Huxley Pig
| Huxley Pig | |
|---|---|
| Starring | Martin Jarvis |
| Country of origin | England |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 10 min. |
| Release | |
| Original network | Central TV |
| Original release | 5 June 1989 – 18 December 1990 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Huxley Pig is a stop-motion animated children's television series based on a series of picture books authored by Rodney Peppé.
The series was produced by FilmFair for Central TV, with narration by Martin Jarvis. 26 episodes aired from 1989 through 1990.
General theme
The main character, Huxley Pig, was always dreaming of adventure, exciting professions and encounters. At the start of each episode Huxley would be in his bedroom talking to Sam the squawking seagull and wondering about something. He would open his big suitcase of dress-up clothes, try something on and say, "Hmmm, I wonder". The picture would fade and be taken away into his daydreams for the rest of the story.
In the dream, Sam the Seagull would be able to speak, in a Cockney accent, and there were many other varied characters such as:
- Vile Vincent, the vampire pig-butler
- Horace, a hamster and something of a con artist
- Cuddles, a fanged green beast
- Sydney, a snake with a lisp
The adventures took Huxley and the gang to many places, as long as there was food nearby. Food was close to Huxley's heart. Upon the conclusion of the daydream, Huxley would return to reality and find a memento from the story had mysteriously returned with him.
What was curious about the show is that while Sam the Seagull is, as in reality, only able to speak English in dream sequences and Huxley, who is clearly a pig, is able to speak in everyday life.
Episodes
| # | Title | Broadcast Date | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huxley Pig at the Circus | 5 June 1989 | Huxley Pig rumages through his clothes and pulls out a clown suit and dreams about being at the circus by sharing six 'Knock, Knock' jokes with Horace and struggles on the high wire but doesn't do too bad in the end. |
| 2 | Huxley Pig and the Haunted House | 12 June 1989 | Huxley Pig looks through a picture book about a haunted house and dreams of him and Sam visiting one called Holiday Haunts, where they meet Horace the rodent agent, the vampire-butler Vile Vincent, Cuddles the big green monster who cooks them 'Monster Burgers' to which they didn't really like, but it hurts Cuddles's feelings, then they play 'Swallow My Leader' to cheer Cuddles up. |
| 3 | Huxley Pig on a Desert Island | 19 June 1989 | While playing with his toy boat and sailor suit, Huxley dreams of him and Sam sailing at sea for real. After being caught in a storm, they end up on a desert island where they meet Horace the pirate and Sidney the snake and undertake a treasure hunt. |
| 4 | Huxley Pig at the Beach | 26 June 1989 | Huxley dreams of going to the beach. In the dream he ends up being constantly pestered to buy things by Horace. Who eventually admits there are no other people on the beach because of a sea monster. Huxley goes to meet the monster. |
| 5 | Huxley Pig at the Big Top | 3 July 1989 | Huxley dreams of joining a circus and along with Sam performing a sticky wine gum throwing act. |
| 6 | Huxley Pig at the Restaurant | 10 July 1989 | |
| 7 | Huxley Pig and the Sea Monster | 17 July 1989 | |
| 8 | Huxley Pig Goes Flying | 24 July 1989 | Huxley receives a toy plane from his granny and dreams of flying a real plane with Sam. Unfortunately, Horace is their mechanic. He forgets to fill the fuel tank, and on their test flight they crash land on Sidney's island. |
| 9 | Huxley Pig Goes Camping | 31 July 1989 | |
| 10 | Huxley Pig and the Abominable Snowpig | 7 August 1989 | |
| 11 | Huxley Pig and the Burglar | 14 August 1989 | |
| 12 | Huxley Pig Makes a Movie | 21 August 1989 | |
| 13 | Huxley Pig's Cinderella | 28 August 1989 |
| # | Title | Broadcast Date | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Magician | 25 September 1990 | |
| 2 | The Reporter | 2 October 1990 | |
| 3 | Stone Age Huxley | 9 October 1990 | |
| 4 | Huxley Pig in Space | 16 October 1990 | |
| 5 | Going Fishing | 23 October 1990 | |
| 6 | Home Movie | 30 October 1990 | Huxley pig decides to make a home movie with the gang but he is far more concerned about his lunchbox when his cream cakes start to disappear. With help from Vile Vincent, Huxley is able to watch his finished movie and they discover who is responsible for the vanishing cream cakes |
| 7 | The Smugglers | 6 November 1990 | |
| 8 | Desert Explorer | 13 November 1990 | |
| 9 | The Decorator | 20 November 1990 | |
| 10 | The Hairdresser | 27 November 1990 | |
| 11 | The Village Fete | 4 December 1990 | |
| 12 | Breakfast TV | 11 December 1990 | |
| 13 | Going Skiing | 18 December 1990 | Huxley Pig wins a 'Free Skiing Holiday' in the post and dreams about a skiing holiday of which the 'rotten' rodent instructor Horace becomes a fraud by seeing Vile Vincent's badges and certificates that he won since for 'Ski Fraud Squad' all the other skiers failed, then when dream is over he finds a 'Ski Fraud Squad' badge in his lunchbox as a 'free gift' |
DVD releases
So far, two DVDs of the series have been released in Region 2.
