Chigley

Chigley (1969) is the third and final stop-motion children's television series in Gordon Murray's Trumptonshire trilogy. Production details are identical to Camberwick Green.

As in Camberwick Green and Trumpton, the action centres on a small community, in this case the fictitious village or hamlet of Chigley, near Camberwick Green in Trumptonshire. Chigley is more of an industrial area, and according to Gordon Murray, the three communities are at the corners of an equilateral triangle. The names of the places in the series have been based on real villages in East Sussex: Camberwick Green from Wivelsfield Green, Trumpton from Plumpton and Chigley from Chailey. A digitally restored version of the series from the rediscovered original film masters emerged in 2012.^[1]

Characters

Unlike Trumpton, Chigley includes many guest appearances by characters from the previous two series, including Windy Miller of Camberwick Green and the Trumpton fire brigade, complete with their famous roll-call. This was at least partly for economic reasons, as it allowed the established characters' theme songs to be re-used, thus saving money on recording.

Notable new characters include Mr Swallow of Treddle's Wharf, Mr Cresswell, owner of Cresswell's Chigley Biscuit factory, Harry Farthing the potter and his daughter Winnie and, last but not least, the aristocratic Lord Belborough of Winkstead Hall and his butler Brackett, who also operate a private railway that seems to run through most of Trumptonshire.

As with the other series, everybody's problems appear to be sorted out by the end of each episode. However, then Lord Belborough orders everyone to the grounds of Winkstead Hall after the 6 o'clock whistle which sounds the end of the day's work at the local biscuit factory. Belborough plays his vintage organ, while the workers gather for a dance and the episode fades out.

Episodes

1. "Lord Belborough's Secret" (6 October 1969) Dr Mopp
2. "Bessie to the Rescue" (13 October 1969) Farmer Bell
3. "The Balloon" (20 October 1969) The Mayor
4. "The Fountain" (27 October 1969) PC McGarry
5. "The Garden Wall" (3 November 1969) Mr Crockett
6. "Binnie and Bessie" (10 November 1969) Roger Varley
7. "Lord Belborough's Lucky Day" (17 November 1969) Thomas Tripp
8. "The Broken Bridge" (24 November 1969) Mr Carraway
9. "Clay for Mr Farthing" (1 December 1969) Mr Wantage and Fred
10. "Trouble with the Crane" (8 December 1969) Mr Rumpling
11. "Apples Galore" (15 December 1969) Mickey Murphy
12. "Willie Munn" (22 December 1969) Mr Clamp
13. "A Present for Lord Belborough" (29 December 1969) Mr Antonio

Episode titles were given in Radio Times but were not shown on-screen.

VHS and DVD releases

in 1984, 15 years after its broadcast on the BBC in 1969. Longman Video released one video with the first four episodes as part of its 'Children's Treasury' collection.

5 years later, in 1989, the BBC released a video with the three more episodes (ep.13 A Present for Lord Belborough, ep.11 Apples Garlore and ep.10 Trouble with the Crane).

And in 1996-1997, Telstar Home Entertainment released two videos as part of its 'Star Kids' range.

In 2011, Chigley and the two earlier series Camberwick Green and Trumpton were digitally-restored from the rediscovered original film masters.^[2][3]

Cultural references

• The indie group Half Man Half Biscuit parodied the Chigley Train Song in their song "Time Flies By (When You're the Driver of a Train)". They also released a single entitled "The Trumpton riots" containing many character references.
• In the comic book Preacher, the train song was sung by Jesus de Sade, a sexually depraved character, whilst riding a bicycle, naked.
• The Oasis song "Champagne Supernova" contains the line "Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball". This was, according to lead guitarist and songwriter Noel Gallagher, inspired by Brackett the butler from Chigley.
• In the first episode of the 2003 BBC sitcom Early Doors, bar patrons Joe and Duffy et al. tease bartender Ken about his hobby train set by serenading him with the first line of the Chigley Train Song.

References and notes

External links

• The Trumptonshire Web
• The Trumptonshire Trilogy
• BBC Radio 4 Sunday Best - Here is a Box, a Musical Box
• Chigley at the Internet Movie Database
• Chigley at TV.com