1960s and 70s Cartoons in Britain

Yellow Submarine

Released in 1968, it was the first major Hollywood movie to feature the limited animation. The first movie to experiment with limited animation was 'the Dover Boys:' a Merry Melodies cartoon, the style would only be used in short films or TV. Limited cell animation was used considerably throughout the film although it was mixed with other limited forms like in the Eleanor Rigby sequence, where animators coloured black and white photograph cut-outs and moved them frame by frame (the inspiration for Terry Gilliam's animations in Do Not Adjust Your Set and Monty Python). Notably the film greatly contrasts the 'Disney' style animated films which existed before. Although the movie was American made, it features all British characters, settings and was partly produced in Britain. George Dunning, who previously produced the Beatles Animated Series in America, directed the overall film (with many individual sequences directed by Bob Balser and Jack Stokes). Though the animation style was similar to that of Warner Bros. -the design of the characters and scenery give the film it's recognition, derived from Heinz Edlemann's concepts, giving it the opportunity to add surrealistic elements.
 

Jamie and the Magic Torch

The show ran from 1976 to 1979 and was written and narrated by Brian Trueman, who went on to write Dangermouse and Count Duckula in the 80s and 90s. The programme followed Jamie and dog: Wordsworth on their adventures in Cuckoo Land. The pair would often meet with psychedelic characters like Officer Gotcha who always rode a unicycle, ate truncheons and was always chasing Yoo Hoo Bird, in fact, many characters were on wheels and some never moved at all. All characters but Wordsworth didn't move their mouths when they spoke either, another method of limited animation.
 

Bod

Bod ran up to 1984, but started in 1975- although there are only thirteen episodes. It was very basic, one voiceover and no backgrounds- the characters themselves look like they have been drawn at microscopic level and scaled up. The one factor which makes it so memorable is that each character had their own score, and each of those are now retro classics. Bod is a boy (although he is bald and wears a dress).
 

Willo the Wisp

Willo the Wisp was created in 1981. Written and directed by Nick Spargo, it followed the tradition of having one voiceover for narration and the voices of all the characters. Willo the Wisp was particularly famous for it's voiceover: Kenneth Williams, popular with adults for being in the 'Carry On' films since the 50s. Willo the Wisp was a ghost charicature of Williams, notably the character of Willo the Wisp narrated the story (instead of an unseen narrator). The characters themselves were very popular with all ages; although the plot would be aimed at children, the jokes outlined in them could also be enjoyed by adults. Mavis Cruet the overweight old fairy and Arthur the cockney caterpillar were the shows main characters. The villain was called Evil Edna, a witch in the form of an old television who would zap people with her aerials. Other recurring characters include 'the Moog' a dim witted dog, a clever cat oddly named: 'Carwash,' and 'the Beast'- similar to 'Beauty and the Beast,' Edna made Prince Humbart the Handsome into a beast because he bumped into her and because he had a lisp.

The show was revived in 2005 with some small changes: Marvis was now slightly slimmer, Willo no longer looked like Kenneth Williams and, most importantly, Evil Edna was a modern flat-screen TV who moved arround on a tall, wheeled stand.

the Clangers

Soon for a remake, the Clangers was a series which ran from 1969 to 1974. It featured a planet on which Clangers lived in craters protected by dustbin lids, the Clangers were knitted and spoke only in 'alien' language (produced by reading the script into a Swanee whistle). The series was so well thought out that the Clangers themselves, communicate via Nuclear Magnetic Resonance because they live in the vacuum of space but they have been translated into whistle for human audiences. The fact that they communicated like this meant that the script the Clanger voiceovers read often included swearing (only audible as a whistle), the script read by the narrator didn't feature swearing... Because it was a children's programme.

In addition to these were shows like: Bagpuss, Trumpton (et al), Crystal Tips and Alistair, and Mary, Mungo and Migie. All of the above shows featured only one voice: the narrator, which was a cheap alternative to having each character individually voiced.