Towser
Towser is an 80’s Children’s TV cartoon which started life
as a series of books created by prize-winning author Tony
Ross.
The programmes were narrated by the late Roy Kinnear
and Twenty-six episodes (each lasting 5 minutes) were
produced. Towser was first shown on television in 1982 and
it was animated by Leo Nielson of King Rollo Films Ltd.
The show began with:
'Towser is smart (but not too smart)
Towser is brave (well, resourceful anyway)
Towser is considerate (but not soppy)
Towser is appealing (or so he thinks)'
Story
Undeniably a dog of the world, Towser encounters
some amazing friends and adversaries on his travels.
The good guys are Sadie, the Wizard and the
Magician. The not-so-good guys include Goblin
Gobble, the Nosey Parker, Captain Rat and the Alien
Invader.
Towser Characters
Towser (voiced by Roy Kinnear)
Towser is quite a nervous dog and has been known to carry a big stick
with him when he goes into the forest, just in case he meets something
nasty. That didn't stop him from being kidnapped in the forest (so big
sticks don't always help).
Maybe he's just unlucky, as he's even been chased by The Terrible
Thing, but this could be down to him being a dog, which is its favourite
food.
It looked like he was getting braver when he tackled a Lion, to get back Sadie's hat! He jumped in,
grabbed it by the tail, swung it around his head and bounced it around using his feet.
You see, he though all lions were like the stuffed one he has in his house. When Sadie told him
that in real life they were dangerous creatures, Towser suddenly felt unwell and fainted (not
surprisingly).
One of Towser’s favourite things to do is jump out people and pull funny faces and make rude
noises. Little did he realise that if the wind changed direction that his face would stick like, which is
exactly what happened. Poor Towser didn't know what to do until the wizard said he would have to
catch the wind and say he was sorry.
He then spent the afternoon trying to catch the wind, and even tried to use Dr Smelly's net to help.
It didn't work and the wind kept laughing at him. Eventually the wind asked whether he had learnt
his lesson, he had, so to Towser’s relief his face went back to normal.
Towser isn't very good at planning, and this showed up when he went camping. He forgot his
matches, his pillow, blanket and most other things. Luckily he had camped just outside his house,
so he went inside to get the missing things, but for some reason never came back outside again.
Sadie (voiced by Roy Kinnear)
Sadie is Towser’s best friend who wears a red floppy hat. She is quite
attached to her hat and was very tearful when a Lion made off with it.
Luckily for her, Towser waded in and rescued it from the Lion, much to
the surprise of Sadie.
She always seems to be in Towser's house, so we're not sure if she
stays there all the time, or just visits.
For her Birthday, she asked Towser for the Moon! We are all for setting your sights high, but this
was just ridiculous. What would she do with it anyway? Still, it didn't stop Towser trying to capture
the Moon for her (aww, isn't he sweet).
He gave in after he fell off a large pile of things he was standing on (to reach the moon). So he
pretended that the white balloon he had was the Moon. Sadie wasn't fooled by this, but didn't let
on to him, as she didn't want to hurt his feelings.
But Sadie has a mean streak, such as the time she pretended she had a new robot to help with
the housework. Towser thought it looked rubbish, but the robot kept ordering him around, telling
him to clean up here and clean up there (which he dutifully did).
Little did he know that inside of the robot was Sadie who was tricking him to do all her housework.
When she lost control of the robot, Towser made a bid for freedom and ran off. But that wasn't the end of the prank, as she had invited the Wizard to
see her robot too!
The King (voiced by Roy Kinnear)
The King is the ruler of the kingdom and lives in a castle. He was really fed up with The Horrible Thing terrorising his
kingdom. Even his knights couldn't get rid of it (it ate most of them). He was so happy when Towser got rid of it, that he gave
him a medal.
Watch out when walking around, as the King likes to zip around on his scooter. He accidentally splashed Towser when he
zoomed through a puddle on his scooter. The trouble was that Towser had a fixed grin on his face, so the King thought he
liked it, so splashed him again! Towser’s wasn't pleased.
He's not very brave when confronted, such as the time that the Green Alien wanted to kidnap the leader of the Kingdom. Suddenly it was someone
else who was the leader.
Dr Smelly (voiced by Roy Kinnear)
He is a Scientist that is always in his lab creating things. He even has his own hot air balloon that he uses to fly around in.
He has even lent it to Towser, especially when he gives him a nice slice of juicy apple.
Once he was asked by Towser to make him look happy, as Sadie said he always looked sad. Luckily Dr Smelly had just the
machine, giving him a fixed grin. The trouble was that many bad things kept happening to him because of the grinning, so he
was glad when it eventually wore off (plus it was making his face ache).
The Wizard (voiced by Roy Kinnear)
The Wizard visits Towser every once in a while. Once he saw how upset the Nosey Parker was when he couldn’t find
another of his kind, so the Wizard took pity on him and created another Nosey Parker so that he wouldn’t be lonely any
longer (wasn’t that nice).
Owl (voiced by Roy Kinnear)
He is always in the background and has a liking for Towser’s cricket bat, which he once stole.
The Terrible Thing (voiced by Roy Kinnear)
The Terrible Thing is a black monster that has a huge beak, that loves scaring everyone. His favourite food is dogs, so as
you can tell Towser isn't too keen on him.
