Snug and Cozi
| Snug and Cozi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Starring |
Richard Vobes Nigel Cooper Sarah Montgomery |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 16 |
| Production company(s) |
STV Productions (Scottish Television) |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV Network (CITV) |
| Original release | 1 November 1996 – 1997 |
Snug and Cozi was a children's ITV slapstick comedy series about 2 aliens who had crash landed on earth by mistake and met a new friend called Emily.
Format
A ten-minute slapstick series for Children's television. The principal characters are Snug and Cozi, aliens from the planet Squadge. Travelling in deep space their pink rocket is hit by an asteroid and knocked off course. They crash land on the Earth, where they are discovered, and befriend a girl called Emily. She hides them in her the garden shed at the bottom of her garden. Snug and Cozi speak a language called Squidge, which is gibberish to humans, but the occasional English word is recognisable.
Creation and Pilot episode
The idea was dreamed up by actor and film maker, Richard Vobes. In 1994, along with fellow actor, Nigel Cooper, they produced a low budget pilot version of the show on 16mm film. Originally, the idea was to explore the idea of aliens living in a potting shed on an allotment. When commissioned in 1996 by STV the series as developed further, which included the a slight alteration to the spelling of Cozi in the title. (The original spelt more 'cosy'). The opening sequence explained how the aliens crashed on Earth, altered slightly from the pilot, but did incorporated some of the originally animation footage of the rocket ship in the opening titles,.
The characters never tried to integrate into the environment and continued to wear their conspicuous spacesuits.
Richard Vobes was never entirely happy with the TV series as he was not allowed to direct it, and therefor was not allowed to do a lot of the slapstick stunts wrote in the scripts, a lot of the stunts were faked or never done, Richard said in a recent interview the only stunt they were allowed to do was riding a bed down a hill and into a carwash (In the episode 'A New Home').
Characters
Snug Played by Richard Vobes
Snug wears a yellow and silver spacesuit. Snug seems slightly more dim witted than Cozi, often getting things completely wrong and getting shouted at and pushed over by Cozi.
Cozi played by Nigel Cooper
Cozi wears a red and silver spacesuit and he looks very similar to snug except he has a mustache. Cozi seems slightly brighter than Snug but still occasionally gets things wrong.
Emily Played by Sarah Montgomery
Emily is a 10-year-old girl who discovers Snug and Cozi after they had crashed on earth, she decided to look after them and keeping them away from other people by hiding them in her father's garden shed (series 1) or their summerhouse (series 2). Emily also takes Snug and Cozi on trips with her, such as the seaside or her schools sports day.
Popularity
The show received a 32% audience share on CITV, back in the days of 4 channels in Britain. Sadly not widely remembered, but available to watch on YouTube.
There were 2 series and 16 episodes. Scripts for a 3rd series was planned but, changes at the ITV Network meant it was never commissioned.
Live shows and tours
Snug and Cozi made appearances on many other CITV programmes, such as Wow in 1996, Scratchy & Co. in 1997 and Timmy Towers in 1998.
In 1998, Snug and Cozi appeared in a pantomime of Cinderella at the Doncaster Civic Theatre. Their role were Brokers Men. No one in the audience could really the understand Squidge so Snug and Cozi ate dictionary's and suddenly were able to speak English.
Snug and Cozi also did a Pink Caravan tour, where they did shows around Britain in their pink caravan. However, there were not many gigs, and on one of the shows, the Rocket Car they used set on fire, and the fire brigade had to come and put the fire out.
Merchandise
The show has never been released on VHS or DVD. A Snug and Cozi CD was also released called 'Pink Heads' in 1997. To promote the CD Snug and Cozi traveled to london to give the Prime Minister a copy of the CD.
Richard Vobes is currently writing a series of Snug and Cozi children's books. For further information see http://www.vobes.com.
Snug and Cozi was recently included in a book called 'The Legends of Kids TV' (see http://www.legendsofkidstv.co.uk) written by Garry Vaux, where Richard talked about his time on the show.
