Chigley - The Complete Collection (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Indifferent to it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	nostalgic for those who remember
Disadvantages:	limited appeal

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

*** Movie ***
~~~ Time flies by when I'm the driver of a train…" ~~~

Many moons ago, when there wasn't a Pokemôn or Dexters laboratory in sight and children's TV had an overall innocent feel we had programs like this. Chigley is the last of the three Trumptonshire "watch with mother" programmes and most probably the least known of the three. The others in the series were Camberwick Green and Trumpton, all being written by Gordon Murray and performed by Brian Cant for the BBC over a period of 3 years. Camberwick Green (1966), Trumpton (1967) and Chigley (1968). All were filmed using stop frame animation techniques that we see today on things like Wallace and Gromit.

On a personal level the attraction of the story lines, no matter which of the series you are watching are that they revolve around ordinary people's everyday lives and problems. There are no super powers; there is no violence or badly drawn idiotic cartoon, just a simple storyline that generally has a good, satisfying outcome.

Lord Belborough seems to be the main character and he owns Winkstead Hall, Chigley's stately home decorated in a gaudy green. Lord B can often be found on his steam engine Bessie. Other main characters include Mr Cresswell who manages the biscuit factory, Mr Farthing who runs the local pottery and Mr Swallow looks after the wharf. Chigley would begin with Brian Cant chatting to the main character of the episode to set the scene, and then the story would begin. It would end with the six o'-clock dance.

An interesting titbit of information is that Gordon Murray burnt all of the puppets and scenery on a bonfire after the shows. The reasons for this are stated as the puppets looked old and dated and well used; although Gordon admits that the puppets were dated from the word go. It seems a shame that the whole thing went up in flames, but then I guess Gordon didn't think the show would embark on a comeback.

The 13 fully restored episodes are:

*** Episode 1: Lord Belborough's Secret ***
Lord Belborough has a mysterious crate arrive at Treddles Wharf and Mr Mopp asks the villagers in an attempt to find out what is in the crate

*** Episode 2: Bessie to the Rescue ***
Mr Cresswell has overlooked some biscuits that should be on the way to the station. Farmer Bell, Lord Belborough and Chippy Minton join forces in trying to get the biscuits to the station on time.

*** Episode 3: The Balloon ***
The Mayor needs to find a way to make money for the old peoples holiday fund and asks his friend Lord Belborough for help.

*** Episode 4: The Fountain ***
Lots of people from Chigley join forces to build a fountain for the biscuit factory.

*** Episode 5: The Garden Wall ***
After demolishing a garden wall with a lawnmower Lord Belborough puts a plan into action to get the wall rebuilt before the weekend.

*** Episode 6: Binnie and Bessie ***
Binnie and Bessie are being cleaned but need to be called into action. Bessie sets off to get some coal so that Binnie can pump some water.

*** Episode 7: Lord Belborough's Lucky Day ***
When Lord Belborough breaks an antique vase he throws it away even though he was looking for another one to make a pair. Mr Rumpling offers to repair it and give him an identical vase but the broken remains have already been taken by the dustmen, now the hunt is on to find the dustmen so they can recover the pieces.

*** Episode 8: The Broken Bridge ***
Chigley Bridge is unsafe for traffic. This is not good for Mr Cresswell as he needs to get a delivery of biscuits out. Someone suggests speaking to the boys at Pippin fort and so they attempt to get a temporary bridge set up.

*** Episode 9: Clay for Mr Farthing ***
Mr Farthing calls out the phone engineers and they come out look at his phone, Mr Farthing demonstrates how to make a bowl and the engineers mention that there is a lot of clay at the exchange. The mission is on to bring all the clay back to Mr Farthing.

*** Episode 10: Trouble with the Crane ***
When unloading cargo from Mr Rumplings boat the crane fails and drops what they think is Lord Belboroughs crate of valuables into the canal. The Soldiers are called in to recover the crate and its contents.

*** Episode 11: Apples Galore ***
After a bumper crop of apples, Windy Miller suggests they press them into cider. With the help of the workers from the biscuit factory workers they press the apples, but will they be in time for the 6 o clock dance.

*** Episode 12: Willie Munn ***
Willie is the nephew of Mr Clamp and Willie loves to drive. As the delivery driver is Ill they give the job to Willie, but on his rounds he runs out of petrol.

*** Episode 13: A Present for Lord Belborough ***
There is a mysterious package at Treddles Wharf for Lord Belborough but he isn't allowed to open it until the 6 o clock dance.

*** Picture ***
Even though restored the picture quality is dubious, there is copious amounts of grain, blurriness and a slight pulsating effect to the colours, then again this program is a few years shy of 40 and so it is never going to be up to the quality of today's broadcasts, however when you read that it has been restored you do expect something a little better. Saying that, the colours have obviously been brightened up but it isn't really enough.

*** Sound ***
~~~ "And I ride on the footplate there and back again"~~~

Sound quality is adequate and clear. Being only a 2.0 Dolby Digital Soundtrack there is no use, nor no need for the rears to be used, vocals are clear as are the songs, although it does (obviously) sound very dated.

*** Extras ***
~~~ Restoring Chigley ~~~
Only one extra on the disk which is a little bit of a disappointment, I would have liked to see an interview with Brian Cant and Gordon Murray on their thoughts about the programme and the restoration. Also it is also only just over 6 minutes long.

Basically we visit the studio that restored the programme and they explain what they do in order to do the restoration, they show a few before and after scenes which to be honest look a bit better than the ones we get on screen. It could have been more in-depth but they only show us the basics.

*** Overall ***
~~~ Under bridges over bridges to our destination ~~~
To be honest it's a difficult one to call. On the one hand Chigley is a splendid nostalgic trip down memory lane for many adults from their mid 30's upwards, even if it does look dated. Also I reckon that about 80% of adults are not going to spend 3 hours looking at a kids program from 1968. I am also wondering if young kids today would want to see programmes like this, then again I would rather my child what this than the rubbish that is Teletubbies, they don't even speak.