Ivor the Engine is a British cutout animation television series created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms company. It follows the adventures of a small green steam locomotive who lives in the "top left-hand corner of Wales" and works for The Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited. His friends include Jones the Steam, Evans the Song and Dai Station, among many other characters.
Background Having produced the live Alexander the Mouse, and the stop motion animated The Journey of Master Ho for his employers Associated Rediffusion/ITV in partnership with Firmin, Oliver Postgate and his partner set up Smallfilms in a disused cow shed at Firmin's home in Blean, near Canterbury, Kent.
Ivor the Engine was Smallfilms' first production, and drew inspiration from Postgate's World War II encounter with Welshman Denzyl Ellis, a former railway locomotive fireman with the Royal Scot train, who described how steam locomotives came to life when he heated them with steam in the morning. Postgate decided to locate the story to North Wales, as it was more inspirational than the flat terrain of the English Midlands. The story lines drew heavily on, and were influenced by the works of South Wales poet Dylan Thomas.
Production Ivor the Engine used stop motion animation, of cardboard cut-outs painted with watercolours.
The series was originally made for black and white television by Smallfilms for Associated Rediffusion in 1958, but was later revived in 1975 when new episodes in colour were produced for the BBC.
The series was written, animated and narrated by Oliver Postgate, while Peter Firmin provided the artwork. The sound effects were endearingly low-tech, with the sound of Ivor's puffing made vocally by Postgate himself. The music was composed by Vernon Elliott and predominantly featured a solo bassoon, to reflect the three notes of Ivor's whistle.
Postgate and Firmin created a map of their fictional railway which was adhered to rigidly during filming.
Voices were performed by Oliver Postgate, Anthony Jackson and Olwen Griffiths. Anthony Jackson provided the voices for Dai Station, Evans the Song and Mr Dinwiddy.
Episodes The original series was in black and white and comprised six episodes which told how Ivor wanted to sing in the choir, and how his whistle was replaced with steam organ pipes from the fairground organ on Mr Morgan's roundabout. +No.Description1Ivor the Engine hears the sound of a Welsh choir for the first time, and wants to join in, though he knows this is impossible.2Jones the Steam is concerned that Ivor is not himself. Along with Dai Station, they visit the Chief Engineer, who tells them that Ivor is physically in excellent condition, but that obviously something is bothering him, but what?3Dai the Station has the idea of taking Ivor back to where he first became sad. On the hill above the choir practice, Jones the Steam discovers what is bothering Ivor.4Evans the Song agrees to listen to Ivor's whistle, but it is too weak and rough for the choir. Jones the Steam determines to change Ivor's whistle for proper pipes, capable of making a more pleasant sound.5With the help of all of Ivor's friends, Jones is able to replace Ivor's whistle with three organ pipes donated from the local roundabout. Now all they need is the choir committee and the railway management to agree to Ivor joining the choir.6Evans the Song convinces both the choir committee and the railway bosses, and Ivor joins the choir.
There then followed two thirteen-episode series, also in black and white, and these episodes were 10 minutes each.
In the 1970s, the two longer black and white series were re-made in colour, with some alterations to the stories, but they did not revisit the original six. The colour series consisted of 40 five-minute films. These would often each form part of a longer story.
Although the six original black and white episodes were subsequently released on video, the two longer black and white series (totaling 26 episodes) were not and for many years were thought to have been lost. In October 2010, however, film copies of all 26 episodes were discovered in a pig shed.
When the colour series was subsequently released on DVD, some of the episodes whose content linked, were edited together, with the relevant closing and opening titles and credits removed.
The colour series episodes were:
Home releases Throughout the 1980s and the early '90s, BBC released a few videos of Ivor the Engine.
In 1984, a single 57-minute compiled video called Ivor the Engine and the Dragons with 13 stories joined up together as an omnibus.
VHS video titleCatalogue number (pre-cert)Catalogue number (Uc rated)Year of releaseEpisodesIvor the Engineand the DragonsBBCV 9015BBCV 40331 October 1984
In 1985, a single 58-minute compiled video called Ivor the Engine and the Elephants with 13 stories joined up together as an omnibus. In 1995, the video was re-released in different packaging.
VHS video titleCatalogue number (pre-cert)Catalogue number (Uc rated)Year of releaseEpisodesIvor the Engineand the ElephantsBBCV 9017 BBCV 40154 March 1985
In the early 1990s a video with six black and white stories of the very first Ivor the Engine series in the late-1950s (previously broadcast on Associated-Rediffusion) and seven colour episodes of the 1970s BBC series of Ivor the Engine, all shown as single episodes, was released. The video was introduced by Oliver Postgate.
VHS video titleCatalogue numberYear of releaseEpisodesIvor the Engine -The First StoryBBCV 465219 August 1991The first six episodes in black and white and seven colour episodes that are
In 2000, a video called The Complete Ivor The Engine containing all 26 colour episodes was released by Universal.
VHS video titleCatalogue numberYear of releaseEpisodesThe Complete Ivor The Engine07814431 May 2000All 26 colour episodes from the 1970s BBC version.
