Cloppa Castle
 Cloppa
Castle was the creation of two ex-Gerry Anderson puppeteers,
John Read and Mary Turner.
The series featured The Bygones - a group of primitive people
ruled by the authoritarian Queen Ethelbruda - a hawk-nosed vision
in plaits - and her hen-pecked husband, King Woebegone.
Their offspring - the foppish Prince Idlebone and the comely
Princess Tizzibel (Tizzy, for short) - brought about as much joy
as Jest-a-minit the jester, or Mudlin the hapless magician.
Happily, Cue-ee-dee the inventor had discovered a supply of crude
oil under the castle and was permanently engaged in exploiting
this commodity for everyone's gain, with a series of clunky
inventions.
Unfortunately, a rival clan - Beosweyne (who roars like a tiger
but is as harmless as a pussycat) and the Hasbeenes - had designs
on the oil and so began a bloody and unending territorial battle.
 Royal
security is managed by an oaf called Elbow, who spends much of his
time harassing an unfortunate subordinate, the lovable, luckless
Osmosis, while keeping the Hasbeens on the right side of the
castle walls.
The Cloppa series were filmed in a converted church in
Southwark Park Road, London. No, it wasn't stop-motion animation,
and it wasn't a Cosgrove-Hall production, either, 'cos they don't
do string puppets. So there!
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