Episode guide
Unbroadcast pilot (1994)
| # | Title | Original Airdate | # episode |
|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | "Snug and cosy" | N/A | N/A |
| The Two aliens crash land on earth by accident after an asteroid hits their spaceship, they decide to adopt more Earth sounding names from a shop. 'Snug and cozy' (not realising how daft they sound) and taking over a man's potting shed, thinking it's a holiday home. | |||
Series 1 (1996)
| # | Title | Original Airdate | # episode |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The yellow dragon" | 1 nonmember 1996 | 1 |
| Snug and Cozi unpack various items from their rocket ship. Snug discovers a remote control unit and manages to control Cozi. Unfortunately, Cozi stumbles into a yellow JCB in the garden next door and the two aliens think it is a horrible monster! | |||
| 2 | "The haunted house" | 8 nonmember 1996 | 2 |
| When Snug and Cozi's football is accidentally kicked to an old derelict house they are forced to retrieve it. The house is no ordinary house and contains many ghosts and strange happenings! | |||
| 3 | "Bike Ride" | 1996 | 3 |
| Snug and Cozi run out of breakfast cereal and decide to buy some from the local supermarket. They set off on their bike - a tandem. The local bobby investigates they mischief making! | |||
| 4 | "Helping hand" | 1996 | 4 |
| Snug and Cozi discover a burglar in their friends house and try to stop his stealing. The house becomes an adventure playground and a dreadful mess ensues. | |||
| 5 | "Educated aliens" | 1996 | 5 |
| Snug and Cozi visit Emily's school for the day. They try their hand at maths and make paper airplanes. The sports playing field is another disaster and becomes the battle field for a mud pie fight! | |||
| 6 | "Splash" | 1996 | 6 |
| Emily take Snug and Cozi to the local swimming baths. Exactly which changing rooms do aliens change in? A fire hose, a life guard and a large pool of water are ingredients for fun and mayhem where Snug and Cozi are concerned! | |||
Series 2 (1997)
| # | Title | Original Airdate | # episode |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | "A new home" | 1997 | 1 |
| Snug and Cozi hide in the removal van to Emily's new house. They too discover a garden summer house and move in there. Snug shows Cozi just how much you can pack into a small suitcase. | |||
| 8 | "Feeling parky" | 1997 | 2 |
| Cozi decides to mock illness and paints spots onto his face. Snug realises the only way to get him better is a stroll through the park. The Park Keeper disagrees! | |||
| 9 | "Bath time" | 1997 | 3 |
| Cozi thinks it is high time he had a bath and send Snug out to fetch the water. Snug brings in tap and forcet and manages to fill the room with bubbles. Cozi disappears down the plug hole and Snug wonders how best to rescue him! | |||
| 10 | "Pink letter day" | 1997 | 4 |
| Cozi is writing a letter home to his parents. Snug tells him that they cannot use the normal postal system, instead they need to get the letter high into the air. More chaos! | |||
| 11 | "Magic moments" | 1997 | 5 |
| Snug and Cozi visit a magic show in the local village hall. The magician asks for a volunteer. Guess who goes up on stage to help! | |||
| 12 | "Beside the sea" | 1997 | 6 |
| Emily takes Snug and Cozi to the seaside. It is raining, but they make the best of it, watching a Punch and Judy show and taking over and building the biggest sand castle in the world! | |||
| 13 | "A slight trim" | 1997 | 7 |
| Cozi's mustache grows enormous one day and Snug has to take him to the barber's shop for a trim. The barber is soon put out of action and Snug takes over! | |||
| 14 | "Sports day" | 1997 | 8 |
| Snug and Cozi return to Emily's school for the sports day festivities. They take part in the three legged race and egg and spoon race. The Head Teacher throws them out, but they return for their revenge! | |||
| 15 | "Birthday party" | 1997 | 9 |
| It is Emily's birthday and Snug and Cozi decide to bake her a superb cake. Trouble is, they mistake dynamite sticks for candles and the party explodes into a right mess! | |||
| 16 | "Going home" | 1997 | 10 |
| Cozi pines about his home planet. Snug builds Cozi a one man space rocket. It launches okay, but doesn't hold together very well in the air! Cozi lands earth bound rather hard! | |||