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Little Gems - Cloppa Castle
Finally this brilliant little series has found its way to the Little Gems screen. Shown on ITV back in 1978 this fantastic little puppet series was probably responsible for my love of castles. Each episode lasted approximately 10 minutes and there were several dozen episodes made. The very first episode has Queen Ethelbruda's ghost appearing and we are shown Cloppa Castle is a state of ruin. I'm not sure why but seeing this again made me a little sad. The Queen decides to show us what the castle used to be like, full of people and ideas even though they were constantly at war.
Each episode concerned the goings on at a fort called Cloppa Castle. The castle is medieval and owned by the Byegones who are under what seems like a permanent siege from the bad guys called Hasbeenes. The Byegones are ruled by Queen Ethelbruda and King Woebegone, although early on it is clear that Ethelbruda wears the trousers in this relationship. King Woebegone is quite happy just to sit back and relax, leaving the more strategic decisions to his wife. One of his main duties that he very often forgets to do is inspecting the troops each day. Occasionally we see him emerge from "ye old wine cellar" in the castle basement or doing a spot of fishing in the local river. The King and Queen have a son called Prince Idelbone presumably named because he rarely gets out of bed before noon. They also have and a bit of a space cadet for a daughter called Princess Tizzibel. The actual brains and guts of the castle comes next lead by Royal wizard called Mudlin who spends most of his time in his lab beneath the castle grounds. There is a court jester called Jest A Minit who tries very little to crack jokes and those he does crack are not worth hanging around for. The main brains of the outfit is the Royal inventor called Cue-Ee-Dee (the name of the door of his laboratory). The inventor is often helped by a bright young pageboy called Albright. The Royal security and indeed all castle security is managed by the head soldier called Elbow. He orders the other soldiers around especially Osmosis and Kippo. The Castle is set in a kingdom with other castles as one of the more friendly neighbours is King Cedric the Depleted.
The cause of the conflict is oil. The Byegones were digging for water inside the castle when they accidently struck oil. Cue-Ee-Dee constructed an oil Derrick to extract the oil and as a result of the new found wealth of the Byegones, the Hasbeenes are determined to get it for themselves.
The Hasbeenes are the arch enemies of the Byegones and are hell bent upon usurping the throne and laying claim to the oil resources found beneath the castle grounds. Hence they spend most of their time outside the castle thinking up plans to get inside. The leader of the Hasbeenes is Beosweyne. He is a black bearded warrior, the strongest of his clan. His right hand man is called Hench but the rest of the army are nothing short of a rabble.
The rules are simple - all is fair in love and war and the battles commence each day irrespective of time of day or weather. That is until the clock strikes three. Then everything stops for tea for about half an hour before war recommences.
The 1980 Cloppa Castle Anuual front and back can be seen below.
Anyone having any thoughts, suggestions or corrections then please email me using the address at top of the page. If anyone was involved in the writing, filming or the creation of this wonderful puppet series, then I would love to hear from you.
Click to listen to the start music (84Kb mp3)
Lyrics to the theme music
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Verse 1 If you go down to Cloppa Castle Be prepared to stay a while The Byegones and the Hasbeenes Always doing battle for the oil What they found beneath the ground Has made the Byegones free And every day at three o'clock They all sit down to tea Living in harmony At Cloppa Castle With the friendly enemy At Cloppa Castle Living in harmony At Cloppa Castle At Cloppa Castle |
Verse 2 From the day the world was born Man has had to make a stand Over seas and over mountains Banners raised across the land A jolly bunch of chaps they are The friendly enemy And every day at three o'clock They all sit down to tea Living in harmony At Cloppa Castle With the friendly enemy At Cloppa Castle Living in harmony At Cloppa Castle At Cloppa Castle |
Verse 3 - 1 & 2 mix If you go down to Cloppa Castle Be prepared to stay a while The Byegones and the Hasbeenes Always doing battle for the oil A jolly bunch of chaps they are The friendly enemy And every day at three o'clock They all sit down to tea Living in harmony At Cloppa Castle With the friendly enemy At Cloppa Castle Living in harmony At Cloppa Castle At Cloppa Castle |
There were several other types of Cloppa Castle extras - A thirty piece Jigsaw puzzle is shown below
Characters
 Queen Ethelbruda |
 King Woebegone |
 Prince Idelbone |
 Princess Tizzibel |
 Cue-ee-dee |
 Albrite |
 Jest a minit |
 Mudlin |
 Elbow |
 Osmosis |
 Kippo |
 The Cook |
 Beosweyne |
 Hench |
 Enemy soldier |
 Beosweyne's wife |
 Sir Loin of Beef |
 Tea lady (hooded) |
 Bertram (Kippo's twin brother?) |
 Castle locals |
 Prince Wolfnot |
If anyone recognises themselves or was part of the production team and would like to add to the file, I would love to hear from you.
Click on the images below to view the story
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| Cloppa Castle Main Page |
Episodes 1-4 | Episodes 5-8 |
Credits
| Series Created by | Mary Turner & John Read |
| Stories Written by | Anna Standon & John Kane |
| Voices by | Judy Bennett & Charles Collingwood |
| Dialogue Co-ordinator | Chris Mutter & Richard Dacre |
| Cloppa Castle theme composed by | Frank Weston & Patrick Campbell-Lyons |
| Sung by | Raionbow Cottage |
| Incidental Music Composed & arranged by | Norman Warren |
| Puppetry & Costumes | Judith Shutt, Sue Dagre, Ann Brandon, Tricia Brummer, Joyce Wren & Chris Covington |
| Sets by | John Jelly |
| Assisted by | Bogus Machnik |
| Camera Operated by | Paul Marwaha |
| Sound by | Cyril Brown, Clive Coker & David Holmes |
| Photography by | John Read |
| Produced by | John Read & Mary Turner |
| Directed by | Mary Turner |
| © ITC Entertainment Ltd 1978 | |
A Cloppa Castle Annual was released in the 1980 (Year of Publishing), the original Price £1.75 . Publisher World Distributors Ltd did the releasing. The total number of pages was 64 (not including front and rear covers) The book had lost of good stories such as Meet the Cloppa Castle Crowd which gave details on every character that existed in the Cloppa Castle world. Other stories included Custard Pie Ghosts, Laugh with Jest A Minit, Beosweyne's Birthday and Where's King Woebie?
