Henry's Cat
Encyclopedia
Henry's Cat is an animated
children's television programme, written by Stan Hayward and produced by Bob Godfrey
, who was also the producer of Roobarb
, a similar cartoon series from the 1970s. The show starred a laid-back, ponderous yellow cat, known only as Henry's Cat, and his many friends and enemies.
Henry's Cat was first screened in 1983 and five series were made in total; the series has enjoyed repeated showings since.
also had a USA release in 1987.
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
children's television programme, written by Stan Hayward and produced by Bob Godfrey
Bob Godfrey
Roland Frederick Godfrey is a British animator whose career spans more than fifty years. He is probably best known for the children's cartoon series Roobarb , Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk and Henry's Cat and for the Trio chocolate biscuit advertisements shown in the UK during the early 1980s...
, who was also the producer of Roobarb
Roobarb
Roobarb is a British animated television programme for children, originally shown on BBC1 just before the evening news. Each cartoon, written by Grange Calveley and animated by Bob Godfrey, was about five minutes long. Thirty episodes were made, and the show was first shown on October 21, 1974...
, a similar cartoon series from the 1970s. The show starred a laid-back, ponderous yellow cat, known only as Henry's Cat, and his many friends and enemies.
Henry's Cat was first screened in 1983 and five series were made in total; the series has enjoyed repeated showings since.
Henry's Cat and his friends
- Henry's Cat - laid-back, a daydreamer.
- Chris Rabbit - Henry's Cat's best friend, an ever-enthusiastic, highly energetic blue rabbitRabbitRabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
. - Mosey MouseMouseA mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
- the opposite of Chris Rabbit, Mosey is dour and realistic. - Douglas DogDogThe domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
, Sammy SnailSnailSnail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
, Pansy PigPigA pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
, Denise DuckDuckDuck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
, Ted TortoiseTortoiseTortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
, Philippe FrogFrogFrogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
- miscellaneous friends of Henry's Cat. They all mean well, but often overestimate their own abilities in various ways.
His enemies
- Farmer Giles - a (human) farmerFarmerA farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
with a Westcountry accent, frequently inconvenienced by Henry's Cat's adventures. - Constable BulldogBulldogBulldog is the name for a breed of dog commonly referred to as the English Bulldog. Other Bulldog breeds include the American Bulldog, Olde English Bulldogge and the French Bulldog. The Bulldog is a muscular heavy dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose...
- a very stern policeman (or policedog) who takes a very dim view of the gang's well-meaning escapades. - Rum Baa Baa - a criminal mastermind, and the most evil sheep in the whole world.
Henry
Henry himself never appeared on screen; the name was an allusion to an earlier one-off Hayward/Godfrey collaboration, Henry 9 To 5 about a bowler-hatted commuter who escaped his boring everyday life by indulging in daydreams, mostly of a sexual nature. Henry's Cat shared the earlier character's tendency toward wild flights of fancy and laid-back approach to life. The name "Henry's Cat" was mostly an in-joke for those few people who remembered the earlier cartoon and did not mean that Henry's Cat had a "master", unseen or otherwise.Series 1
Each episode in this series is 5 minutes long.# | Title | Summary |
---|---|---|
1 | The Hobby | Henry's Cat is inspired to find a hobby of his own and watches his friends doing theirs. |
2 | The Race | Henry's Cat holds a race with all his friends racing with their own talents. |
3 | The Circus | Henry's Cat sees a circus and sees this as an exciting opportunity. |
