| The Adventures of Sir Prancelot | |
|---|---|
| Created by | John Ryan |
| Voices of | Peter Hawkins |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 31 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 5 minutes per episode |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC1 |
| Release | January 13 (1972-01-13) – February 25, 1972 (1972-02-25) |
The Adventures of Sir Prancelot is a British children'sanimatedtelevision programme written and produced byJohn Ryan. It followed the adventures of Sir Prancelot, an eccentric inventor-knight who heads for theCrusades in theHoly Land. It was first transmitted on BBC 1 on Thursday, 13 January 1972.
Sir Prancelot decides to join theCrusades to escape both his bank manager and his overbearing wife Lady Histeria. He is dismayed when he learns that Histeria intends to accompany him and eventually the entire household — including their children, Sim and Sue; the miserlymajordomo Girth, acockneyminstrel (who is also the show's narrator) and severalserfs — set sail for adventure.
The Crusading group repeatedly fall foul of the dastardly Count Otto "The Blot", but always escape by some contrivance of Sir Prancelot himself. After many unlikely adventures, they arrive in theHoly Land only to discover that the Crusades are over — they are 50 years too late! After a final showdown with Count Otto, they return to England in arocket ship also invented by Sir Prancelot.
TheSir Prancelot animation came from the same stable asCaptain Pugwash and was in a similar style. All the characters were voiced byPeter Hawkins, who was billed on the credits of both shows as 'All the Voices'. The music was composed byAlan Parker. Episode 5 was never made due to beingJohn Ryan’s unlucky number. The first nineteen episodes were released onVHS in the United Kingdom, while episodes 20-30 were released in the United States byFamily Home Entertainment. The series was also adapted into vinyl form.
The show was initially successful, spawning annuals from 1973 to 1976, tie-in books written by Jane Morey, jigsaws and books bundled with pop-outs not unlike those used in the series itself. Action Artrubbings were also produced.
Corgi Toys produced a prototype for a Sir Prancelot toy, but after a second series was never commissioned, the idea was dropped.