The Pingwings

Pingwings was an animated black-and-white children's television series of 18 ten-minute episodes broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV in 1961. It first aired on Southern Television. Created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin of Smallfilms, it starred a family of penguin-like creatures who lived at the back of a barn on Berrydown Farm. The Pingwing characters were knitted by Firmin's wife Joan and the animation was achieved using the stop motion technique. Some of the animated sequences were filmed in the open air. Such sequences are often intercut with live-action sequences featuring Mr and Mrs Farmer and Gay the Goat. In this way the Pingwing family interact with their neighbours on the farm. The series was captured on 16mm black-and-white film. All of the voices were provided by Oliver Postgate and Olwen Griffiths. A short sequence of Pingwings is available on the CD that accompanies Oliver Postgate's autobiography, and a DVD of the 18 episodes is also available from the Dragons' Friendly Society. The music for the series was composed by Vernon Elliot and performed by him with Sidney Sutcliffe.