Monday 13 February 2012

We are the Treacle People...

# ...we seek Treacle high and low! #

Amidst his renowned career penning most of Cosgrove Hall's top shows, Brian Trueman teamed up with son Jonathan to co-write another series that deserves more attention prior its first airing - The Treacle People!


Produced by Fire Mountain Productions (Tom and Vicky, Captain Mack), the series was created by The Dewhurst Family; set in the fictional Northern English village of Sabden, it focuses on the adventures of the madcap villagers and their famous treacle mines as they struggle through a treacle shortage, crazed "Boggarts", even crazier Moobarks and...well...each other.

The show was, and still is, immensely popular to fans alike. Next to the odd-ball stop-motion designs, the writing from Brian and Jonathan had humour that worked superbly on both levels - for kids AND adults to enjoy without being too childish nor too close to the bone. It ran for two seasons between 1995 - 1996, plus the BAFTA award-winning Christmas Special, and has since had respectable runs on CITV, Nick Jr and currently in the wee hours on Channel 4...

But apart from a small DVD release with the first six episode of Season 1, nothing much has come out of it, and it's a great shame. It's this sort of series that kids today could do more with in terms of good ol' children's comedy. Never mind whatever Nickelodeon or the House of Mouse are putting out with their copy/paste "tween" sitcoms. Just clever humour and plenty of slapstick is what's required, I feel, and those who have grown up with Brian Trueman's works would agree with me on that.

Check out a handful of episodes from the Treacle People Playlist below, and then their unofficial mini-site to buy a copy of the DVD currently available. Perhaps one day, we may well see a complete collection - both seasons plus the Christmas special - released at last if the demand is required...only time will tell.


3 comments:

  1. This was regular viewing on a Friday afternoon for me...I have good memories of it.

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  2. the strange thing is Chris, the whole series (and Christmas special) appear to be available on dvd in Australia. But why there is no complete release of the series in region 2 is a complete mystery

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  3. This series was produced by my Dad Iain, and I worked with him on remastering it in HD for YouTube just before he passed away. I've gone ahead with releasing it weekly in his memory, and have nearly finished the first series if you fancy checking it out! https://youtu.be/TXn3ZER85zI

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