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Towser was a wonderful animated series straight out of King Rollo Films Ltd. in 1982. It concerned the tales of Towser a small dog and his adventures with the King, Sadie the kitten, the owl (my favourite character in the show), Dr. Smelly, The Wizard and a load of other characters (some bad, some good). The brilliant stories and artwork of Towser was by Tony Ross. Each episode only lasted about five minutes but they were superbly animated and a real treat to watch. The narration was by the late and sadly missed great actor Roy Kinnear (star of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and The Three Musketeers). Thinking about other narrators for Towser suddenly makes you realise that no one else really could have been the voice but Roy Kinnear. Most people do not remember Towser very well until they see the artwork and then suddenly it all comes flooding back. A couple of episodes of the 26 listed below are described with images etc. Anyone wanting a particular episode from the list, just let me know. Anyone having nice comments, memories or corrections etc. please contact me at the usual address or by clicking Email on the navigation bar above.

Characters

Towser	Sadie	The King
The Owl	The Terrible Thing	Sir Lance
The Lion	Captain Rat	Dr. Smelly
The Wizard	Goblin Gobble	Nosey Parker
The Alien	The Witch	Tower Guard

Episode One

Towser is out for a walk and he stops to pick up a flower. Suddenly he hears a frightening voice which informs him that the flower does not belong to him. A large terrible thing appears (looks like a multiple cross between different animals) and chases Towser into a nearby castle. Towser quickly gets inside and closes the door. The King comes downstairs to see what all the noise is about and Towser explains that he has just been chased by a terrible thing. The King knows all about the terrible thing and informs Towser that he had a lucky escape as the terrible thing eats dogs. The terrible thing has been here for many years and none of his knights can scare him away. To prove his problem, one of the King's knights, Sir Lance has a go at charging the terrible thing, but the terrible thing scares the horse and everyone ends up running back inside.

Towser then has a brilliant idea. He requests a large jam jar with some jam in it. He then places this outside on a rock and the jam attracts lots of flies. When all the Kingdom's flies are in the jar, Towser captures all of them. He then asks that the jar be taken to another Kingdom and then opened. The King does not understand yet how this is going to help. Suddenly the King and Towser see the Kingdoms birds flying to the next kingdom in pursuit of all the flies, closely followed by the cats (in pursuit of the birds) and then finally by the kingdoms dogs (inpursuit of the cats). Next they see a sight that makes then run and hide. The terrible thing is after all the dogs (remember the terrible thing eats dogs) and so rushes off to the next kingdom in pursuit. The King is so pleased that he gives Towser a medal. In later episodes we find that the terrible thing comes back.

Episode 2

It is night time and possibly late at night. Even the small owl is asleep (yes I know owls don't sleep at night). Towser goes to visit Sadie the kitten. The owl gets sucha startle that he falls out of the tree - not a happy owl. Sadie is miserable as it is her birthday tomorrow and she thinks no one will remember. Towser tells her he certainly will and promises to get her a present - "what would you like" he asks ? (dangerous thing to ask a kitten). Sadie only wants the Moon.

The Moon is way out of reach though despite Towser's best efforts. He places a chair on a hill and then some books and other material in an attempt to reach the moon. It is at this point that we discover the Owl likes cricket (or certainly has an interest in it). As Towser takes some of his belongings outside, the Owl spies a cricket bat and takes it, quickly examines it and then puts it back. In a later episode (Towser and the holiday), the Owl takes the cricket bat again. Ah well, back to the story. Eventually Towser's tower is very high and top heavy and so the whole thing collapses and poor Towser has to resort to another idea. He goes into the house and into the toybox. He takes out a balloon and blows it up. He then takes it to Sadie and tells her it is the moon. She then points to the moon in the sky to which Towser states hat that is the hole left when he removed the moon. Towser thinks that Sadie thinks that she has the Moon. He goes off to get the Birthday cake. Whilst doing this Sadie confides in the Wizard that she thinks Towser belives he has given her the Moon. Sadie is happy although she knows it is not really the moon.

More episodes from the above list to come soon. Let me know if you have any specific episode you would want covered. And so ends a lovely little animated adventure series very much in the style of King Rollo but very much deserving its place on the list of Little Gems of childrens television.