Postman Pat

1 9 8 1 (UK)
13 x 15 minute episodes
1 9 9 6 (UK)
13 x 15 minute episodes
2 0 0 3 – 2 0 0 6 (UK)
85 x 15 minute episodes
2 0 0 8 (UK)
26 x 15 minute episodes

Postman Pat cruised around delivering mail in his little red van (Registration number PAT1) in the fictional Cumbrian village of Greendale and the North Yorkshire town of Pencaster (on the Cumbria/North Yorkshire Border).

Pat – accompanied by black and white cat Jess – was at the heart of his rural community. There was always time for a cup of tea with those on his round, like Granny Dryden, Farmer Fogg and Reverend Timms. Only bad weather ever threatened to stop his van getting through.

John Cunliffe wrote the original stories after hearing yarns from the friendly man who ran his local Lake District post office and used his own experience of running a mobile library in rural Northumberland.

While working as a teacher, a pupil’s mother suggested that Cunliffe send his books to the BBC, after a visiting producer suggested she was looking for new writers.

His approach coincided with the BBC’s Cynthia Felgate’s search for a countryside-set series. Ivor Wood (who had originally worked in Paris with Serge Danot on The Magic Roundabout) collaborated to bring the series to the screen.

Postman Pat started life in Wood’s garage in South Kensington in London. The character became a household word and particularly beloved by the Post Office as a public relations symbol.

Realising the potential of Pat as a marketing tool, the Post Office gave Woodland Animations permission to use the Royal Mail logo on Pat’s now famous red van (previously, there had been a plain yellow crown) for five episodes.

The original thirteen episodes were endlessly repeated – new episodes finally appeared in the 1990s, with Pat now accompanied by his son Julian.

Postman Pat
Ken Barrie

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