Postman Pat

Each episode follows the adventures of Patrick Clifton, a friendly country postman, and his black and white cat Jess, as he delivers the post through the valley of Greendale. Although he initially concentrates on delivering his letters, he nearly always becomes distracted by a concern of one of the villagers, and is always keen to help resolve their problems. Notable villagers include the postmistress, Mrs. Goggins; farmer couple Alf and Dorothy Thompson; the Reverend Timms; PC Selby, the police constable; Jeff Pringle, the school teacher; Peter Fogg, a farm hand; George Lancaster, a chicken farmer; Sam Waldron, a grocer with a mobile shop; Miss Hubbard, an upper-class woman; Julia Pottage, who runs Greendale Farm and Ted Glen, the local handyman and inventor.

Postman Pat is set in the fictional village of Greendale and the nearby town of Pencaster, on the border between Cumbria and North Yorkshire.

Greendale has a different character in the various Postman Pat series. In the original series (1 and 2), it was a small village with narrow, winding roads. The gentle pace of life allowed Pat plenty of time to enjoy the countryside as he passed through, or even stop on quiet days to have a picnic.

In the more recent series, Greendale became a big, busy village situated in the heart of the Cumbrian countryside. Running through the centre of the village is the High Street, home to Mrs Goggins's Post Office and shop, an unofficial meeting place for residents. Located on the edge of the village is the railway station, home to the Greendale Rocket. Nisha Bains runs a popular café there with Sara while her husband Ajay runs a regular schedule on the Greendale Rocket to the nearby town of Pencaster.

In the second series of the show, which aired in 1996, the village at the centre of the series was briefly referred to as Garner Bridge, while Greendale was the name of the valley in which Garner Bridge was situated. In the episode Postman Pat and the Suit of Armour, Greendale Post Office is referred to as "Garner Bridge Post Office".

Pencaster is a large, bustling, modern town located within easy commuting distance for the villagers of Greendale. Situated on the waterfront, Pencaster is a hive of activity, boasting a market square in the centre surrounded by shops, houses, a large railway station, state-of-the-art buildings, and a boat jetty. It bears some resemblance to Lancaster, the county town of Lancashire, which likewise is a short commute from Longsleddale, the area used as the inspiration for Greendale.

Ingledale is another large, busy village town situated in the heart of the North Yorkshire countryside, only seen once in a special in 1991, set to make a second appearance in the revival.

Cunliffe, interviewed about the series, has said that he chose the character of a postman since he needed a character who could visit the countryside and interact with many different people.[5][6][7]

The inspiration for the post office itself comes from one located on the street in Kendal where Cunliffe lived when he was writing the original treatment. The post office, at 10 Greenside, closed in 2003.[8]

Cunliffe didn't retain rights to the character and was critical of some of the tie-in media later released. He wrote the stories to the series Rosie and Jim, which he also presented, as a show which he could have more creative control over.[7]

While Cunliffe visited post offices for inspiration, he has said that the character and village was not based on any one place or person. He commented in 2015 that "I got maybe half a dozen people last year saying they were the inspiration."[9]

In Series 1, Ken Barrie voiced all the characters and narrated the series. In Series 2, Carole Boyd joined to voice all the female characters and child characters except Granny Dryden who was still voiced by Barrie. In Series 3, Kulvinder Ghir, Janet James, and Archie Panjabi joined to voice the new characters and the child characters, while Boyd continued to voice the adult females, Charlie and Sarah, Melissa Sinden and Jimmy Hibbert also joined to perform the animal characters' vocal effects and Angela Griffin joined in Series 5 to voice a new character. In Series 6, Lewis MacLeod replaced Barrie as Pat. In Series 7, Barrie left completely and MacLeod, Bradley Clarkson, and Dan Milne took over the rest of Barrie's characters. Joe Trill joined in Series 8 to voice a new character.

