Noddy (character)
Noddy is a fictional character created by English children's author Enid Blyton. He is depicted as a wooden toy with a childlike view of the world. He resides in the fictional setting of Toyland, where he works as a taxi driver. Noddy is known for driving a yellow car with red decals, and is depicted with a variety of supporting toy characters, including Ralfo "Big Ears" McCloy, a brownie who is Noddy's best friend, and Mr. Plod, the local policeman.
Noddy first appeared in a book series published between 1949 and 1963, illustrated by the Dutch artist Harmsen van der Beek from 1949 until his death in 1953, after which the work was continued by Mary Brooks, Robert Lee, Robert Tyndall and Peter Wienk. Television shows based on the character have run on British television from 1955 to 2020.
History
Created by Enid Blyton, Noddy first appeared in the Sunday Graphic on 5 June 1949, the same year as Blyton's first daily Noddy strip for the London Evening Standard. In November that year Noddy Goes to Toyland, the first of at least two dozen books in the series, was published. The idea was conceived by one of Blyton's publishers, Sampson, Low, Marston and Company, who in 1949 arranged a meeting between Blyton and the Dutch illustrator Harmsen van der Beek. Despite having to communicate via an interpreter, he provided some initial sketches of how Toyland and its characters would be represented. Four days after the meeting, Blyton sent the text of the first two Noddy books to her publisher, to be forwarded to van der Beek.The Noddy books became one of Blyton's most successful and best-known series, and were hugely popular in the 1950s. An extensive range of sub-series, spin-offs and strip books was produced throughout the decade, including Noddy's Library, Noddy's Garage of Books, Noddy's Castle of Books, Noddy's Toy Station of Books and Noddy's Shop of Books.
The first television adaptation of Noddy called The Adventures of Noddy was first broadcast in 1955, which was narrated by Enid Blyton. The programme would also broadcast in German on ARD in 1963. Most episodes of the programme are currently lost media.
Kellogg's would acquire the rights to use Noddy on advertisements in 1955.
Noddy continued to be successful in the 1960s; by 1962, 26 million copies of Noddy had been sold. In 1963, Noddy was featured in the animated short film Noddy Goes to Toyland, it was produced by Arthur Humberstone for Enid Blyton. Blyton concluded several of her long-running series in 1963. Blyton published her last book in the Noddy series, Noddy and the Aeroplane, in February 1964.
By the early 1960s, some 146 different companies were involved in merchandising Noddy alone. Bestime released the Little Noddy Car Game in 1953 and the Little Noddy Leap Frog Game in 1955, and in 1956 American manufacturer Parker Brothers released Little Noddy's Taxi Game, a board game which features Noddy driving about town, picking up various characters. Bestime released its Plywood Noddy Jigsaws series in 1957 and a Noddy jigsaw series featuring cards appeared from 1963, with illustrations by Robert Lee. Arrow Games became the chief producer of Noddy jigsaws in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In 1975, another television adaptation simply titled Noddy was broadcast. It was produced and directed by Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall under their company Stop Frame Productions and was narrated by Richard Briers. It broadcast on ITV from 1975 to 1976.
In 1992, a Noddy television series produced by BBC Worldwide and Cosgrove Hall called Noddy's Toyland Adventures was broadcast on the Children's BBC.
In January 1996, Trocadero PLC acquired Darrell Waters Ltd., the holding company for the estate of children's author Enid Blyton for £14.6 million. They soon formed a new subsidiary - Enid Blyton Ltd. to handle all intellectual properties, character brands, and media in Blyton's works, including Noddy.
In 1998, producer Rick Siggelkow brought Noddy into the North American market in a television series called The Noddy Shop, but with all of the live-action scenes filmed in Canada. Much like how Siggelkow introduced Thomas & Friends to American audiences through Shining Time Station, the series incorporated footage from Noddy's Toyland Adventures re-dubbed with American accents. In its first season on PBS, the show was seen by an average of 2.5 million viewers per episode, higher than Sesame Street's average during the same year. Actor Jack Nicholson and Friends star Lisa Kudrow had their picture taken with Noddy at the Aids Paediatric event in New York, USA in June 1999.
By 1999, 200 million Noddy books had been sold in 27 languages. Noddy is known as "Oui Oui" in France, "Doddi" in Iceland, "Purzelknirps" in Germany and "Hilitos" in Spain.
A new Noddy television series called Make Way for Noddy was first announced to be in production in October 2000, with 100 11-minute episodes and a feature-length Christmas special announced to be in production for a 2001 delivery. In January 2001, SD Entertainment were announced to be producers on the series and they announced it would be their first project. In May 2002, UK's Channel Five announced that it had commissioned 100 episodes of the series, airing in September of that year. The range of newly developed TV shows at Chorion began to expand internationally, with Noddy becoming the most recognised children's character in France in 2003 and sold to the Chinese market in 2004, and airing in the US on PBS Kids in 2005.
In 2005, a set of 100 new, two-minute TV interstitials were created by Chorion. These interstitials, entitled Say it with Noddy, feature Noddy learning words in a variety of foreign languages. They also introduced Noddy's new friend Whizz from Robot Village, who presses a button on his chest to play recordings of native speakers saying the new foreign-language words can Noddy was to learn. The interstitials were featured on commercial breaks on UK's Five and featured as segments for the American airing of the show on PBS and now-defunct Universal Kids.
Noddy, Big Ears, Mr. Plod, and several other characters from British children's literature appeared at the Children's Party at the Palace on 25 June 2006 in honour of the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. During the pantomime-style play called The Queen's Handbag, Noddy and Big Ears were portrayed by performers in mascot-style costumes, while Mr. Plod was played by actor Martin Clunes.
