very hard winter and it has snowed again in the night. The weather is icy as well. Postman Pat is out on his rounds as usual, but he must go very carefully. Pat sees Sam Waldron out with his mobile shop. He offers to deliver Granny Dryden's shopping to her, as well as her letter from her daughter. Pat heads along the steep road to her cottage. He reads out her daughter's letter for Granny Dryden as she can’t find her reading glasses. Granny Dryden is so impressed, she gives Pat a cup of tea. Pat sets off again in his van. He stops at Ted Glen's workshop. Pat gives Ted a letter from his brother Bert in Australia. Ted gives Pat, Bert's old skates and suggests he try them on the tarn. Pat heads off in his van again.

While Pat is on his way in his van, the wind blows the snow into deeper drifts. Soon, Pat has to stop because the road is blocked, this makes Pat think he will never get through with his letters now. So he decides to skate over the frozen Tarn to deliver the post. He finds it difficult to skate on the ice though. Pat gives a letter to Charlie Pringle. On the way back across the ice, Pat meets George and then Mrs. Thompson. Jess is on the ice too. Pat picks his cat up and takes him back to the van deciding that’s enough skating for one day.

Pat stops at the village school. No one is there (as they are all snowed up at home), except for a snowman which the children have built. Pat gives him a letter. He sees Ted and Miss Hubbard. The snow has buried her bicycle. Pat and Ted help her search for it. She soons find it. Pat opens the gate for her and she sets off, bidding farewell to Pat and Ted, stating that she will see them in church on Sunday. Pat sets off too, for home. Pat tells Jess the snow won't last forever.

Featured Characters[]

Vehicles[]

Locations[]

Ted Glen's Workshop
Greendale School
Granny Dryden's Cottage
Mr. Pringle's House
The Tarn
Greendale Church (mentioned)

Trivia[]

In Wales, this episode is called "Freezing Mail".
The music played when Pat, Ted and Miss Hubbard are searching for Miss Hubbard's bicycle is the instrumental to the Miss Rebecca Hubbard song. This instrumental was later heard in Postman Pat's ABC and Postman Pat's 123.
This is the last episode not to have Pat’s name in the title until A Runaway Cow.
This is the last episode in which Ken Barrie voices Dorothy Thompson and Charlie Pringle.
Pat’s satchel would later appear as the Master's bag in the "Gran" episode "Gran the Camper".
The old kettle would later appear in both "Gran" and "Bertha".
Miss Hubbard's scarf would later be reused as Gran's scarf in the "Gran" episode "Snow Gran" and as Panjit's in the "Bertha" episode "The Big Sneeze".
The green brush that Ted uses would later appear in the "Gran" episode "Snow Gran" and in a few episodes of "Bertha".
This is the first episode where Pat doesn’t take off his hat in any scenes.
The song "Miss Hubbard's Lost Bicycle" from the album "Postman Pat Volume 2 - The Big Album" is based on the events of the episode.
This is the only Series 1 episode that was not included on any of the Longman Video releases. It was not released on VHS until 1986 when it was included on Postman Pat 1, which was released by BBC Enterprises/BBC Video.
In the Welsh and Dutch language dubs of this episode, there is a sound effect of Pat knocking on Ted's workshop door. This is not heard in the English version.
In the Welsh and Dutch versions of this episode, the winter wind blowing when Pat has left Ted's workshop, the school classroom door opening and the crows cawing in the background when Miss Hubbard has found her bicycle are absent.

Goofs[]

During the scene at Ted's Workshop, the animation is noticeably sped up when Ted fetches the ice skates, when he hands them to Pat and when he scratches his nose.
The snow could not have buried Miss Hubbard's bicycle that quickly, especially since it had stopped snowing before the story had begun.
The narrator refers Granny Dryden's cottage as a house at one point.
When Pat leaves Granny Dryden's cottage, he seems to close the door without pulling on the handle, making it look as though his hand has stuck to the door itself.
In Sally's letter, she refers to her husband as Dad.
The narrator states in the UK dub that "the wind was blowing the snow into deeper and deeper drifts," but in the Welsh and Dutch versions, the wind is not heard.