Hattytown Tales was a 52-episode stop motion

Stop motion

Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...

 children's television series

Children's television series

Children's television series, are commercial television programs designed for, and marketed to children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run in the early evening, for the children that go to school...

 produced by FilmFair

FilmFair

FilmFair was a British production company and animation studio that produced stop motion children's television series and animated cartoons from the late 1960s until the mid-1990s...

 for Thames Television

Thames Television

Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....

. It aired in the United Kingdom between 1969 and 1973. Creator and writer Keith Chatfield narrated the series, and Ivor Wood

Ivor Wood

Ivor Wood was a prolific Anglo-French stop motion director, producer, animator and writer known for his work on children's television series....

 directed it. Books were published by World Distributors and it was featured in the Playland Comic (offshoot of Pippin) published by Polystyle Publications

Polystyle Publications

Polystyle Publications were a British publisher of children's comics and books.Among the titles they published were:* BEEB * Buttons * Countdown/TV Action * I-Spy* Pippin * Playland * Read To Me...

 and in children's annuals for 10 years.

Hattytown Tales was also often featured during the television programme Pinwheel

Pinwheel (TV series)

-External links:*...

(which was widely broadcast on the U.S. television network Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon (TV channel)

Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

 during the 1980s).

The residents of Hattytown were anthropomorphic hat

Hat

A hat is a head covering. It can be worn for protection against the elements, for ceremonial or religious reasons, for safety, or as a fashion accessory. In the past, hats were an indicator of social status...

s. The style of hat each character was indicated its ethnicity, attitude, and role in Hattytown society. Bobby, the constable, resembles the hat of a constable

Constable

A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...

. Buildings in the town are also hat-shaped; each building's form suggests either its primary function or resident.
The main character, Sancho, was a Mexican sombrero

Sombrero

Sombrero in English refers to a type of wide-brimmed hat originating in Mexico. In Spanish, however, it is the generic word for "hat", which originates from "sombra", meaning "shade"....

 with legs and eyes. Carrots, his best friend, was a donkey

Donkey

The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...

with a carrot dangling in front of his face. In one episode, an angry bird had made its nest in Sancho's car. Every time the Hattytown residents would try to move the bird, it snapped at them. At the end of the episode, the car door opened to reveal a nest of eggs that had recently hatched, explaining the bird's behavior.