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Henry's Cat

1983 British animated children's TV series

Summary

1983 British animated children's TV series

Field	Value
image	Henry's Cat.jpg
caption	DVD cover
genre	Comedy
Adventure
runtime	4–5 minutes (series 1–2)
14–15 minutes (series 3–4)
12 minutes (series 5)
creator	Bob Godfrey
Stan Hayward
director	Bob Godfrey
executive_producer	Bob Godfrey
producer	Bob Godfrey
writer	Stan Hayward
Kevin Baldwin (series 5)
Bob Godfrey (series 5)
Mike Knowles (series 5)
voices	Bob Godfrey
narrated	Bob Godfrey
theme_music_composer	Peter Shade
John Hyde
Rowland Lee
Jonathan Hodge
composer	Peter Shade (series 1)
John Hyde (series 2–3)
Jonathan Hodge (series 4)
Rowland Lee (series 5)
open_theme	"Henry's Cat Theme"
end_theme	"Henry's Cat Theme" (Instrumental)
camera	Derek Phillips (series 1–3)
Julian Holdaway (series 4)
Heather Reader (series 4)
Jeremy Moorshead (series 5)
editor	Derek Phillips (series 1)
Sean Lenihan (series 2)
John Daniels (series 3)
Picture Head (series 4–5)
company	Bob Godfrey Films Ltd.
channel	BBC1
first_aired
last_aired
num_series	5
num_episodes	51
country	United Kingdom

Adventure 14–15 minutes (series 3–4) 12 minutes (series 5) Stan Hayward Kevin Baldwin (series 5) Bob Godfrey (series 5) Mike Knowles (series 5) John Hyde Rowland Lee Jonathan Hodge John Hyde (series 2–3) Jonathan Hodge (series 4) Rowland Lee (series 5) Julian Holdaway (series 4) Heather Reader (series 4) Jeremy Moorshead (series 5) Sean Lenihan (series 2) John Daniels (series 3) Picture Head (series 4–5) Henry's Cat is a British animated children's television series, created by Bob Godfrey and Stan Hayward and directed by Godfrey, who was also the producer of Roobarb and Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk. The show stars a yellow cat, known only as Henry's Cat, and his many friends and enemies. In every episode, narration and character voices were provided by Bob Godfrey.

Henry's Cat was first screened by BBC Television in the United Kingdom on September 12, 1983, and aired for 5 series and 51 episodes. The show was re-dubbed for American audiences with the voice of Dom DeLuise.

Characters

Main

Henry's Cat – The main protagonist, a laid-back daydreamer with a great passion for eating and adventure.
Chris Rabbit – Henry's Cat's best friend, an ever-enthusiastic, highly energetic blue rabbit.
Mosey Mouse – The opposite of Chris Rabbit, Mosey is dour and realistic.
Douglas Dog, Sammy Snail, Pansy Pig, Denise Duck, Ted Tortoise, Philippe Frog – miscellaneous friends of Henry's Cat. They all mean well, but often overestimate their own abilities in various ways.

Antagonists

Farmer Giles – A crotchety human farmer with a West Country accent who is occasionally inconvenienced by Henry's Cat's antics. He only appears in the first season.
Constable Bulldog – A stern but fair policeman (or police dog) who takes a very cynical view of the gang's well-meaning escapades, but is usually willing to negotiate.
Rum Baa Baa – The main antagonist: a criminal mastermind sheep who is Henry's Cat's archenemy.

Henry

Henry himself never appeared on screen; the name is thought by some to be an allusion to an earlier one-off Hayward/Godfrey collaboration, Henry 9 'til 5, about a bowler-hatted commuter who escaped his boring everyday life by indulging in daydreams, mostly of a sexual nature. Henry's Cat shared the earlier character's tendency toward wild flights of fancy and laid-back approach to life. Henry's Cat creator Stan Hayward included the official explanation for the character's lack of a name on the official Henry's Cat Special Edition DVD in 2000: Henry (who never appeared in the series proper) was Henry's Cat's original owner, but one day, he moved away, and Henry's Cat had forgotten to go with him. The cat had a terrible memory, and eventually even forgot his own name, and so became known simply as "Henry's Cat".

Series overview

Episode list

Series 1 (1983)

Each episode in this series is 4–5 minutes long.

Series 2 (1984)

Each episode in this series is 4–5 minutes long.

Series 3 (1986)

Each episode in this series is 14–15 minutes long.

Note: This episode features a character called Big Bob, who is a caricature of Bob Godfrey.

Series 4 (1986–87)

Each episode in this series is 14–15 minutes long.

