The Adventures of Twizzle

*The Adventures of Twizzle*
The Adventures of Twizzle
Also known as	Twizzle
Genre	Children's; Fantasy; Adventure;
Written by	Roberta Leigh
Directed by	Gerry Anderson
Voices of	Nancy Nevinson; Denise Bryer;
Narrated by	Nancy Nevinson
Music by	Leslie Clair, arranged by Barry Gray; Lyrics: Roberta Leigh
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	52 (51 missing)
Production
Producer	Roberta Leigh
Cinematography	Arthur Provis
Editor	David Elliott
Running time	13 minutes
Production companies	Banty Books; AP Films;
Budget	£23,400
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	13 November 1957 –; 10 June 1959

The Adventures of Twizzle is a British children's television series produced by AP Films (APF) which premiered on the ITV network in 1957. Conceived by author Roberta Leigh, later a co-producer, it was filmed between July 1957 and January 1958.^[1] The series follows a young boy named Twizzle and his companions on various adventures. Twizzle has the ability to extend his arms and legs. Fifty-two episodes were filmed, of which all but the first are lost. The sole surviving episode was released on the Space Patrol DVD box set. Twizzle was one of the first series to use the intricate puppetry that would prove important in later shows developed by APF.^[3]

Overview

Twizzle's legs looked like drinking straws with lines around them in a swirling pattern and appear to extend up into his body with the "Twizzle" effect happening when the puppet body is raised while the feet aren't. In the first episode, Twizzle originally lived in a toy shop and cost two shillings and six pence (12.5p) and was nearly sold to a naughty girl named Sally Cross but he hid and escaped that night before the child returned the following day to buy him. He travelled some distance and the next night hid in a dog kennel where he found Footso, a cat who had run away from home as the children made fun of his big feet.

Twizzle proved useful in a fire by saving a child on a high window when no ladder was available, for which he was given a racing car as a reward, but after crashing it he swapped it for a breakdown truck which he uses for rescuing toys. Footso had large feet which sometimes trip him up, hence his name. Later came Jiffy the Broomstick Man (a cross between a broom made of twigs and a suit wearing man who could sweep the floor on his own) who Twizzle and Footso rescued from the clutches of a stereotypical evil witch (who had threatened to burn him) when he flew up the chimney to escape her. The witch returned in a later episode and there was another narrow escape by all. Jiffy could fly by lying horizontal and would fly other people out of trouble. Twizzle and Footso built Straytown where stray toys (misfits) could live and lived in a cabin there. This theme was later carried over to Torchy the Battery Boy. Both ideas bear a resemblance to Peter Pan and Neverneverland.

All had their songs which were entertaining time-wasters, with Footso "dreaming of herrings and kippers and creamy cream" after which he'd say "Purr! Purr! Purr! Meowwll!", the latter loudly and then the show would continue (a theme Anderson later carried into Four Feather Falls). The songs were written by Roberta Leigh. There was also Chawky the white faced Golliwog who would complain: "Who wants a white-faced Golliwog?" and Candy Floss, a "Mamma Doll" who could not say "mamma" as well as Bouncy, a ball who had lost his bounce. There was also a thin Teddy Bear as well as a China Doll and a Jack in the Box. An occasional visitor to Straytown was The Toy Inspector who would check on the toys living there.

Annual

There was a British annual brought out in 1960 by Brin Brothers Ltd, called More Twizzle Adventure Stories, "The lovable T.V. character by Roberta Leigh". It had 91 pages of text stories and comic style stories (18 of them with the one page introduction). Illustrations were by F. Woof. Apart from the covers and frontispiece which are in full colour, the rest of the illustrations are black and white with one other colour (red, orange, blue or green). The annual is printed on cheap cardboard-like paper and is now very rare although it is not sought after by collectors.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Bentley, Chris (2008) [2001]. The Complete Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Episode Guide (4th ed.). London, UK: Reynolds & Hearn. pp. 16–21. ISBN 978-1-905287-74-1.
^ Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Biography by Simon Archer and Stan Nicholls; ISBN 0-09-978141-7
^ "Adventures of Twizzle, The". Nostalgia Central. 24 June 2014.