The Riddlers
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
children's programme produced by Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
for ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
between 1986 and 1998.
Synopsis
The series centred around Marjorie Dawe and the two Riddlers (small humanoid creatures, portrayed by puppets, whose main aim in life was to "riddle things out") named Mossop and Tiddler (female, but voiced by Mike Gallant), who inhabited her garden at Riddleton End. Tiddler was not the latter's real name, but a title given to young apprentice Riddlers: once they achieved full Riddler status there would be a special (graduation type)ceremony, at which they would be given their 'real' name. Tiddler's training included being told stories by a Riddlestone, usually one of 'Ees-Up's Foibles'- she would then have to 'riddle out' the moral of the story.Other characters featured in the show included Marjorie's neighbour, Mr. Montgomery Grimley (a gardener), and another tiddler, known as Middler. Many of the plots featured in the series revolved around the male characters making mistakes which would then be solved by the female ones.
Series cast
- Marjorie Dawe: Victoria WilliamsVictoria Williams (actor)Victoria Williams is a British actress. Born in 1955, she started her career at the end of the Sixties. In the Seventies, she amassed a steady stream of various roles in different TV drama productions...
- Mr. Grimley: Peter Llewellyn Jones
- Mossop/Middler: Richard RobinsonRichard Robinson (puppeteer)Richard Robinson is a puppeteer based in the UK, best known for building and voicing puppets for the television series Spitting Image, The Riddlers, Dizzy Heights, and Puddle Lane. In The Riddlers, he built the puppets Mossop, Middler, and Tiddler , also voicing Mossop and Middler...
- Tiddler/Glossop: Mike Gallant
Production notes
226 episodes were produced and broadcast during the series' nine-year run. For much of its run, The Riddlers was produced by Ian Fell and directed by Chris Ryder (later a series producer). Later series were directed by Ann Ayoub. The executive producer was Chris Jelley.All episodes were written by Rick Vanes (whose previous work for YTV included Puddle Lane
Puddle Lane
Puddle Lane was a 1980s British pre-school children's television programme written by Rick Vanes with animated stories written by Sheila K. McCullagh, author of Tim and the Hidden People. A long series of books based on said stories was produced by Ladybird Books, also under the title Puddle Lane...
and Mooncat
Mooncat
Mooncat was a puppet character who, as his name suggests, was a cat from the moon. He appeared on Children's ITV from 1981 to 1985 in the series Get Up and Go! and the follow-up Mooncat and Co produced by Yorkshire Television....
). Ees-Up's Foibles stories were written by Shirley Isherwood. Neil Innes
Neil Innes
Neil James Innes is an English writer and performer of comic songs, best known for his collaborative work with Monty Python, and for playing in the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later The Rutles.-Personal life:...
provided the music and songs featured. Puppeteer for Middler and Mossop, Richard Robinson, created the puppets and provided illustrations for the Ees-Up's Foibles stories. David Baker was assistant puppeteer series 1 through 6 and Garry Rutter for the show's last three years.
Many of the programmes were recorded in Yorkshire Television's studios
The Leeds Studios
The Leeds Studios also known as the Yorkshire Television Studios or YTV Studios is a television production complex on Kirkstall Road in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
on Kirstall Road, Leeds. Although some later episodes were filmed on location.
Three VHS releases were issued by Video Collection International 1989 And Central Video and several tie-in books were published - And Other Stories And a Bumper Special.
Transmission guide
- Series 1: [1986]
- Series 2: [1987]
- Series 3: [1988]
- Series 4: [1989]
- Series 5: [1990]
- Series 6: [1991]
- Series 7: [1992]
- Series 8: [1993]
- Series 9: [1994]
- Series 10: [1995]
- Series 11: [1996]
- Series 12: [1997]
- Series 13: [1998]