The early days of Cosgrove Hall Films were spent in a refurbished tobacco warehouse. © Cosgrove Hall.	Today, Cosgrove Hall Films is housed in a state-of-the-art complex. © Cosgrove Hall.

Beyond Stop-Motion
Today Cosgrove Hall remains near Manchester, but is now housed in custom built studios, covering 25,000 square feet. The site includes Avid and post-production facilities. Beside the traditional twin-tracks of model animation and 2D, the studio has embraced the CG age, establishing its own subsidiary Cosgrove Hall Digital. Albie combines CG textures with 2D animation, while the preschool Andy Pandy, Engie Benjy and Bill and Ben mix CG with stop-frame. Several other CG titles are in development, including the children's sci-fi shows Thunderpilots and Code Warriors (the latter combining CG with live-action). There is not, however, a CG Dangermouse as rumoured in some quarters.

Most of the current titles are aimed at very young children. Andy Pandy and Bill and Ben revamp classic 'Watch With Mother' BBC shows. The characters first entertained Britain's tots in the '50s, when no-one worried about visible strings. As the Albie summary shows, though, Cosgrove Hall retains its Monty Python spirit. "There's a little bit of mystery, of anarchism, involved in Albie's storytelling," says creative director Ben Turner. "The audience always ends up somewhere they didn't expect to be."

Andy Pandy appeals to the preschool set with its mixture of CG and stop-frame animation. © BBC Worldwide Ltd./Ben Productions.	Wind in the Willows is one of CHF's best known shows. © FreMantle Media.

"These days, a lot of TV animation is very child-focused and child-centered, because of the wants of commissioning editors," Turner continues. "It's all about the environment of the child, what a child will understand at a particular age. But with Dangermouse and Albie, there are unexpected surprises, a surrealism mixed into the humour. I like stories like that, and I think many kids do."

Brian Cosgrove (left) and Mark Hall stand outside the Lowry Centre in England where CHF's historical retrospective From Dangermouse to Bill and Ben showed. Between them is Weed from Bill and Ben. © Cosgrove Hall.

A New Age
How is the cartoon environment different now from 1976? "There are two ways," says managing director Iain Pelling. "One is the way in which we can make our shows, the technology, which is better. The second is the issue of financing shows, which is worse! It's a harder environment; there's far more competition. The amount licensees pay has fallen, because of the increased supply in the market and the principles of co-production. It's the way the market works. But the opportunities offered by technology are much greater, with new ways to get our shows out there."

In order to succeed in today's media landscape, Pelling believes Cosgrove Hall must cultivate partners and think globally. Early on, the studio could make its shows primarily for a British audience. "Our programmes have to be more international now," says Pelling. "It's not that we're tailoring them for France or Germany or America, but they have to work in those places."