| Alt Name: | Potsworth & Co. |
| Genre: | Adventure Fantasy Comedy |
| Creator: | Martin Powell Vivien Schrager-Powell |
| Developer: | Dave Edwards |
| Director: | Don Lusk Paul Sommers Animation Directors: Robert Alvarez |
| Creative Director: | Ray Patterson |
| Voices: | Michael Bell Hamilton Camp Joan Gerber Elisabeth Harnois Whitby Hertford Janice Kawaye George Lemore Kenneth Mars Rob Paulsen Clive Revill Frank Welker |
| Theme Music Composer: | Michael Tavera |
| Country: | United Kingdom United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Episodes: | 13 |
| Executive Producer: | William Hanna Joseph Barbera Martin Powell Vivien Schrager-Powell Paul Sabella Theresa Plummer-Andrews |
| Producer: | Davis Doi |
| Runtime: | 21 mins |
| Company: | H-B Production Co. Sleepy Kids PLC |
| Channel: | BBC The Children's Channel (UK) Syndication (US) |
Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone is a British-American animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera in conjunction with Sleepy Kids PLC and is known outside the US as Potsworth & Co.[1] In the United Kingdom, the BBC felt that the suggestion of children being awake after midnight was inappropriate (which is reflected in the theme song's lyrics in the British broadcast); thus the name was changed.
The show is about four children who meet in their dreams every night, accompanied by their dog Potsworth and a toy dinosaur, to protect the sleep of the innocent from the dreaded Nightmare Prince.[2]
The series revolves around Potsworth, an English Springer Spaniel, based upon a real-life springer spaniel called Potsworth, bought from the Battersea Dogs Home by Martin and Vivien Schrager-Powell. The couple were somewhat disheartened with some of the children's programmes being made at the time, commenting that "Six-year-olds just aren't content to be fobbed off with 'Mr Wizard go pouf and nasty man go away'. Stories these days have to be believable, contain some logical process". In 1987, Martin started writing stories about Potsworth who lives in a city in America and four young children: Carter, Keiko, Rosie, and Nick. The couple took the idea to Hanna-Barbera and suggested a 50-50 deal to turn the stories into a television series.[3]
First appearing on The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera on 1 September 1990, Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone lasted only 13 episodes.[4] It was watched by 8.5 million in the US while 5.1 million watched the series on Children's BBC in Britain, making it the "second most popular children's show on British television after Neighbours".[3]
The "real" Potsworth became something of a celebrity when he featured extensively in the British media as part of the promotion campaign for the cartoon series when it first aired in the UK in 1990/91 television season. A comic adaptation of Potsworth & Co. was featured in the merged Beezer and Topper from issue #87 to #153 (May 16, 1992—August 21, 1993) and, when that comic closed, The Dandy from issue #2701 onwards (August 28, 1993—1994).
The series' setting, "Dream Zone", was first used on "Back to Next Saturday", the NBC Saturday Morning preview special for the 1985 season.
The series tells of four children and Potsworth the dog who live in the same neighborhood. When they go to sleep at night they turn up in the Dream Zone where, as the Midnight Patrol, they are appointed by the Grand Dozer to protect it from nightmares and other threats and are given their missions by the Snooze Patrol. Their main enemy is the Nightmare Prince.
Whilst they are in the Dream Zone, the five have special powers. Keiko has a flying skateboard; Carter can draw anything and then have it come to life; Nick is super-strong and is able to fly; his stuffed toy Murphy comes to life; whilst his cynical sister Rosie tags along. Potsworth himself acquires the power of speech which enables him to complain about the way he is treated in the real world, and make wry comments about the kids and their own attitudes and relationships. The cartoon Potsworth had a very "English" accent, even in the American version of the programmes, reflecting his real-life counterpart's British origins.
An officially licensed computer game of the series, using its British title of Potsworth and Co, was released in 1992 by Hi-Tec Software for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and Atari ST.
In this scrolling platform game, the player took on the role of one of the characters in each themed level and had to collect various items and then reach the exit.
The 5 Midnight Patrol members are the main stars of the show. Each one has his/her individual abilities.
The Dream Zone has a number of inhabitants, the principals of which include:
Monday 6 May 2002- 20,000 (9th most watched on CBBC that week)[5]
In 1991, Hanna-Barbera Home Video released a single VHS cassette of the series in the United States entitled Potsworth and the Midnight Patrol containing four episodes which are "Save the Cave", "The Wishing Whale", "King Potsworth", and "The Nightmirror".