In 2023, a Blu-ray called Ivor The Engine - The Colour Series containing all 40 colour, fully restored episodes was released by Fabulous Films.
Blu-ray titleCatalogue numberYear of releaseEpisodesIvor The Engine - The Colour Series503069705003820 November 2023All 40 colour episodes from the 1970s BBC version.
Characters Ivor Ivor is the steam locomotive of the Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited. Unlike real ones, he has a mind of his own. Ivor can drive himself and use his whistle to communicate. His fondest dream is to sing with the Grumbly and District Choral Society, a dream that is realized when his whistle is replaced with three pipes from an old fairground organ. He becomes the first bass of the choir, as well as providing them with a means of getting from place to place.
Ivor enjoys doing all sorts of things that humans do. As well as singing in the choir, he likes visiting the seaside, making tea from his boiler and spending time with his friends. He is fond of animals, and has several of them among his friends. He can be willful and disobedient at times, and it is not unknown for him to go and do his own thing when he should be working. He dislikes shunting and timetables.
Although Ivor has no technical basis, he does have technical information and a place of origin. As stated in series 2 episode 14 "Smoke hill" it is quoted that Ivor is "just an ordinary small Box tank, 3 Cylinder Straight linked, 0-4-0 engine By Huntington & Pottage of Crewe".
Jones the Steam Edwin Jones is Ivor's driver. He is a cheerful and kind-hearted man who perhaps sympathizes more than most railway staff with Ivor's idiosyncrasies. Postgate and Firmin describe him as "an ordinary engine driver who is there to cope with whatever needs to be coped with". People who are new to the area find him rather eccentric for talking to his engine.
When not driving Ivor or helping the engine with his latest flight of fancy, he enjoys fishing and day-dreaming.
Dai Station The station master at Llaniog, he is a stickler for the regulations of the railway, but bends the rules occasionally to help his friends. His life is made a little difficult by the fact that Ivor really does not care much for regulations at all. Although he is often gloomy and overly strict, he is a good person at heart.
Owen the Signal Owen the Signal inhabits a signal box near Ivor's shed and makes an occasional appearance in the episodes.
Evans the Song Evan Evans is the portly choirmaster of the Grumbly and District Choral Society. He is also Jones the Steam's wife's uncle.Ivor The Engine: The First Story, , page 15
Mrs Porty A rich and eccentric aristocratic lady who enjoys the occasional glass of port and has new hats sent from London every week. She is also the owner of the railway, having bought it when the line was threatened with nationalisation, but she does not involve herself in the day-to-day running and things remained much the same after she bought it.
Mr Dinwiddy A very odd, possibly insane miner who lives in the hills and digs for gold, he enjoys explosions and mining. In fact, his mountain is full of gold, but as soon as he digs it up, he puts it back again. He often has need of new boots.
He is something of an amateur scientist. He describes himself as "educated" and knows "something about rock". He has constructed a few odd devices, including a donkey carriage and a bubble-blowing machine.
Bani Moukerjee An elephant keeper from India, who works for Charlie Banger's Circus, he is in charge of the elephants Alice, George, Margaret and Clarence, who all obey him without question.
Charlie Banger Charlie Banger is an owner of Charlie Banger's Circus, who arranges a free show for the town in order to thank Jones, Evans and Mr Hughes for their help in looking after Alice the Elephant following her injury.
Idris the Dragon Idris is a small, red Welsh dragon who also sings in the choir for a time. Having been hatched from an egg in Ivor's fire, he lives with his wife Olwen and their twins, Daian and Blodwen, in the extinct volcano "Smoke Hill". As well as singing, he proves useful by cooking fish and chips for the choir using his fiery breath.
On the other hand, Idris runs into trouble when Smoke Hill goes cold and needs to be kept hot in order to survive. The gasboard provide a temporary furnace, but when that became too expensive (and decimalisation renders the slot-machine inoperable), the only other option for the dragons is a heated cage. Luckily, Mr Dinwiddy is able to provide a solution, and they now live in a geothermally-heated cave under the ground.
Alice the Elephant A circus elephant with Charlie Banger's Circus, she is normally placid, but does not like taking medicine or being bathed by anyone except her owner, Bani Moukerjee. When Ivor met her, she had escaped and was asleep on the track with an injured foot. Since then they have become friends. She and her elephant friends were able to help Ivor when he got stuck in the snow.
Bluebell the Donkey A donkey who lives at Mrs Porty's house, Bluebell cannot talk, but she and Ivor just enjoy sitting around together. As the Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited has only one locomotive (apart from the short service of Juggernaut), Bluebell is sometimes called upon to provide motive power. Examples include the towing by chain of the broken down locomotive Juggernaut and also the pulling of Mrs Porty's donkey cart when this was temporarily set on the railway tracks to pursue 'robbers' when Ivor had been 'stolen' in the episode "The Lost Engine"; in this latter case, like a locomotive, Bluebell strictly observed the railway signals, halting the chase until Owen the Signal had raised the signal arm.
Morgan the Roundabout Mr Morgan is the fairground owner. He gave Ivor some pipes from the steam organ on his roundabout, so that Ivor could sing in the choir. He only appeared in the very first black and white series.
Claude Gilbert