The Gublins (TV series)

The Gublins (also known as The Gublin Legends^[1]) is a stop-motion children's television show broadcast between 1977 and 1979. It was the final animated series made by British animator Gordon Murray, the creator of Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley^[2] and was shown as part of the Saturday morning children's TV show Multi-Coloured Swap Shop on BBC One.^[3] Each episode was 5 minutes long with Murray introducing each one directly to camera.^[1]

The Gublins
Also known as	The Gublin Legends
Created by	Gordon Murray
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Running time	5 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC One
Release	December 24, 1977 (1977-12-24) – 1978 (1978)

The series related various folk tales told in verse.^[4] The Gublins themselves were chimp-like creations^[4][5] (the word "Gublin" is a pun on the humanoid creature "goblin") that featured in a series of Tall Stories, narrated in rhyming couplets to a simple acoustic soundtrack provided by Freddie Phillips.

Episodes

There were thirteen episodes filmed although only twelve are known by name.^[3][6] The folk tales came from a variety of traditions, including Cornish, Bohemian and Arabic sources.^[3] The first episode, Obadiah and Flo, was broadcast on 24 December 1977.^[7] The named episode titles are:

• Obadiah and Flo
• Bessie O'the Glen (or the Inversneekie Doonie)
• The Barber of Cartina
• Mr Dilley's Mermaid
• The Prince Frog
• The Magic Tree
• The Kendal Candle
• The Emperor's Willow Warbler
• The Honey-Coloured Hat
• The Dancing Princess
• Charley's Feather
• The Prudent Prince^[6]

Associated merchandise

Three of these stories appeared in the BBC Swap Shop Books (2,3 & 4) as photostories. There were also five photostory books published separately titled "Young Gublins Picture Storybooks". They were completely new stories called:

• The Lost Drum
• The Surprise Present
• The Wishing Well
• Grandpa's Mistake

A VHS entitled "Children's Seventies TV Favourites" featuring episodes of The Gublins was released by Contender studios in 1998.^[1]