4 | The Competition | Henry's Cat, Chris Rabbit and Mosey Mouse dress up as a one-man band for a competition. |
5 | The Moon Trip | Henry's Cat and Chris Rabbit go in a balloon for a journey to the moon. |
6 | The Hypnotist | Henry's Cat is inspired by the TV to try out hynotism to help his friends, but soon decides to undo his hynosis. |
7 | The Holiday | Henry's Cat goes on holiday on a sailing boat at sea. |
8 | The Treasure | Henry's Cat and Chris Rabbit try to find treasure with a dividing stick. |
9 | The Ill Wind | A sick Henry's Cat imagines himself dying and going to the afterlife. |
10 | The Diet | Henry's Cat takes the advice of a weighing machine to cut down on overeating and take exercise. |
11 | The Fortune Teller | Henry's Cat goes to a fortuneteller at a funfair with his future near at hand. |
12 | The Explorer | Henry's Cat goes exploring to find the West Pole. |
13 | The Whale | Henry's Cat goes fishing for a whale to get something new to eat. |
14 | The Invention | Henry's Cat is inspired to invent a machine and ends inventing something for Captain McGregor. |
15 | The Dream | Henry's Cat falls asleep after eating a lot, dreaming about vivid things. |
16 | The Robbery | Henry's Cat becomes detective, but runs into Mosey Mouse's uncle. |
17 | The Christmas Dinner | Henry's Cat helps Chris Rabbit prepare a Christmas Dinner but get themselves stuck. |
18 | The Film | Henry's Cat gets an old film cine camera to make a film starring his friends. |
19 | The Disco Dance | Henry's Cat takes his friends to a disco dance competition. When theat does not work out, they join a carnival. |
20 | The Artist | Henry's Cat tries to learn about art and how artists see things differently. |
Series 2
Each episode in this series is 5 minutes long.# | Title | Summary |
---|---|---|
1 | The Magic Tummy Button | Henry's Cat and his friends search a museum for the lost temple of Aki-Kun-Bubu to find the magic tummy button. |
2 | The Secret Weapon | Henry's Cat dreams about himself and Chris Rabbit as scientists defending the earth from little blue men. |
3 | The New Year's Resolution | Henry's Cat is prompted to take exercise for New Year with a backwards running race with his friends. |
4 | The Good News Day | On a day when nothing happens, Henry dreams he is a heroic captain of a world cruising plane. |
5 | The Catseye Kid | Henry's Cat imagines himself as the cowboy Catseye who is out to stop the cattle rancher, Bandit Baa Baa. |
6 | The Hot Day | On a hot day, Henry's Cat unknowingly gets himself joining the Foreign Legion in the hot desert. |
7 | The Merry Men and Women | Henry's Cat dresses as Robin Hood and recruits his friend as his Merry Men and Women. |
8 | The Actor | Henry's Cat decides to become a famous actor and does in the Theatre by accident. |
9 | The Weatherman | Henry's Cat becomes weathermen to report good weather forecasts. |
10 | The Invitation | Henry's Cat is invited to dinner party with Lady Snotgrove, but he feels unprepared without proper table manners. |
11 | The Ventriloquist | Henry's Cat enters a contest as a ventriloquist with Chris Rabbit as his dummy, but it all goes wrong. |
12 | The Clever Trick | Henry's Cat learns a trick to bend objects, which eventually makes him famous around the world. |
13 | The Hero | Henry's Cat imagines his Great Uncle Felix's adventure as an ace fighter pilot against Baron Von Baa Baa. |
14 | Caveman Cat | Henry's Cat daydreams about being a cave cat with his inventing neighbour Chris Rabbit. |
15 | The Abominable Snowman | Henry's Cat and Chris Rabbit go an expedition which winds them up in trouble. |
Series 3
Each episode in this series is 15 minutes long.# | Title | Summary |
---|---|---|
1 | The Treasure Hunt | |
2 | The Day of Terrible Jokes | Henry's Cat fascinated by Medieval Knights dreams that he is bold knight winning a jousting tournament against Sir Loin of Lamb. After that he is sent to capture a three-headed dragon. |
3 | The Case of the Pilfered Pearls | |
