Potamus Park
Potamus Park was a British preschool programme that ran on CITV in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 1999, in Canada for YTV in 2002. And United States which aired on the Disney Channel in 2005. The show centred on a small family of hippopotamuses.
| Potamus Park | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Christopher Noulton John Lee Paul Cole |
| Voices of | Simon Buckley Philip Eason Rusty Goffe Atalanta Harmsworth Stroma Inglis Mark Jefferis Nikki Mclnnes Nigel Plaskitt Jo Manning Wilson |
| Opening theme | "(We're On Our Way To) Potamus Park" by Jeff Robinson |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 42 |
| Production | |
| Producers | John Lee Chris Noulton for ITV Central |
| Running time | 10 minutes per episode (approx.) |
| Production company | Carlton UK Productions |
| Distributor | Carlton Communications, Nelvana |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV (TV network) CITV |
| Original release | 1996 – 1999 |
Characters
Characters featured included Ticker, (a bird) Got To Guess, (a blue creature that used sign language to communicate) and Mindy and Mo (two Moles who live in a water well and use a bucket as a lift whenever the hippopotamuses need help). Every episode was introduced by a set of anthropomorphic flowers, who would explain whatever is to come or what may have been happening in the episode.
Series 1 - (1995-1996)
Episode 01 Pleased To Meet You (By Paul Cole) Episode 02 How Does Your Garden Grow (By Paul Cole) Episode 03 Litterbug (By Paul Cole) Episode 04 Over The Counter (By Paul Cole) Episode 05 Recipe For Success (By Paul Cole) Episode 06 Name That Tune Episode 07 Do It Yourself Episode 08 Too Hot For Hippos Episode 09 Happy Hippos Episode 10 Crazy Golf (By Paul Endacott) Episode 11 This Is Where We Live Episode 12 Gone Fishing Episode 13 Spring Clean Episode 14 Let’s Pretend Episode 15 Picture This Episode 16 Hungry Hippos (By Wayne Jackman) Episode 17 I Spy (By Nigel Crowle) Episode 18 Keeping Fit (By Paul Cole) Episode 19 Nothing Doing (By Peter Corey) Episode 20 You Must Be Joking (By Peter Corey) Episode 21 Secrets Episode 22 Nice To Be Nice Episode 23 Got To Guess Goes Missing Episode 24 Ticket Takes Off Episode 25 The Show Must Go On
Video Cassettes
Episodes of the series were released on VHS by Carlton Video.
| Title | Release Date |
|---|---|
| Pleased To Meet you VL 1 | 1996 |
| This Is Where We Live VL 2 | 1996 |
| Name That Tune Vl 3 | 1996 |
| Hungry Hippos VL 4 | 1997 |
| Secrets VL 5 | 1997 |
| Dressing Up | 1999 |
| Buried Treasure | 1999 |
| Abracadabra | 1999 |
| Bedtime Story | 2000 |
| Where Shall We Go? | 2000 |
| Hip Hippo Ray Day | 2001 |
| Gold Collection | 2001 |
International Broadcast
Trivia
Carlton Home Video issued many video cassettes in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Although the television series was genuinely well received, ITV decided to cut the series in 1999 due to the rival show Bananas In Pyjamas, which received higher ratings. Even though the series ended in 1999, CITV continued to air repeated television programmes into the early 2000s.