The King has tried to get rid of him from the Kingdom, and has sent his knights into battle against it, but they don't get very
far, as he just eats them.
It was Towser that worked out how to get rid of him. He captured all the flys in a jam jar and took them to the next kingdom.
The birds followed them, as they eat flies, so the cats followed the birds, and the dogs followed the cats, and The Terrible Thing followed the Dogs it
likes to eat.
Bet the king in the other kingdom isn't too happy on all these new arrivals, especially The Terrible Thing.
The Water Rats (voiced by Roy Kinnear)
They are part of the 'Water Rats Shipping Company', which consists of one ship with a Captain and 1st Mate.
On their travels on the waterways, they spotted Towser’s Summer House and thought it would be the ideal place to situate
their new head office.
The Captain offered to buy the Summer House for 2p, but refused. Eventually they agreed on a price of 4p, with the
condition that Towser got a free ride aboard their ship.
They weren't happy when Towser loaded all his furniture on board and thought the trip would take all summer. They panicked and tried to sell him
back the summer house, but the crafty Towser would only buy it back for 2p, so making a 2p profit.
As you can guess, the Water Rats weren't pleased, but they accepted his offer, offloaded his items and sailed into the distance.
Goblin Gobble (voiced by Roy Kinnear)
He is a horrible green goblin that likes to hide in the woods and kidnap passers by, taking them back to his tower before
eating them.
Goblin Gobble's Tower is surrounded by a moat, with a drawbridge, but has trouble getting inside because of his lazy and
hard of hearing guard. Goblin Gobble can be often heard screaming for him to lower the drawbridge.
Unluckily for Towser, he was kidnapped by Goblin Gobble when walking in the woods. He was imprisoned in a room at the
top of his tower. Luckily, Goblin Gobble is a curious and greedy goblin, and when he heard Towser saying 'nice' and 'super', he wondered what he had
in there.
The guard unlocked the door and Goblin Gobble rushed in, but Towser rushed out and locked the door. Goblin Goblin shouted for his guard to let him
out, but unluckily the guard couldn't hear him...shame :)
Old Witch (voiced by Roy Kinnear)
As you can guess, she is a witch. She loves to fly around on her broomstick, which actually sounds more like a motor bike
revving up.
But one time, she lost control of her broomstick and embedded herself in the top of a tree. Luckily Towser was passing and
helped her out of it.
She was very grateful for his help and gave him a magic apple, telling him to treat it right and it will make him happier than
he'd ever been.
Towser wasn't convinced, as it looked like a normal apple, but he really looked after it by putting it on a nice cosy cushion, rubbing it, and seeing it it
would make him fly (it didn't). Eventually he cut it up into slices to see if it would make him happy by eating one.
It tasted nice, but nothing happened. But when he offered his friends a slice, he got a Kiss from Sadie, a Yo-Yo from the King and DR Smelly lent him
his hot air balloon. Maybe it was a magic apple after all!
Nosey Parker (voiced by Roy Kinnear)
He is a small curious creature that goes around looking at everything and sniffing it. But his curiosity can get the better of
him, as he barges into peoples houses looking for more objects to look for.
As you can probably tell, this type of behaviour doesn't go down well with people, and even Towser kicked him out of his
house. He went into the wizards house and caused chaos, looked in Sadie’s bag and everything went everywhere and he
checked out Dr Smelly's new robot which he broke!
Poor old Nosey Parker became upset when everyone was angry with him. He said he couldn't help himself and he was so lonely, as he was the only
nosey parker in the world.
Luckily the Wizard took pity on him and created another Nosey Parker for him. He was so happy.
The Green Alien (voiced by Roy Kinnear)
He is a green alien that landed in the Kingdom in his spaceship. When he emerged from it (in his spacesuit), he demanded
that Towser take him to their leader, who he would capture. Unsurprisingly Towser said no.
It seem the Green Alien likes to get his own way, because he went back into his spaceship and produced a ray gun,
threatening the kingdom with war. When Towser gave him the run around, he started firing Chocolate Bars from his gun at
them.
You see on his planet you win wars being nicer to your enemies than they are to you. Again he demanded to be taken to their leader, so Towser took
him to the kings play room. Here he pointed to the royal teddy bear and said that was their leader. The green alien believed him and kidnapped him
and took him back to his planet (poor Teddy). Not sure they ever got him to talk.
Towser
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Towser DVDs
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Towser Video
Towser Episodes
Series 1 (1982)
1. Towser and The Terrible Thing
2. Towser and Sadie's Birthday
3. Towser and The Lion
4. Towser and The Water rats
5. Towser and The Smile Machine
6. Towser and Goblin Gobble
7. Towser and The Magic Apple
8. Towser and The Nosey Parker
9. Towser and Sadie's Robot
10. Towser and The Holiday
11. Towser and The Alien Invader
12. Towser and The Funny Face
13. Towser and The Secret
14. Towser and The Wizard
15. Towser and The Dinner Party
16. Towser and The Dentist
17. Towser and Uncle Bosco
18. Towser and The Snowman
19. Towser and The Space Shot
20. Towser and The Flight
21. Towser and The Black Hole
22. Towser and The Haunted House
23. Towser and The Dragon
24. Towser and The Black Knight
25. Towser and The Slight Accident
26. Towser and The Conjuror
NO VIDEO...YET
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Towser Images
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Towser Books
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