| Runtime: | 15 minutes |
| Creator: | John Gorman |
| Starring: | (puppeteers) Colin Purves, Geoff Felix, Dave Chapman, Damian Farrell, Symon Macintyre, Lynn Robertson-Bruce, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph (voices) Kate Heavenor, Mark McDonnell, Jo James, Barbara Rafferty, Lewis MacLeod, Ian Sexon |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Network: | BBC |
| Num Episodes: | 26 |
Captain Abercromby is a children's TV show that was on BBC Two in 2002–2003. Its cast are puppets.
Captain Abercromby was a puppet series about a boy named Abercromby, who is raised by his grandfather. After hearing the tale of how his Grandpa lost his watch, which was given to him by Abercromby's mother, he dreams that he is a captain of a seaship, the "Hope", and that he is on a mission to find the watch. They have a rival crew attempting to find buried treasure, run by Captain Jake in his ship "Thunderbottom", who mistakenly (but logically) believe that Abercromby is looking for buried treasure, so making the series a race between the two ships.
Each show would open with Abercromby's Grandpa telling his story, in a green wooden bedroom surrounded by characters and props which later fill out the cast of Abercromby's dreams – a suit of armour in the corner (Arthur), a carved mermaid (Siren) and the tree outside (Great Oak). The following shots showed Abercromby climbing into bed (with Poindexter on the end) and going to sleep, saying "I'll find that watch one day", entering the dream world of the show and starting the title sequence.
Each story would finish with an alarm clock ringing, bringing Abercromby out of his dream and waking up to his Grandpa standing by his bed. Abercromby then begins to tell his Grandpa an excited summary of the episode, volume fading down as the credits and music roll over the scene.
In one episode of the series, "Out of the Hat", Abercromby and his crew briefly find his Grandpa's watch, seen every week in the opening title sequence. However, this copy of the watch is dismissed by Admiral Dobbin as being a fake.
The show was produced by Wark Clements for BBC Scotland. Filming took place from February to July 2001 in Glasgow. The series was being filmed at the Media Park in Maryhill, Glasgow but on 22 April a fire took hold of the studio, destroying all sets, props and equipment.[1] The production relocated to another nearby studio to complete the filming, after rebuilding as much as they needed to finish filming. The music for the show was composed by Rowland Lee.
The puppets and design of the show were all created in a child-friendly cartoon style, with the majority of the creatures being Muppet-type puppets (although they were built by Neil Sterenberg's studio, not Jim Henson's).
| creator/designer: | John Gorman | |
| director: | Doug Williams | |
| producers: | Doug Williams, Ken Anderson, Dominique Middleton | |
| writer: | Keith Brumpton, Doug Williams | |
| script editor: | Mike James | |
| music: | Rowland Lee | |
| lyrics: | Rowland Lee, Keith Brumpton | |
| puppeteers: | Colin Purves,[2] Dave Chapman, Symon Macintyre, Damian Farrell, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, [3] Lynn Robertson Bruce, Geoff Felix | |
| additional puppeteers: | Neil Sterenberg, Victoria Willing | |
| puppet workshop: | Grant Mason, Sarah Cowlinshaw | |
| with thanks to: | Scottish Mask & Puppet Centre | |
| puppet construction: | Daedalus Models, Neil Sterenberg | |
| set design: | The Quickening, WM Design | |
| construction manager: | Neil Querns | |
| asst art dir: | Dave Turbitt | |
| art director: | Ewen Duncan | |
| accountant: | Scott Harper | |
| lighting camera: | Gary Morrison | |
| camera asst: | Keith Ingram, Shu Lorimer | |
| lighting: | Steve Arthur, Chris Batchelor | |
| grip: | Lucien Grieve | |
| sound sup: | Steve Thom | |
| editor: | Donna Blackney | |
| computer graphics: | Pictures on the Wall | |
| asst dub mix: | Dave Soutar | |
| dubbing mixer: | Mike Powell | |
| voices: | Kate Heavenor (mainly Captain Abercromby) | |
| Mark McDonnell (Great Oak and others) | ||
| Jo James (Siren and others) | ||
| Barbara Rafferty (Bobweb and others) | ||
| Lewis MacLeod (Arthur and others) | ||
| Ian Sexon (Captain Jake and others) |