Pogles Wood is the story of woodland folk who lived "deep in the middle of a wood" in a tree with a magic bean plant. Pogles Wood was a Smallfilms Production, originally shown by the BBC between 1964 and 1968. Smallfilms was the name given to the collaboration between Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, who made many children's programmes between 1957 and 1987. Other Smallfilm productions include The Clangers, Bagppuss and Ivor the Engine. There were 32 episodes of Pogles Wood made, including 'Princess And The Jewel', 'Woodwork', 'Cake Crumbs' and 'Umbrellas'.
Click here to listen to the voice-over at the beginning of the programme (640KB wav file) or here to download (283KB zip file).
The Characters
The main characters were Mr Pogle, Mrs Pogle, who is always referred to as "wife" by her husband, a young boy called Pippin, and Tog who was an animal friend and playmate for Pippin.
Mr Pogle
Mr Pogle is a skilled craftsman. He's clever with his hands, and made the stilts for Pippin and Tog. He leads blackberry picking expeditions, even though these aren't always successful and they end up with a barrow-load of rabbits instead.
Going to pick blackberries Giving the rabbits a ride
Mrs Pogle
Mrs Pogle's role appears to be that of a traditional housewife, (she stays at home while the menfolk go out and have fun) but she rules her family of men and she orders them all about - for example - to go and pick blackberries for her. She also comes to the rescue when Mr Pogle, Pippin and Tog get into their scrapes, and when they've been good, she rewards them with treats such as buttercup jelly, bean cake and bilberry wine. Click here to listen to Mr Pogle's praise of her. (128KB wav file).
What are these rabbits doing? 
Buttercup Jelly for tea
Click here (468KB wav file) to listen to the song the Pogles sang when Mr Pogle found some honey and together with Tog and Pippin brought it back home for supper, or here to download (358KB zip file).
Pippin
Pippin is a little boy, but his exact relationship to Mr and Mrs Pogle is unclear. According to the autobiography of Oliver Postgate, he is the son of the King of the Fairies whom the Pogles are looking after for some unspecified reason. (Many thanks to Elliot!) However, this does not stop the male Pogles enjoying a happy father-son relationship. Pippin is the kind of little boy who gets into scrapes, such as pushing the barrow too fast over the bumps so the wheel comes off, and getting stuck in the stream with Tog when they are playing with their stilts.
Pippin pushes the barrow 
Pippin and Tog get stuck on their stilts
Tog
Tog is the fourth member of the quartet of Pogles. It's unclear exactly what animal he is - possibly a cross between a rabbit and a squirrel? (I'm open to correction on this, as there has even been suggestion that he is some kind of woodland sprite!) One source of information states that he was a stuffed toy that is temporarily given life by Mr Pogle (using magic that he has been loaned) to help him rescue the King of the Fairies (Pippin's father.) After the rescue, the King thanks Tog by permanently giving him life and, again, entrusting him to the Pogles. (Many thanks to John!) He has a cheeky, appealing face, and likes to play with Pippin. Together they get up to all kinds of mischief. Tog also has some kind of speech defect, as in "Toggle glot wheel" (Tog got wheel) or "Oim gluck" (I'm stuck!).
Tog finds the wheel
Tog also plays on his own sometimes, or with his other friends, who include a hedgehog, and a family of mice. The hedgehog was often responsible for getting the Pogles to come out to play. Oliver Postgate would say: "Look there goes Master Hedge-pig. I wonder where he's going". Then the hedgehog scrambles through the wood until he comes to the Pogles doorbell, then gives it a pull as an early morning call. (Many thanks to Jim!)
Tog playing alone Tog's hedgehog friend 
Tog and the mice
The Magic Plant
The magic plant (some sources say a bean, others a type of rose?) grew in the Pogles' front garden, drank bilberry wine poured by Mrs Pogle from a jug onto its roots to spark it into story-telling action (many thanks to Mark), and was an important member of the community. As well as telling wonderful stories, it educated Pippin and Tog about things they'd discovered in the wood and also played the violin. (Many thanks to Alan and Jim!)
Click on the image to see a family group of all the Pogles having tea. (Many thanks to Neil for this image.)
The Pipe Cleaner Family
The Pipe Cleaner Family - Father, Mother, and two children lived in a wooden pencil case with a sliding lid. On occasion they told stories and had a kind of interlude in the middle of the programme. Originally they may have been made by Mrs. Pogle and brought to life by Plant. Their adventures included the following escapades:
1) Their house - (probably the adventure that introduced them to the series, it always seemed to be the first one shown by the BBC every time they repeated the series. )
2) Bricks - They build a town out of toy bricks, which in the end collapses after they rush about in a toy train(?).
3) The roundabout - They play on a merry go round made out of an old tin of ajax(?) and other odds and ends. This may have been in the same episode that the Pogles visit a fun fair.
Many thanks to Matt for his memories and information on the Pipe Cleaner Family.
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Now it's time to say goodbye to the Pogles. Click here to listen to the closing tune (442KB wav file) or here (366KB zip file) to download.
Most of the information on this page is based on memories of what I and my 30-something friends can remember from the TV programme of our childhood, with some help from a 1969 Pippin Annual. I apologise for any inaccuracies! If anyone has any more information about the Pogles I would love to hear from you. Many thanks must go to Stuart for his painstaking work on the Pogle wav files. Why not visit?
Comments, compliments, criticisms? You can e-mail me using the link below.
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The Dragons' Friendly Society was set up by Oliver Postgate and Loaf, to take care of "lost treasures" like Pogles Wood - do take a look at the website. |
Last updated 3rd January 2004.
since 29th August 1998.
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