Series 5 (1992–93)

Each episode in this series is 12 minutes long. Note: This episode, along with "The New President", won a Cable Ace Award in 1994 for Best Children's TV Series.

Notes

All of the episodes from Series 1 are dated 1983 and from Series 2 to Series 5 are dated 1984 in the credits.
Bob Godfrey Films' opening logo of this series was Henry's Cat meowing, in a direct parody of the MGM logo.
The companies that released the videos were Guild Home Video, Castle Vision/Playbox Video, Children's Choice, and Screen Legends/Pickwick Video. Despite airing on Children's BBC, it was never licensed to home video by BBC Video. Family Home Entertainment and HBO Video also had released VHS tapes in the US in 1986 and 1989 respectively.
In January 2008, a promotional DVD containing all Series 1 episodes was distributed by The Times newspaper.

Credits

Series 1

Created by: Stan Hayward
Script: Stan Hayward
Animation: Bob Godfrey, Paul Stone, Kevin Baldwin
Music & Sound: Peter Shade
Narrated by: Bob Godfrey
Camera & Editing: Derek Phillips
Production: Mike Hayes
Produced & Directed by: Bob Godfrey

Series 2

Created by: Stan Hayward
Script: Stan Hayward
Animation: Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey, Malcolm Hartley, Drew Mandigo, Paul Stone
Assistant Animator: Malou Bonicos, one episode, series 2, The Hot Day
Music: John Hyde / de Wolfe Ltd.
Dubbing: John Wood Studios
Editing: Sean Lenihan
Camera: Derek Phillips
Production: Mike Hayes
Produced, Directed and Narrated by: Bob Godfrey

Series 3

Created by: Stan Hayward
Script: Stan Hayward
Animation: Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey, Malcolm Hartley, Mark Oz, Paul Rosevear
Music: John Hyde / de Wolfe Ltd
Trace & Paint: Tancy Baran, Beryl Godfrey, Louise Unwin
Camera: Derek Phillips
Editing: John Daniels
Production: Mike Hayes
Produced, Directed and Narrated by: Bob Godfrey

Series 4

Created by: Stan Hayward
Script: Stan Hayward
Animation: Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey, Neil Salmon
Additional Animation: Steve Roberts
Music: Jonathan Hodge
Trace and Paint: Beryl Godfrey, Louise Unwin
Camera: Julian Holdaway, Heather Reader
Editing: Picture Head
Production: Mike Hayes
Narrated, Directed and Produced by: Bob Godfrey

Series 5

Created by: Stan Hayward
Script: Stan Hayward, Mike Knowles, Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey
Storyboard, Layouts, Animation: Kevin Baldwin
Additional Animation: Jeff Goldner, Neil Salmon, Bob Godfrey, Jody Gannon
Trace and Paint: Denise Hambry, Lisa Smith, Jazvinda Phull, Beryl Godfrey, Ricky Arnold
Music: Rowland Lee
Title Music: Jonathan P. Hodge
Camera: Jeremy Moorshead
Backgrounds: Bob Godfrey
Editing: Picturehead
Production: Mike Hayes
Narrated, Produced and Directed by: Bob Godfrey

Home media

Australian VHS releases

Roadshow Entertainment (2001)

VHS title	Release date	Episodes
Henry's Cat and Friends: The Hobby and Other Stories (102984)	14 March 2001	"The Hobby"; "The Race"; "The Circus"; "The Competition"; "The Moontrip"; "The Film"; "The Holiday"; "The Treasure"; "The Ill Wind"; "The Diet"; "The Fortune Teller"; and "The Explorer".
Henry's Cat and Friends: The Whale and Other Stories (102985)	13 June 2001	"The Whale"; "The Invention"; "The Dream"; "The Robbery"; "The Christmas Dinner"; "The Hypnotist"; "The Disco Dance"; "The Artist"; "The Magic Tummy Button"; "The Secret Weapon"; "The New Year's Resolution"; and "The Good News Day".
Henry's Cat and Friends: The Cat's Eye Kid and Other Stories (102986)	3 September 2001	"The Cat's Eye Kid"; "The Hot Day"; "The Merry Men and Women"; "The Actor"; "The Weatherman"; "The Invitation"; "The Ventriloquist"; "The Clever Trick"; "The Hero"; "Caveman Cat"; and "The Abominable Snowman".

References

[http://www.80scartoons.co.uk/henryscat2.php 80s cartoons website]
(1991). "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cartoon Animals". Prentice Hall Press.
(2019). "Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film". McFarland & Co.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090120092610/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/8578 BFI. Film & TV Database. HENRY'S CAT]

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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