Pierre le facteur

Postman Pat was based on a series of books by John Cunliffe, the program is about a rural postman who helps his friends in the village of Greendale, based supposedly in Cumbria, England. The first series of thirteen 15-minute episodes was produced by Woodland Animations and broadcast by the BBC in 1981. Ivor Wood, a veteran of animations like The Magic Roundabout, was at the helm as producer. Ken Barrie sang the well known theme tune and provided the narration. The stories were very successful and have seen endless repeats over the years. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the show in 1991, the old production crew was reunited for two one-off 25 minute specials, again shown by the BBC. Two more came in 1995, and these were followed by a second full series of 13 adventures. Then, after almost 10 years of absence from our screens, Postman Pat returned in 2004 for his third series. This consisted of 25 new episodes and several specials. The charming model animation was a far cry from the simple look of the early 80's, with brighter sets, much smoother puppet movements and characters voices lip-synched. Ken Barrie is still the voice of our favourite postman, but he is also joined by a cast of other talented voice artists, like Carole Boyd. More episodes are promised to be on the way, so it looks like Postman Pat may still be with us in another 20 years!