Torchy the Battery Boy
A battery-powered boy with a magical lamp in his hat.
Created and written by Roberta Leigh, it featured string puppets by Christine Glanville and music by Barry Gray. The series is notable for being one of several mid-20th-century children's programmes to survive in its entirety, later digitally remastered and released on DVD.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Children's
- Fantasy
- Adventure
- Writer
- Roberta Leigh
- Director
- Gerry Anderson (Series 1); Vivian Milroy (Series 2)
- Voices
- Kenneth Connor
- Olwyn Griffiths
- Jill Raymond
- Patricia Somerset
- Music
- Roberta Leigh, arranged by Barry Gray
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Series
- 2
Facts from the source article.
Plot
In a quiet garden where local children play, a lonely toymaker named Mr Bumbledrop spends most of his days. He created Torchy, a boy with a lamp on his head. When Torchy presses a button on his jacket and says a secret phrase, the lamp glows and grants him magical understanding. Mr Bumbledrop also built a cardboard rocket ship, allowing Torchy to fly among the stars. The brightest star is Topsy Turvy Land, a place where broken and forgotten toys from bad children come alive, and animals talk. The land is filled with lollipop fields, cream bun trees, and chocolate puddles. Torchy often returns to Earth to see Mr Bumbledrop, get fresh batteries, and bring back naughty children. In Topsy Turvy Land, humans shrink to the size of toys, and those children must endure the same cruelty they once showed their playthings.
Characters
The spelling of names in Torchy materials is often inconsistent. Mr Bumble-Drop is a kind old man who allows local children to play in his garden; he built Torchy and owns Pom-Pom. Bossy Boots is a spoiled, chubby girl with pigtails who behaves as though everything revolves around her and insists others follow her orders; she used to own Flopsy the ragdoll and Clinker the money box. Mrs Meanymouth, Bogey’s mother, is an unpleasant woman who will steal. Bogey Meanymouth is a rude boy who talks back to his mother and previously owned Pongo the Pirate. Bobby and Babs are twins who were once good but now find mischief more enjoyable. Torchy is a boy powered by batteries, with a magic flashlight on his hat; he is kind, assists anyone in trouble, and often finds ways to discipline naughty children. Clinker is a money box that belonged to Bossy Boots, who did not save money and left him hungry; in Topsy Turvy Land, he discovers a money tree that keeps him full. Daffy is a donkey who pulls King Dithers’ coach; she has an excellent memory but is always gloomy, much like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, and once belonged to a boy named Geoffrey. Ena is a hyena who laughs at everything, which makes Pilliwig the clown fond of her; she enjoys knitting, but the clothes she makes are too large for anyone to wear. Flopsy was Bossy Boots’ rag doll, mistreated by the girl; she has lost much of her stuffing, making her slow-witted, and she often replaces forgotten words with “Piggle-poggle.” King Dithers is the clumsy ruler of Topsy Turvy Land; he is said to live in a palace made of orange peel, though it looks like an ordinary castle. Gillygolly is the tallest Gullywug anywhere. The Man in the Moon, who lives alone on the moon and is tired of his nightly job lighting the world, appears in two episodes from the second series. Pilliwig is a clown whose purpose is to make people happy. Pollikan is an odd bird that looks somewhat like a pelican and enjoys hiding shiny things in its beak; King Dithers has given it the job of protecting his crown and jewels.
Production
Creator Roberta Leigh and producer Gerry Anderson had previously collaborated on The Adventures of Twizzle; its success led to Torchy, with nearly double the budget. Leigh wrote all 52 episodes over 26 days, targeting her eight-year-old son as the audience; she claimed she did not push morality tales but morals naturally emerged. She devised recurring songs for characters and hummed tunes to composer Barry Gray. Puppet maker Christine Glanville began developing the look of Anderson's later Supermarionation shows, crafting bodies from wood and sculpting heads with movable eyes and mouths, using thinner strings to make them less visible. Made in her garage, it was a family affair: her father made bodies, her mother sewed clothes, and Christine sculpted heads and added finishing touches. The crew experimented with automatic lip-sync on two minor characters; Glanville thought thin rubber might work for mouths and sent her father to buy condoms from local vendors, but the rubber broke easily and paint would not stick, so they switched to chamois leather. Reg Hill and Derek Meddings created three-dimensional sets using cardboard cut-outs and wood, with greater detail than in Twizzle; sets included an elaborate miniature town shaped like fruit, with trees, shrubs, and rocks made of coal, and fully furnished miniature interiors. Unable to afford a studio, production was set up in the ballroom of Islet Park House, a mansion in Maidenhead on the River Thames. The stage was only about 20 square feet, with a cramped bridge for puppeteers; when carpenters used saws for sets, puppeteers could not sync to audio playback.
Merchandising
Many stories were short adaptations of her scripts. Other merchandise included the board game Torchy's Race to Topsy Turvy Land, a children's playsuit packaged with a cardboard Torchy puppet, a pocketwatch, and a Torchy marionette by Pelham Puppets.
More in 1950s British Children's Television Series
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