Wimpole Village
Wimpole Village is a pre-school series which aired on Children's ITV. The stories began as their own children's comic and the animations first aired on TV-am's Are You Awake Yet children's programme in 1985.
It ran for 16 episodes in 1987. The series is named after the creator's house, "Wimpole House".
The rights to Wimpole Village were acquired by Cameron Thomson Entertainment licensed the series to terrestrial television and cable
operators in North America and Europe. There has been talk of a rebooted series or possible reruns.
Content
The series focused around the inhabitants of a little village called Wimpole. All characters have names according to their profession.Characters
- Mayor Charlie Chambers - The mayor of Wimpole Village.
- PC Crooknabber - The policeman.
- Old Bill - PC Crooknabber's police dog.
- Dennis Letterleaver - The postman.
- Stamp - Dennis' post dog.
- Ethel Doughkneader - The baker.
- Ted Dripping - The butcher.
- Captain Mainmast - The sea captain.
- Harold Wholesome - The health food storekeeper.
- Percy Pennywise - The general store keeper.
- Hilda Halfpint - The milklady.
- Ernie Porterline - The stationmaster.
- Smokestack - Ernie's cat
- Horace Hayseeder - The farm worker.
- Father Away - The vicar.
- Major Stickwielder - The retired militaryman.
- The Breadsnapper Twins - Kyle and Nyle are the two twin boys.
Books
Several books were also created by Studio Publications, once again with pictures by Peter Kingston.Videos
Over the course of 1989, Tempo and MSD Video released two video releases of the show.| Title | Release date | Episodes |
| Wimpole Village | 3 April 1989 | Haybarn on Fire, Lighthouse, The Police Dog, Film Show, Station, Fairground, Nigel Notetaker, Sea Rescue |
| Wimpole Village 2 | 6 November 1989 | The Nasty Gale, Snowed Up Village, A Visitor from Australia, A Lost Dog, A Trip to the Zoo, Adventure Camp, Ghosts in the Village, The Bad Stranger. |
On 4 March 1991, Tempo Pre-School re-released the first Wimpole Village video with the same 8 episodes from it and a door plaque came free with the video inside its box.
| Title | Release date | Episodes |
| Wimpole Village | 4 March 1991 | Haybarn on Fire, Lighthouse, The Police Dog, Film Show, Station, Fairground, Nigel Notetaker, Sea Rescue |
Children's Compilations
In November 1989, Tempo Video released a compilation video with a double bill of Wimpole Village containing "Nigel Notetaker" and "The Sea Rescue" together along with a double bill of Broomstick Cottage and a single episode each from Huxley Pig and The Herbs.
| Title | Release date | Episodes |
| Children's Video Favourites | 6 November 1989 |
Between 1991 and 1994, episodes of Wimpole Village have been released on children's compilation videos released by Abbey Home Entertainment Distribution.
| Title | Release date | Episodes |
| Pre-School Favourites | 18 February 1991 | A Trip to the Zoo |
In October 1991, the "Haybarn Fire" episode of Wimpole Village was released on a single pre-school compilation which was exclusively sold and distributed under license from Abbey Home Entertainment by Entertainment UK Ltd along with Huxley Pig, Broomstick Cottage and Will Quack Quack.
| Title | Release date | Episodes |
| Pre-School Choice | 7 October 1991 | The Haybarn Fire |
| Title | Release date | Episodes |
| The Avon Pre-School Collection | 1993 | Adventure Camp |
| Title | Release date | Episodes |
| The Biggest Ever Pre-School Video | 7 June 1993 | |
| The Biggest Ever Pre-School Video 2 | 11 July 1994 |
As of 2022, there have been no DVD releases of the series.