The Adventures of Portland Bill

The Adventures of Portland Bill
Created by	John Grace FilmFair Granada Television
Starring	Norman Rossington
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	26
Production
Running time	5mins
Release
Original network	ITV Network
Original release	4 October 1983

The Adventures of Portland Bill was a British stop motion animated children's television series made in 1983. It was set in a fictional lighthouse on the Guillemot Rock, just off the coast from the fictional village of McGuillycuddy. Norman Rossington provided the voice of all the characters, with Portland Bill acting as the narrator of each episode.

Characters

Most of its characters were named after British Sea Areas and coastal weather stations and other words that occur in shipping forecasts:

These live in the lighthouse:

Portland Bill: lighthouse keeper
Ross and Cromarty: his assistants
Dogger: his dog

The rest of the characters live elsewhere:

Fastnet: fisherman, lives on the island
Mrs. Lundy: owns cottage on mainland
Grandma Tiree: makes oatcakes for the lighthousemen
Inspector Ronaldsway: belongs to the lighthouse service, not a police officer
Finisterre: owns a croft
Eddy Stone: owns the village shop, has various jobs: named after Eddystone.
Young Gail: lives in McGuillycuddy, perhaps on a farm: named after "gale"

Places

McGuillycuddy: a village on the mainland overlooking the lighthouse island: named after the real Macgillycuddy's Reeks in Ireland

Location

Whilst commonly believed to be based on the real Portland Bill Lighthouse and Isle of Portland, there is no evidence to back this up beyond the main character having the name Portland Bill. In fact, with the name of the nearest village, and the proximity of a Croft owned by Finisterre the Crofter, there is evidence to suggest it is actually based in Scotland.

Boats

The Puffin: rowboat, belongs to Portland Bill.
The Kipper: used by Eddy Stone and Inspector Ronaldsway.

Other animals

Flotsam, Jetsam: two sheep
Boulmer: bull

Trivia

The series was narrated by actor of Spooner's Patch and Big Jim and the Figaro Club, Norman Rossington.
In the United States of America, the show was redubbed in 1990 by Canadian voice actor Garry Chalk (of The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie fame), and was broadcast on Disney Channel straight after The Wuzzles.
The show also aired on ABC in Australia (10 August 1987 - 28 February 1992).

Credits

Originated by: John Grace
Director of Animation: Barry Leith
Designed by: John Grace, Barry Leith
Assistant Animators: Humphrey Leadbitter, Heather Boucher
Model Makers: Martin Cheek, Gordon Tait, Linda Thodesen
Music by: John Grace, Mik Parsons
Editor: Robert Dunbar
Assistant Editor: Andi Sloss
Production Coordinator: Barrie Edwards
Stories Adapted for TV by: Ian Sachs
Executive Producer: Graham Clutterbuck

Transmission guide

Series 1: 13 editions from 4 October 1983 – 3 January 1984
Series 2: 13 editions from 9 April 1986 – 25 June 1986

VHS releases

Snapdragon Video released a collection of 10 Portland Bill stories:

Title	Catalogue number	Release date	Episodes
Portland Bill: 10 Stories from the Classic TV Series	SD 9001	7 October 1991	Dogger to the Rescue Gone Fishing Kite Flying Forty Winks Bad Dogger Last Jam Tart Sky High St. Bozo's Treasure Penguins The Phantom Piper

In the 1990s Castle Communications Plc released three videos with four episodes (or eight stories) each:

VHS Name	Castle Vision Catalogue Number	Playbox Catalogue Number	Episodes
Portland Bill: 45 Minutes of Fun	CVS 4040	PVC 145	A Jam Session / A Visit from Inspector Ronaldsway The Wrong Semaphore Message / Cromarty's Treasure Hunt A Weather Forcating Kit / Dogger Saves the Day A Knot Tying Day / A Wind-Powered Vacuum Cleaner
Portland Bill: Four Original Episodes	CVS 4041	PVC 146	A Slapstick Fun Painting Effort / A Memorable Day Trip Staging a Fishing Contest / Telling the Time by Seaweed A Day Off That Gets Busy / A Scary Night Watch Cromarty Gets Hiccups / A Surprise for Eddie Stone
Portland Bill: Four Classic Adventures	CVS 4042	PVC 147	The Storm That Does Chores / A Whistling Kettle for a Runaway Bull Baking with the Wrong Flour / The Causing-Chaos Penguin Valentia the Parrot A Mermaid Trick / The Oil Rig Customer

External links

The Adventures of Portland Bill at the Big Cartoon DataBase
The Adventures of Portland Bill at ClassicKidsTV.co.uk
The Adventures of Portland Bill at the Internet Movie Database
The Adventures of Portland Bill at Little Gems
The Adventures of Portland Bill at Toonhound

FilmFair

Stop-motion animation series	The Herbs (1968) Hattytown Tales (1969–73) The Adventures of Parsley (1970) The Wombles (1973–75) Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings (1974-76) Paddington (1975–86) Moschops (1983) The Adventures of Portland Bill (1983) Edward and Friends (1987) Windfalls (1989) Huxley Pig (1989–90) The Gingerbread Man (1992) Astro Farm (1992–96)

Hand-drawn animation series	The Perishers (1979) The Blunders (1986–87) The Shoe People (1987–88) Bangers and Mash (1989) The Dreamstone (episodes) (1990–95) Nellie the Elephant (1990–91) Rod 'n' Emu (1991) The Legend of White Fang (1992–94) The Legends of Treasure Island (1993–95)

People	Ivor Wood

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