Blyton's granddaughter, Sophie Smallwood, wrote a new Noddy book to celebrate the character's 60th birthday, 46 years after the final book was published; Noddy and the Farmyard Muddle was illustrated by Robert Tyndall.
For the 60th anniversary, a CGI-animated series, called Noddy in Toyland, by Chorion and produced by Brown Bag Films in Ireland, was broadcast starting on 20 April 2009. This series incorporates Whizz from "Say it with Noddy" as a full-time character. Sly and Gobbo's cousins, Sneaky and Stealth, are introduced and usually work along with them. The full series is available digitally on iTunes.
The 2009 biographical film Enid, which portrays the life of Enid Blyton, includes several references to the Noddy series. In one scene, Blyton is depicted typing the opening lines of the first Noddy book, Noddy Goes to Toyland. She is later shown reading the book to her second husband, Kenneth Darrell Waters. In the film's third act, a Noddy figurine appears on her desk, and in the final scene, both a poster for Noddy Goes to Toyland and the figurine are shown on a desk in a library setting.
After financial difficulties, Chorion sold its assets. On 7 March 2012, DreamWorks Classics purchased the Noddy and Olivia properties. Hachette UK purchased the rest of Enid Blyton's works with the exception of Noddy on 26 March 2012.
In 2016, a new CGI-animated series, named Noddy, Toyland Detective was produced by French producer/distributor Gaumont Animation, in association with DreamWorks Animation Television, and in partnership with France Télévisions. It premiered on Channel Five's preschool block Milkshake! on 18 April 2016.
Character biography
The first book explains Noddy's origins. He is made by a woodcarver in a toy shop but runs away after the man begins to make a wooden lion, which scares Noddy. As he wanders through the woods naked, penniless, and homeless, he meets Big Ears, a friendly brownie. Big Ears decides that Noddy is a toy and takes him to live in Toyland. He generously provides Noddy with a set of clothing and a house. While Noddy is quite happy to be a toy, the citizens of Toyland are not sure that he actually is one. They put Noddy on trial and examine whether he is a toy or an ornament. Eventually, Noddy is declared a toy, but still has to convince the court that he is a good toy. The judge accepts that Noddy is good after a doll tells the court that he saved her little girl from a lion, and he is allowed to stay in Toyland. Noddy gets his car in the second book. It is given to him after he helps solve a local mystery.The other toys can hear him coming by the distinctive "Parp Parp" sound of his car's horn and the jingle of the bell on his blue hat. Often he uses his car to visit all of the places in Toyland. When his taxi business is not doing so well, or when he needs help, Noddy turns to Big Ears. Big Ears will often lend him what he needs. On occasion, Noddy will allow people to make his head nod, in exchange for small items such as his morning milk.
Noddy is kind and honest, but he often gets into trouble, either through his own misunderstandings or because someone, usually one of the naughty goblins Sly or Gobbo, has played a trick on him. He is very childlike in his understanding of the world and often becomes confused as a result. For example, in the first Noddy book, Noddy and Big Ears are building Noddy's house for one. Noddy suggests that they build the roof first, in case it rains. With no understanding of gravity or of the need for roof supports, this is perfectly logical to him. As the series continues, Noddy becomes wiser but without losing his charm and lovable naivety.
Noddy's best friends are Big Ears, Tessie Bear, Bumpy Dog, and the Tubby Bears. Big Ears, who brought Noddy to Toyland, is the most important figure in his life. Whenever he faces serious peril, it tends to be Big Ears who comes to the rescue, one way or another, and it is invariably Big Ears to whom Noddy turns for support and advice. While kind to Noddy, Big Ears has an intimidating presence and voice that makes him feared by goblins. He is capable of facing down wizards with his own spells, and is able to plead Noddy's case to Mr. Plod, the local policeman, when Noddy finds himself in legal peril. On rare occasions, however, Big Ears finds himself in trouble, in which case Noddy comes to his aid. Big Ears and Noddy have rarely quarreled severely. Examples of such quarrels are when Big Ears harshly scolded the very sensitive Tessie Bear for failing to control her dog and when Noddy ran his car into Big Ears' clothes post and then drove away, dragging Big Ears' clean washing behind him.
Tessie is a gentle-hearted, golden-furred bear who often wears a bonnet with flowers and a skirt. She is young like Noddy, and very loving towards all of her friends and neighbours. Bumpy Dog is Tessie's pet. He liked to run up and "bump" people over. Noddy frequently gets annoyed with Bumpy but still likes him. Whenever Noddy threatens Bumpy, Tessie gets upset, and sometimes even begins to cry. The Tubby Bears live next door to Noddy. They are golden-furred and chubby teddy bears. Mr. and Mrs. Tubby Bear frequently help Noddy. It is clear that Mr. and Mrs. Tubby Bear are the superiors of Noddy, as if he were a child. Their first names are never mentioned and Noddy always refers to them as Mr. and Mrs. They have one son, also named Tubby, who is occasionally referred to as Master Tubby. Tubby is naughty and is usually in trouble for breaking rules, being rude, or doing something wrong. Noddy often attempts to scold or punish Tubby, with little result. On one occasion, Tubby gets tired of always being bossed around and being punished and decides to run away to sea. Noddy and Bumpy accidentally join with him. By the end of the journey, Tubby misses his parents and brings them back presents from his trip, as an apology.
Noddy has many run-ins with Mr. Plod. Some are caused by Noddy's lack of understanding of how Toyland works. Other times it is because of a case of mistaken identity, Mr. Plod is generally long-suffering towards Noddy and Noddy likes Mr. Plod and frequently goes out of his way to help him. Mr. Plod often catches the mischief makers on his police bicycle, by blowing his whistle and shouting "Stop/Halt in the name of Plod!!" until locking the culprits up in his jail.