The ‘enchanted house’ in the title of this animated oddity was a wonky affair which was bigger on the inside than the outside (just like a Tardis).
The house was home to Tiny the Giraffe and his friends Nellyphant the Elephant (who never grew large), Joe the Kangaroo, Bob the Robin and Worm.
Their adventures revolved around such exciting antics as visits from relatives and impromptu picnics, but the series was certainly popular with its target audience.
Narrator Mary Malcolm was well known as the BBC’s first-ever female television announcer, and writer Mary Plumbly was a veteran of ITV children’s shows (some stories about Nellyphant had already featured in the late 1950s lunchtime show Small Time).
Produced for Thames Television by the independent Limar Films (run by Lilian Davidson and Mary Plumbly), The Enchanted House was shot in an unusual style, wherein two-dimensional illustrations of the characters were animated within a three-dimensional set.
The theme music – which played throughout – was provided by leading British jazzman Johnny Dankworth.
Mary Plumbly also wrote a tie-in comic strip for the Jack And Jill comic, which ran to 1985, while Dinky produced a model of Tiny’s Mini Moke.
Tiny’s protruding neck had a habit of being snapped off during over-exuberant play, and as a result, it is now something of an unlikely holy grail for Dinky collectors and fetches ridiculous prices at auction.
The theme music – which played throughout – was provided by leading British jazzman Johnny Dankworth.