• Lewis MacLeod as Patrick "Pat" Clifton (series 6-8), Ben Taylor, Robot 1, Sat Nav, Alf Thompson (series 7-8), Sean McGuinness
• Ken Barrie as Patrick "Pat" Clifton (series 1–5), Matt Clifton, Mrs Goggins (series 1), Ted Glen (series 1–6), Alf Thompson (series 1–6), Dorothy Thompson (series 1), Bill Thompson (series 1), Reverend Peter Timms (series 1–6), Julia Pottage (series 1), Katy Pottage (series 1), Tom Pottage (series 1), PC Arthur Selby (series 2–6), Lucy Selby (series 1), Sylvia Gilbertson (series 1), Sarah Gilbertson (series 1), Jeff Pringle, Charlie Pringle (series 1), Rebecca Hubbard (series 1), Sam Waldron, Granny Dryden, Peter Fogg, Major Forbes, George Lancaster, Santa Claus, Train Inspector, Pumpkin Wrigglesworth, Narrator, Radio Greendale Speaker, John, George, Countdown Sequence Voice
• Carole Boyd as Sara Clifton, Julian Clifton (series 2), Mrs. Goggins (series 2-present), Dorothy Thompson (series 2-present), Bill Thompson (series 2), Julia Pottage (series 2–5), Katy Pottage (series 2), Tom Pottage (series 2), Betty Pottage, Lucy Selby (series 2), Sylvia Gilbertson (series 2-8), Sarah Gilbertson (series 2-8), Jackie Gilbertson, Charlie Pringle (series 2-8), Rebecca Hubbard (series 2), George's Wife, Radio Weather Woman
• Kulvinder Ghir as Bill Thompson (series 3-8), Tom Pottage (series 3–5), Ajay Bains, Bessie Thompson, Michael Lam, Robot 2, Grizzly, Shopper-Bot 3000
• Janet James as Julian Clifton (series 3-8), Lucy Selby (series 3-8), Lauren Taylor
• Archie Panjabi as Katy Pottage (series 3–5), Nisha Bains, Meera Bains
• Melissa Sinden as Jess Clifton, Polly Clifton, Dotty Pringle, Bonnie Goggins
• Angela Griffin as Amy Wrigglesworth, Lizzy Taylor, Flora, Rowena Roberts, Duchess of Pencaster
• Bradley Clarkson as Ted Glen (series 7-8), Arthur Selby (series 7-8), Ned Glen
• Dan Milne as Reverend Peter Timms (series 7-8)
• Joel Trill as Chris Beacon
• Professor Brian Cox as Professor Ryan Farrow (Guest star)

In the spin-off series, Postman Pat: Special Delivery Service, Postman Pat has been promoted to Head of the SDS and is now called upon to deliver anything. Each episode follows Postman Pat on a Special Delivery mission, from rescuing a runaway cow to delivering a giant ice cube. In his new role, Postman Pat commutes to the nearby town of Pencaster where he collects his special deliveries from the Pencaster Mail Centre. Postman Pat now has a newer fleet of vehicles including a bigger van, gyrocopter, 4x4 Jeep and motorbike, complete with side-car for Jess.[10] He has a new boss, Ben, who tends to give him instructions (whereas he was his own master before the "promotion"). Pat also seems to make more mistakes in his work since moving to SDS, largely because the new format is always based on one delivery, which has to go wrong somehow (thus often because of Pat's errors).

The series features an expanded and diverse cast, a fleet of new vehicles, a world full of gadgets and the new town of Pencaster. Postman Pat: Special Delivery Service first screened on BBC2 on 29 September 2008. The new series was commissioned by the BBC and produced by Entertainment Rights and Cosgrove Hall Films.

A new series aired in 2016.[11]

"Slower-paced" and "faster-paced" episodes of Postman Pat were used in a 2021 research study on the effects of fast-paced television on children's cognitive and problem solving abilities. The results of the study suggested that faster-paced television did not negatively impact children's attention spans, problem-solving, or comprehension.[20]

In 2006, Postman Pat was nominated for "Best Pre-school Animation" at the BAFTA Children's Awards.[21]

• Harry Enfield and Chums featured a parody entitled "Il Postino Pat" (the show's Italian title), with an operatic reworking of the theme tune and the characters speaking in Italian. At the end, there is a communist revolution in Greendale, and Pat is shot and killed by fascist soldiers.[22]
• Harry and Paul parodied Postman Pat in series 3 and 4 with "Parking Pataweyo", an African immigrant working as a stereotypically uncompromising traffic warden, played by Daniel Kaluuya, whose name and theme tune are based on Pat's.
• In 1987, Spitting Image, the topical satirical puppet series, featured "Temporary Postman Pratt"[23] in a send-up of Royal Mail's employment of temporary postal workers during busy times. In the opening titles, Pratt can be seen driving a familiar (though yellow in colour) van along country roads before running over a black and white cat. Pratt likes to clear his workload as quickly as he can by dumping the post rather than delivering it. He is portrayed as a student who is lazy and rude. The segment was animated by Aardman Animations.
• In 1986, an episode of Bobby Davro on the Box featured Postman Pete, alongside other characters with spoofed names, such as Granny Wisden and Fred Ben. The segment was narrated and the theme tune was sung by the original series narrator, Ken Barrie.
• In the round Scenes We'd Like to See on Mock the Week, series 15 episode 3, entitled Things you Wouldn't Hear on a Kids' TV Show, Miles Jupp recorded the following parodied lines: "Yodel delivery driver Pat, Yodel delivery driver Pat / He's thrown your parcel in a hedge".
• In 2009, Casseta e Planeta Urgente parodied select episodes of series 6 under the title Carteiro Pot, o Serviço de Entregas Opcionais: in this parody, the characters spoke in Portuguese and the theme tune had a synthesized instrumental and was performed by Fiuk and Marcelo Madureira with new lyrics by Casseta e Planeta.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Postman Pat.

• Postman Pat at IMDb
• Postman Pat at the BFI's Screenonline