Four decades doing the rounds
Postman Pat began his delivery round 40 years ago. MARION McMULLEN looks back on his first class service
POSTMAN PAT and his black and white cat Jess have become international stars since making their first delivery 40 years ago. There have been books, a video game, a stage show and even a movie, but it all began on September 16, 1981, when the jaunty theme tune was heard for the first time on BBC1.
The adventures of rural postman Pat Clifton in the fictional village of Greendale were created by former librarian and teacher John Cunliffe who said he picked the name at random from the phone book.
He wrote the scripts for the original 13-part series and the show was directed by animator Ivor Wood, who also worked on the Magic Roundabout, The Wombles, Paddington Bear and the Herbs.
Greendale was based on the valley of Longsleddale, near Kendal, and more episodes and TV specials followed with a new version of the series produced by Cosgrove Hall Films from 2003.
The show was so popular that Prince William took a Postman Pat flask with him on his first day of school and Harry Enfield did a TV comedy spoof sketch with Dawn French called Il Postino Pat.
Singer Ken Barrie, who sang the theme tune to BBC sitcom Hi-De-Hi!, was the original voice of Pat and sang the show’s theme song. It reached number 44 in the charts in 1982 and was often played by Sir Terry Wogan on his radio programme.
Pat has gone on to enjoy popularity in more than 100 countries around the world.
Japanese children know him as Pato San and he became the Christmas mascot for the Post Office in Norway. He was even dubbed into German in 2006 when leading broadcaster Super RTL acquired the rights to show Postman Pat in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.