Huxley Pig At The Circus
Contains the following episodes:
- The Circus
- Haunted House
- Desert Island
- The Beach
- The Clown
Something's Cooking
Contains the following episodes:
- Something Cooking, Huxley Pig
- Huxley Pig and the Sea Monster
- Huxley Pig Goes Flying
- Huxley Pig Goes Camping
- Huxley Pig and the Abominable Snowpig
VHS releases
Since their broadcast on ITV in 1989, episodes of the first series were released on three videos by Tempo Video except for "Huxley Pig Goes Camping" that went as part of the Video Treats for Toddlers compilation tape released by Collins Video in 1990 along with Babar, The Adventures of Parsley and The Care Bears.
| VHS video title | Year of release | Episodes |
|---|---|---|
| Here Comes Huxley Pig (92492) | 2 October 1989 | Huxley Pig at the Circus, Huxley Pig and the Haunted House, Huxley Pig at the Restaurant and Huxley Pig on a Desert Island |
| The Adventures of Huxley Pig (92502) | 2 October 1989 | Huxley Pig at the Beach, Huxley Pig at the Big Top, Huxley Pig and the Sea Monster and Huxley Pig Meets the Snow Monster |
| Huxley Pig Goes Flying (93682) | 6 August 1990 | Huxley Pig Goes Flying, Huxley Pig and the Burglar, Huxley Pig's Cinderella and Huxley Pig Makes a Movie |
On 11 February 1991. Tempo Kids Club (distributed by Abbey Home Entertainment) released a single video with two episodes from Series 1 of Huxley Pig which were "Huxley Pig Goes Camping" and "Huxley Pig and the Sea Monster" (Cat. No. 9).
NOTE: An extended version of this video was released with an extra episode which is "Huxley Pig the Hairdresser" from Season 2 of Huxley Pig which was broadcast on ITV in 1990.
In about July 1991, Tempo Pre-School (distributed by Abbey Home Entertainment) released a bumper video with four episodes from the second series of Huxley Pig which were previously broadcast on ITV in 1990 along with two previously released episodes from the first Huxley Pig series
| VHS release | Year of release | Episodes |
|---|---|---|
| Huxley Pig: Special Edition (94972) | 15 July 1991 | Huxley Pig the Magician, Huxley Pig the Reporter, Stone Age Huxley, Huxley Pig in Space, Huxley Pig and the Burglar, Huxley Pig at the Circus |
In Autumn 1991, a single Huxley Pig video was released and exclusively sold and distributed under license from Abbey Home Entertainment by Entertainment UK Ltd (in its "Starvision" and "Funhouse" range of children's videos) with three single episodes (one debuted episode from Season 2 which is "Huxley Pig Goes Fishing", one previously released episode from Season 2 which is "Huxley Pig In Space" and one previously released episode from Season 1 which is "Huxley Pig at the Restaurant").
| VHS release | Year of release | Episodes |
|---|---|---|
| Huxley Pig In Space (EUKV 2028) | 7 October 1991 | Huxley Pig in Space, Huxley Pig Goes Fishing, Huxley Pig at the Restaurant. |
Production staff
- Director of Animation
- Martin Pullen
- Producer
- Jo Pullen
- Executive Producers
- Barrie Edwards, David Yates, Lewis Rudd
- Music
- Herbert Chappell
- Animators
- John Gilluley
- Camera Assistant
- Paul Street
- Model Makers
- Alan Murphy
- Costumes
- Lizzie Agnew Mark Hall Brian Cosgrove
- Puppet Makers
- Justin Exley, Pauline London
- Production Manager
- Kath Swain
- Editors
- Andi Sloss, Robert Dunbar
- Assistant Editor
- Jackie Cockie
- Voices
- Martin Jarvis
Spinoffs
A computer game was released by Alternative Software in 1990 for the Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC and in 1991 for the ZX Spectrum.
