Postman Pat's Tractor Express is the sixth episode of the first series of Postman Pat.
Summary[]
Pat calls at the post office to collect a registered letter to the camp site, and a parcel for Granny Dryden. Pat has to help Peter Fogg get some wandering sheep out of the garden at Birk How Cottage, then he delivers Granny Dryden's parcel and asks her to get a new digital watch. He then delivers some eggs from Intake Farm together with the registered letter for the campers.
The campers however are visiting the Gategill waterfalls and the letter is too valuable to leave at their tent. Pat's van cannot travel along the bumpy road, so Miss Hubbard borrows a tractor from the farm and takes him on a rather bumpy ride to the waterfall. When Pat returns to his van, he sees that a hen belonging to George Lancaster has somehow got in and laid an egg. On his way home, Pat spots a sheep stuck in a fence, and he stops to free it from the wire. As he continues his drive home, Pat waves to the Thompsons in a field.
Characters[]
- Pat Clifton
- Jess
- Mrs. Goggins
- Alf Thompson
- Rebecca Hubbard
- Granny Dryden
- Peter Fogg
- George Lancaster
- Dorothy Thompson (does not speak)
- Mrs. Pottage (cameo)
- The Jacksons (mentioned)
- The Campers (mentioned in TV version, only appeared in person in book version)
Vehicles[]
Locations[]
- Greendale Post Office
- Miss Hubbard's Cottage
- Granny Dryden's Cottage
- Intake Farm
- Birk How Cottage
- Southland's Farm
- The Gategill Waterfalls (mentioned, seen only in book version)
Differences between the TV and book versions[]
- The campers are only seen in the book version. The same goes for the Gategill Waterfalls.
- In the book version, Granny Dryden comes outside to see Pat off as he heads on his way, which doesn't happen in the TV version.
Trivia[]
- The horn sound of Pat's van is longer at the beginning of all the international dubs of this episode; the sound can also be barely heard when Pat is on his way to George Lancaster's.
- In a close-up of Pat on the tractor, he is being shaken by an off-screen stagehand in live-action without stop-motion.
- This episode was included as a bonus on the Australian VHS release of Postman Pat and the Toy Soldiers.
- The tent would later appear in the “Gran” episode “Gran the Camper” as Gran’s tent.
- This is the first episode where a character who isn’t a farmer drives one of the tractors.
- In the Dutch version, the sound of the sheep disappearing into the distance after Pat and Peter get them out of the garden at Birk How Cottage is missing.
- Stock footage from Postman Pat's Birthday is used.
Goofs[]
- The audio goes fuzzy when Granny Dryden says "Is there anything you'd like to order?" and when Pat says "Let's have a look." and "Yes, that's alright. I've got a letter for them, so I'll have to stop there anyway."
- When Miss Hubbard goes for the tractor, not only does her front garden gate close by itself, but when it slams shut, it makes the noise that a door would make when it is slamming. Stranger still, this does not happen when Pat shuts the gate a moment later. In that same scene, when Pat opens and closes Miss Hubbard's garden gate while waiting for Miss Hubbard and the tractor, a leaf on a tree can be seen twitching.
- When Pat opens Granny Dryden's garden gate while delivering her parcel, a piece of grass can be seen moving.
- After Pat closes Granny Dryden's garden gate on the way back to the van, the gate opens slightly and then closes by itself.
- When Pat says "Oo-er!" the tractor just shakes violently and does not roll along.
- In the long shots of Pat driving through the end of the village and through the countryside, he is not wearing his hat or glasses and Jess is not there next to him.
- When Pat gets out to deliver Granny Dryden's parcel, his van door makes no noise when he opens it.
- When Pat gets back to the van after his tractor ride with Miss Hubbard, grass can be seen moving. Then, after he shuts the gate, an object briefly appears on the road to the left-hand side of the screen.
- The gate to the field, where the campers' tent is, only squeaks once when opened.
- For the rest of the episode onwards, from the moment when Pat arrives at Granny Dryden's cottage, the door to the driving seat of the van makes the same noise as the back doors.
- A crossroad sign is seen when Pat is at a T Junction in the village. This mistake previously took place in exactly the same spot during "The Sheep in the Clover Field".
Gallery[]