4 | The Lost World | Henry's Cat fascinated by a TV program called Tarzan dreams that he himself is a jungle man with the huge responsibility to take care of the Lost World. The next day Henry's Cat has to stop Rum Baa Baa from capturing the dinosaurs. |
5 | The Computer | Henry's Cat goes to a computer exhibition. There he rents a small computer robot he calls Puter. Trying to buy Puter is hard and keep his house orderly is difficult for Henry's Cat. |
6 | The Correspondence Course |
Series 4
Each episode in this series is 15 minutes long.# | Title | Summary |
---|---|---|
1 | "Out for the Count" | Henry's Cat and Chris Rabbit are in a blowing gum match, but get lost and enter the creepy castle of Count Rum Baa Baa. Together they thwart his experiments. |
2 | The Birthday Caper | |
3 | The Funny Feeling | |
4 | Once Upon a Time | |
5 | The Jingle | Henry's Cat and Chris Rabbit go to a Cyril Chipper to help in his advertising campaign becoming successful. Each new campaign they take up become more successful than the first. |
6 | The Great Adventure |
Series 5
Each episode in this series is 13 minutes long.# | Title | Summary |
---|---|---|
1 | The Mystery of the Missing Santa | Henry's Cat and Chris Rabbit as detectives goes on a caper to find the a kidnapped Santa. They both break in the chateau, rescue Santa and get Count Baa Baa arrested. |
2 | When Time Went Wrong | After attempting to fix his cuckoo clock, Henry's Cat along with Chris Rabbit travel in time to the Prehistoric Times. As they try to go back to the Present, they travel from one Epoch Epoch (reference date) In the fields of chronology and periodization, an epoch is an instance in time chosen as the origin of a particular era. The "epoch" then serves as a reference point from which time is measured... into another. |
3 | The New President | |
4 | Valentine's Day |
Production
The companies that released the videos were Castle Vision, Playbox Video, Screen Legends and Pickwick Video. Family Home EntertainmentFamily Home Entertainment
Family Home Entertainment was an American home video company founded in 1980 by Noel C. Bloom. It was a division of International Video Entertainment, which had its headquarters in Newbury Park, California.-General information:...
also had a USA release in 1987.
Series 1
- Created by: Stan Hayward
- Script: Stan Hayward
- Animation: Bob Godfrey, Paul Stone, Kevin Baldwin
- Music & Sound: Peter Shade
- Narrated by: Bob Godfrey
- Camera & Editing: Derek Phillips
- Production: Mike Hayes
- Produced & Directed by: Bob Godfrey
Series 2
- Created by: Stan Hayward
- Script: Stan Hayward
- Animation: Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey, Malcolm Hartley, Drew Mandigo, Paul Stone
- Music: John Hyde / de Wolfe Ltd.
- Dubbing: John Wood Studios
- Editing: Sean Lenihan
- Camera: Derek Phillips
- Production: Mike Hayes
- Produced, Directed and Narrated by: Bob Godfrey
Series 3
- Created by: Stan Hayward
- Script: Stan Hayward
- Animation: Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey, Malcolm Hartley, Mark Oz, Paul Rosevear
- Music: John Hyde / de Wolfe Ltd
- Trace & Paint: Tancy Baran, Beryl Godfrey, Louise Unwin
- Camera: Derek Phillips
- Editing: John Daniels
- Production: Mike Hayes
- Produced, Directed and Narrated by: Bob Godfrey
Series 4
- Created by: Stan Hayward
- Script: Stan Hayward
- Animation: Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey, Neil Salmon
- Music: Jonathan Hodge
- Trace and Paint: Beryl Godfrey, Louise Unwin
- Camera: Julian Holdaway, Heather Reader
- Editing: Picture Head
- Production: Mike Hayes
- Narrated, Directed and Produced by: Bob Godfrey
Series 5
- Created by: Stan Hayward
- Script: Stan Hayward, Mike Knowles, Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey
- Storyboard, Layouts, Animation: Kevin Baldwin
- Additional Animation: Jeff Goldner, Neil Salmon, Bob Godfrey, Jody Gannon
- Trace and Paint: Denise Hambry, Lisa Smith, Jazvinda Phull, Beryl Godfrey, Ricky Arnold
- Music: Rowland Lee
- Title Music: Jonathan P. Hodge
- Camera: Jeremy Moorshead
- Backgrounds: Bob Godfrey
- Editing: Picturehead
- Production: Mike Hayes
- Narrated, Produced and Directed by: Bob Godfrey