Thursday, June 30, 2016

"Trumpton" Creator Gordon Murray Passes Away

Gordon Murray, creator and puppeteer of the popular BBC children's series Trumpton, has sadly died at the age of 95.


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His son-in-law, William Mollett, confirmed the news in a statement to the BBC.

The producer wrote some of the most popular children's television programmes, including The Trumptonshire Trilogy - with big names Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley - which were shown weekly by the BBC from 1966 for 20 years.


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The programmes were later repeated by Channel 4 and then Nick Jr. UK, as part of the channels Noggin/Nick Jr. Classics programming block.

Camberwick Green, which was made using stop-motion animation, was the first children's show to be aired in colour on the BBC in 1966.

Murray was born in London on 3 May 1921 - the youngest of four children.

He attended Emanuel School, where he studied Classics - but later gave up Latin and Greek, after which he spent most of his time in the art and drama departments.

Mr. Mollett told the BBC that Murray enjoyed going to the Victoria Palace Theatre with his father as a child to see variety shows - and particularly liked the marionettes.


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Speaking in 1999, Gordon said: "I have been interested in puppets ever since I was a child. My enthusiasm was greatly stimulated, I remember, by a visit to the Victoria Palace when I was about eight to see Delvain's Marionettes on the variety bill. Later, of course, I avidly read the Whanslaw books."

Murray was nine years old when his father died in 1930.

After leaving school, he started working as a journalist and joined the Territorial Army. In 1939 he was enlisted in the London Scottish Regiment.


Murray's love of puppets started when he watched variety shows with his father as a child. Photo: Gordon Murray estate

Having been commissioned into the Royal Corps of Signals, Murray took part in the Normandy landings as a platoon commander, landing on Gold Beach.

After being demobbed at the end of the Second World War, he set up his own puppet company, Murray's Marionettes, worked as an actor in repertory theatre, and appeared in Shakespeare plays and Peter Pan - where he met his wife, ballet dancer Enid Martin.

In the 1950s, Murray established a puppet company touring theatres in the UK, when he was scouted by BBC producer Freda Lingstrom.


Trumpton used stop-motion animation

His first television credit was in 1954 as a puppeteer on Bengo - a children's programme about the adventures of a boxer puppy.

He went on to produce several successful marionette shows for children's television including Sketch Club, Captain Pugwash, and Hans Christian Anderson's The Nightingale. In 1958 he created the series A Rubovian Legend, which ran until 1963, with fellow puppeteers John Hardwick and Bob Bura who he wen ton to work with for years after.

After the BBC's Children's Department and Women's Programmes merged in 1964, Murray had the opportunity to become the BBC's head of children's programmes, but chose instead to form his own independent production company, Gordon Murray Puppets Productions, where he created the Trumptonshire trilogy.


The model characters were made out of foam latex, with ping-pong balls used for the heads. Photo: Gordon Murray estate.

Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley were created using stop motion animation and actual 3D scaled down models.


Windy Miller appeared in Camberwick Green - part of the Trumptonshire trilogy

The characters were eight inches tall, with heads made out of ping-pong balls and clothes out of foam latex.

There were 39 short episodes across the trilogy - all of which were first broadcast on BBC One, airing before the midday news.

The programmes were digitally restored and re-released in 2011, after the original footage was found in the family's attic and in the BBC archives.

Murray went on to create television shows Skip and Fluffy, which aired as part of the Multi-Coloured Swap Show in 1978, and The Gublins.


Iconic: Trumpton aired on the BBC in the 1960s and 1970s

He retired from animation in the 1980s and went on to produce 34 limited edition miniature books, bound entirely by hand.

After the Trumptonshire Trilogy ended, Murray decided to burn all of his puppets, except for one soldier from Camberwick Green.

In an interview on Radio 4, he said: "I burnt them in a bonfire in my garden. I'd had them for some time after the transmissions had stopped.

"And various people had said "oh they're old fashioned", and they always were old fashioned actually. They were old fashioned from the word go.

"They had been used an awful lot you know so I burnt them, together with the scenery."

He added: "A puppet is an actor you see, and as an actor he only exists as he is performing. After that he's done his job and therefore the actual figure is redundant."

Following the news of Murray's passing, tributes begun pouring in, and one fan wrote on Twitter: "Camberwick Green, Trumpton & Chigley creator dies. Thank you Gordon Murray for adding vibrant colour to my childhood." While another added: "Thank you for so many happy memories. RIP Gordon Murray."

In recent years he lived with his family near Stamford and is survived by his daughters Emma and Rose and his four grandchildren.

Original sources: BBC News, Mirror Online, London Evening Standard.