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
External links
- Hickory House at thechestnut.com
- Hickory House at sausageNet
- Hickory House at the Internet Movie Database
- Hickory House at TV Cream