Woodland Animations Ltd was a British stop motion animation company, founded in the 1970's by Ivor Wood.
The company animated Postman Pat throughout the 20th century among other TV shows, such as Gran, Bertha and Charlie Chalk.
Josiane Wood, Ivor Wood's wife, commented on how they found the place for the studio: "We'd been looking for a mews house because Ivor knew mews houses had garages with very high ceilings. He always had in mind to set up his own studio and we found 58 Queens Gate Mews in South Kensington, London which was absolutely ideal. The garage was divided into two garages, so we had the partition removed".
Things were getting busy and as the studio grew it slowly pushed the Wood family out, who were living above the garages. As Josiane remembers "When full production started we had to move out as the flat above was getting far too small: one room became the editing room!" and it was said that the editing software was so heavy they always thought one day it would fall through the ceiling crushing the sets below. Things were getting too much for the little mews house so Ivor bought a place at 24 Bagley's Lane in Fulham which would go onto create the rest of Woodlands output including the charming Bertha and Charlie Chalk.
Queens Gate Mews didn't go to waste but became the hub of Woodlands licensing and merchandising arm, as well as a storage vessel for all the numerous sets and equipment.[1]
According to George Laban: "It was a very small studio about 20ft square. We had a set in the middle on a big table with access down one side and the other. We hung all the houses on the walls down the side and a chap called Ian Jones, who was production manager, helped me set up and make the props. He’d been to the same college as me so he knew me well. It was the three of us eventually that would set up, Ivor, Ian and I. All the props were in boxes piled on the sides, with no order to them. A lot of times parents used to write in and say "Why has Granny Dryden got the same furniture as mrs so and so?" This was because when we set up we'd have the rough layout of the rooms and just dress it with anything that came out of the box.
It was a little cottage industry, everyone in that little room. We’d have Ian in there smoking his roll ups, so the room would be full of smoke. Then there was a little corridor with a room for the toilet and another for a coffee machine. Then Ivor had his little office. He’d be on his pipe so it would get quite smokey but it was nice. You’d go in and they’d be no sort of regime, you came in and then left when you were done. It was all really relaxed and that was probably because Ivor had had enough it all. He’d always be saying "Oh I’m fed up of all this" but you knew deep down that he liked it.[2]
There was also this big tower rig that was custom made for Ivor. It was about 8 foot long and about 2.5 foot wide with a tower in the middle. You could go left and right and the camera would go up and down. There was also a tilt on it but we never used that. I can’t remember who had that afterwards, it must have got sold off to someone."[3]
In 2001, Ivor Wood sold his company to Entertainment Rights, which was later folded into Classic Media.[4]
Trivia[]
- Characters from Postman Pat were occasionally reused as characters for the company's other shows and from time to time, stage props originally made for one show would appear in many of the others.
- Some of the original puppets are now owned by the Cosgrove Hall Archive. The characters that archive own are:
- It is unknown what happened to the other original puppets when Cosgrove Hall Films closed down as they were not in the lock-up at MediaCity UK when Waterside brought all of the figures (including some of the Postman Pat puppets from Woodland Animations), props, cels, sets and background materials from Cosgrove Hall's other shows in the summer of 2017. These characters and animal models include:
- Julian Clifton
- P.C. Selby
- Lucy Selby
- Miss Hubbard
- Granny Dryden
- Major Forbes
- Bill Thompson
- Mr. Pringle
- Charlie Pringle
- Doctor Gilbertson
- The Robot Postman from Postman Pat and the Robot
- The sheep models from Series 1
- The hens
- Lucy's Pony from Postman Pat and the Beast of Greendale
- It's likely that Mackinnon and Saunders might have kept the puppets when they animated Series 7 and Series 8, or a former Cosgrove Hall animator or crew member kept the puppets under his or her possession.
- Unfortunately, none of the sets and props, (except for the ones used in Postman Pat) and the characters from Woodland Animations other shows: Gran, Bertha and Charlie Chalk are still around today as they were destroyed by Entertainment Rights shortly after buying the company.[5]
- Most of the original props, vehicles, buildings and the original model of Jess were kept at Mackinnon and Saunders. When the series ended in 2017, the buildings, props and vehicles were moved to Take 1 Studios in Stalybridge. However, in 2021, they were threatened to be destroyed as they were no longer required for filming until the Waterside Arts Centre and Trafford Council rescued most of the sets and props and are now in storage at the Cosgrove Hall Archive with some that went to be on display or being restored. Jess's original model is still owned by Mackinnon and Saunders.
The Props in the Collector's Lot[]
The Models Today[]
References[]
- ↑ https://ivorwood.wordpress.com/2015/12/10/in-the-beginning-woodland-animation-studios/
- ↑ https://ivorwood.wordpress.com/2016/06/16/postman-pat-series-2-with-george-laban/
- ↑ https://ivorwood.wordpress.com/2016/07/14/postman-pat-series-2-with-george-laban-part-2/
- ↑ https://www.c21media.net/news/entertainment-rights-buys-postman-pat-creator/
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/mar/02/has-anybody-seen-the-wombles-the-hunt-is-on-for-tvs-favourite-puppets-and-props