Hickory House (TV series)

Hickory House
Genre Children's television series
Presented by Alan Rothwell
Nicolette Chaffey
Louise Hall-Taylor
Amanda Barrie
Julia North
Voices of Barry Smith
Theme music composer Derek Hilton
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 5
No. of episodes 129
Production
Producer(s) John Coop
Running time 20 minutes
Release
Original network ITV
Picture format 4:3
Audio format Monaural sound
Original release 12 March 1973 – 1 July 1977

Hickory House was a British television programme aimed at pre-school children. It was produced by Granada Television from 1973 to 1977 and broadcast on weekday lunchtimes.[1]

Each programme was usually hosted by a pair of presenters, most often including Alan Rothwell. The setting was a normal house, but in Hickory House household objects were brought to life through puppetry. The puppet characters included Humphrey Cushion (a sleepy grey cushion with a fondness for bananas), Dusty Mop (a bad-tempered mop with a long red nose) and the Handle Family. The puppets were created by Barry Smith's Theatre of Puppets.

All 129 episodes survive in Granada's archive, although none has yet been released on DVD.

The animated opening title sequence of Hickory House began with Granada Television's "G" logo transforming into a house. This innovation was used again in 1978 with the game show 3-2-1, when Yorkshire Television's "Y" logo was worked into an animated title sequence. Curiously, this later programme also featured a character named "Dusty" based on a household item (in this case, a dustbin).

References

  1. ↑ Hickory House at the BFI Film & TV Database
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