The Adventures of Twizzle

The Adventures of Twizzle
Also known as	Twizzle
Genre	Children's Fantasy Adventure
Written by	Roberta Leigh
Directed by	Gerry Anderson
Voices of	Nancy Nevinson Denise Bryer
Narrated by	Nancy Nevinson
Music by	Leslie Clair, arranged and conducted by Barry Gray Lyrics: Roberta Leigh
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	52 (51 missing)
Production
Producer	Roberta Leigh
Cinematography	Arthur Provis
Editor	David Elliott
Running time	13 minutes
Production companies	Banty Books AP Films
Budget	£23,400
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	13 November 1957 (1957-11-13) – 10 June 1959 (1959-06-10)

The Adventures of Twizzle is a British children's puppet television series produced by AP Films (APF) which premiered on the ITV network in 1957. Conceived by author Roberta Leigh, who subsequently co-produced, it was filmed in Maidenhead between July 1957 and January 1958 on a budget of £23,400 (about £713,000 in 2023).

The series follows a toy doll called Twizzle, who has the ability to extend his arms and legs. He is joined on various adventures by a cat called Footso and several other toy companions. Fifty-two 13-minute episodes were filmed, with APF completing one episode every other day. The first episode, "Twizzle and Footso", was first broadcast on 13 November 1957 by ITV's London franchise, Associated-Rediffusion. All episodes except the first are now lost. The sole surviving episode is included in the Space Patrol DVD box set.

Twizzle was the first series to use the marionette puppetry that would prove important in later shows developed by APF. The characters were operated on carpet thread strings and had heads of papier-mâché.

Overview

Twizzle's legs looked like drinking straws with lines around them in a swirling pattern and appear to extend up into his body with the "Twizzle" effect happening when the puppet body is raised while the feet aren't. In the first episode, Twizzle originally lived in a toy shop and cost two shillings and six pence (12.5p) and was nearly sold to a naughty girl named Sally Cross but he hid and escaped that night before the child returned the following day to buy him. He travelled some distance and the next night hid in a dog kennel where he found Footso, a cat who had run away from home as the children made fun of his big feet.

Twizzle proved useful in a fire by saving a child on a high window when no ladder was available, for which he was given a racing car as a reward, but after crashing it he swapped it for a breakdown truck which he uses for rescuing toys. Footso had large feet which sometimes trip him up, hence his name. Later came Jiffy the Broomstick Man (a cross between a broom made of twigs and a suit wearing man who could sweep the floor on his own) who Twizzle and Footso rescued from the clutches of a stereotypical evil witch (who had threatened to burn him) when he flew up the chimney to escape her. The witch returned in a later episode and there was another narrow escape by all. Jiffy could fly by lying horizontal and would fly other people out of trouble. Twizzle and Footso built Straytown where stray toys (misfits) could live and lived in a cabin there. This theme was later carried over to Torchy the Battery Boy. Both ideas bear a resemblance to Peter Pan and Neverneverland.

All had their songs which were entertaining time-wasters, with Footso "dreaming of herrings and kippers and creamy cream" after which he'd say "Purr! Purr! Purr! Meowwll!", the latter loudly and then the show would continue (a theme Anderson later carried into Four Feather Falls). The songs were written by Roberta Leigh. There was also Chawky the white faced Golliwog who would complain: "Who wants a white-faced Golliwog?" and Candy Floss, a "Mamma Doll" who could not say "mamma" as well as Bouncy, a ball who had lost his bounce. There was also a thin Teddy Bear as well as a China Doll and a Jack in the Box. An occasional visitor to Straytown was The Toy Inspector who would check on the toys living there.

Annual

There was a British annual brought out in 1960 by Brin Brothers Ltd, called More Twizzle Adventure Stories, "The lovable T.V. character by Roberta Leigh". It had 91 pages of text stories and comic style stories (18 of them with the one page introduction). Illustrations were by F. Woof. Apart from the covers and frontispiece which are in full colour, the rest of the illustrations are black and white with one other colour (red, orange, blue or green). The annual is printed on cheap cardboard-like paper and is now very rare although it is not sought after by collectors.

External links

• The Adventures of Twizzle at IMDb
• The Adventures of Twizzle at the BFI's Screenonline
• Episode guide by Fanderson, the official Gerry Anderson appreciation society