Arabel's Raven (Arabel and Mortimer Series)

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The second series' second third was originally shown on Mondays at 4:00 pm and Wednesdays at 3:55 pm from 14 to 30 November 1994. A team of puppeteers led by Francis Wright, who, with several helpers, had been responsible for the manipulation of the Psammead, was selected not just for their ability as ‘dolly-wagglers’ but for the suitability of their voices for the parts. Quentin provided us with reference sketches which all the people working on the project had photocopied and pinned up in every available place so they could keep as near as possible to his likenesses. Leggitt's pet pigeon Pianono, a Scottish odd-job woman named Flo (known as "Have-A-Go Flo" and "In-The-Know Flo" by Mr.

Joan had a variety of jobs, including working for the BBC, the United Nations Information Centre and then as features editor for a short story magazine. As we had planned that Mortimer would need to be a fully electronic, walking, wing-flapping, beak-opening, eye-moving animatronic bird, it was finally agreed we would spend some money to develop him and produce a mini-pilot programme to test his movements and see whether the whole project would work. Two years were indeed to elapse while budgets were drawn up and decisions made as to whether Mortimer and Arabel really was to go ahead. Mortimer is a lovable fiend, a walking disaster, prone to eating everything in sight including the staircase given the chance but the Jones family, in their own peculiar way, are devoted to him.

After the initial shock, and helped I’m sure by the fact that Lizza had worked in puppet theatre, they gave their blessing. The first story explained how Mortimer came to be part of their lives much to the delight of Arabel, who adores him, the despair of Mrs Jones who has a love/hate relationship with him, and the long-suffering patience of Mr Jones. Leggitt's accomplices Bill and Joe, Mayor Saddlejoy and his wife, the Town Hall's secretary Doreen, Sergeant (later Mayor, after Saddlejoy retired from his position at the end of the first series) Cutlink, P. Me gusta cómo pasa a ser tan cotidiano y normal tener a un cuervo que no le gusta volar en casa, quien pasa dejando destrozos pero de las maneras más ingeniosas. Y me encanta que, en historias como la del zoo, Mortimer no es quien salva el día, sino que anda en lo suyo buscando revancha de las jirafas.

Another series of children's books about Arabel and her raven Mortimer are illustrated by Quentin Blake, and have been shown on the BBC as Jackanory and drama series. Further Arabel and Mortimer stories arrived, uncommissioned, at regular intervals and so began a long-standing relationship between Joan, Quentin, Bernard Cribbins (who read all but the first story), and all of us in the Jackanory office. Two little girls were duly cast as try-outs for Arabel, a kitchen `set’ was specially built and two days were spent testing the whole operation. Post-production is now under way: editing the entire series, adding opening and closing titles and the specially commissioned music.The second series' final third was, again, shown on Mondays at 4:00 pm and Wednesdays at 3:55 pm, between 5 and 21 December 1994. Mortimer and Arabel is a BBC puppet comedy-drama series based on the book series of the same name by Joan Aiken (1924-2004) that was aired on BBC One as part of the Children's BBC strand (as it was known before 4 October 1997) from 15 November 1993 to 21 December 1994. When Arabel's father, Ebenezer Jones, drives his taxi home late one night he comes across 'a large black bird, with a hairy fringe around its beak.