Henry's Cat

Henry's Cat
DVD cover
Genre	Comedy Adventure
Created by	Bob Godfrey Stan Hayward
Written by	Kevin Baldwin Bob Godfrey Stan Hayward Mike Knowles
Directed by	Bob Godfrey
Voices of	Bob Godfrey
Narrated by	Bob Godfrey
Theme music composer	Peter Shade John Hyde Rowland Lee Jonathan Hodge
Opening theme	Henry's Cat Theme
Ending theme	Henry's Cat Theme (Instrumental)
No. of series	5
No. of episodes	51
Production
Executive producer	Bob Godfrey
Producer	Bob Godfrey
Running time	4-5 minutes (series 1 & 2) 14-15 minutes (series 3 & 4) 12 minutes (series 5)
Production company	Bob Godfrey Films Ltd.
Original release
Network	BBC1
Release	September 12, 1983 (1983-09-12) – June 10, 1993 (1993-06-10)

Henry's Cat is a British animated children's television series, created by Stan Hayward and directed by Bob Godfrey, who was also the producer of Roobarb and Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk. The show starring a yellow feline, known only as Henry's Cat, and his many friends and enemies. In every episode, narration and character voices were provided by Bob Godfrey.

Henry's Cat was first screened by BBC Television in the United Kingdom on September 12, 1983, and aired for 5 series and 51 episodes. The show was re-dubbed for American audiences with the voice of Dom DeLuise.

Characters

Main

• Henry's Cat – The main protagonist, a laid-back daydreamer with a great passion for eating and adventure.
• Chris Rabbit – Henry's Cat's best friend, an ever-enthusiastic, highly energetic blue rabbit.
• Mosey Mouse – The opposite of Chris Rabbit, Mosey is dour and realistic.
• Douglas Dog, Sammy Snail, Pansy Pig, Denise Duck, Ted Tortoise, Philippe Frog – miscellaneous friends of Henry's Cat. They all mean well, but often overestimate their own abilities in various ways.

Antagonists

• Farmer Giles – A crotchety human farmer with a West Country accent who is occasionally inconvenienced by Henry's Cat's antics. He only appears in the first season.
• Constable Bulldog – A stern but fair policeman (or police dog) who takes a very dim view of the gang's well-meaning escapades but is usually willing to negotiate.
• Rum Baa Baa – The main antagonist: a criminal mastermind sheep who is Henry's Cat's archenemy.

Henry

Henry himself never appeared on screen; the name is thought by some to be an allusion to an earlier one-off Hayward/Godfrey collaboration, Henry 9 'til 5, about a bowler-hatted commuter who escaped his boring everyday life by indulging in daydreams, mostly of a sexual nature. Henry's Cat shared the earlier character's tendency toward wild flights of fancy and laid-back approach to life. Henry's Cat creator Stan Hayward included the official explanation for the character's lack of a name on the official Henry's Cat Special Edition DVD in 2000: Henry (who never appeared in the series proper) was Henry's Cat's original owner, but one day, he moved away, and Henry's Cat had forgotten to go with him. The cat had a terrible memory, and eventually even forgot his own name, and so became known simply as "Henry's Cat".

Episode list

Series 1 (1983)

Each episode in this series is 4–5 minutes long.

#	Title	Summary	Original air date
1	The Race	Henry's Cat holds a race with all his friends racing with their own talents.	12 September 1983
2	The Hypnotist	Henry's Cat is inspired by the TV to try out hypnotism to help his friends, but soon decides to undo his hypnosis.	13 September 1983
3	The Hobby	Henry's Cat is inspired to find a hobby of his own and watches his friends doing theirs.	14 September 1983
4	The Treasure	Henry's Cat and Chris Rabbit try to find treasure with a dividing stick.	15 September 1983
5	The Whale	Henry's Cat goes fishing for a whale to get something new to eat.	16 September 1983
6	The Diet	Henry's Cat takes the advice of a weighing machine to cut down on overeating and take exercise.	19 September 1983
7	The Invention	Henry's Cat is inspired to invent a machine and ends inventing something for Captain McGregor.	20 September 1983
8	The Circus	Henry's Cat sees a circus and sees this as an exciting opportunity.	21 September 1983
9	The Holiday	Henry's Cat goes on holiday on a sailing boat at sea.	22 September 1983
10	The Competition	Henry's Cat, Chris Rabbit and Mosey Mouse dress up as a one-man band for a competition.	23 September 1983
11	The Film	Henry's Cat gets an old film cine camera to make a film starring his friends.	26 September 1983
12	The Artist	Henry's Cat tries to learn about art and how artists see things differently.	27 September 1983
13	The Moon Trip	Henry's Cat and Chris Rabbit go in a balloon for a journey to the moon.	28 September 1983
14	The Fortune Teller	Henry's Cat goes to a fortune teller at a funfair with his future near at hand.	29 September 1983
15	The Disco Dance	Henry's Cat takes his friends to a disco dance competition. When that does not work out, they join a carnival.	30 September 1983
16	The Ill Wind	A sick Henry's Cat imagines himself dying and going to the afterlife.	13 September 1983
17	The Dream	Henry's Cat falls asleep after eating a lot, dreaming about vivid things.	20 September 1983
18	The Robbery	Henry's Cat becomes detective, but runs into Mosey Mouse's uncle.	27 September 1983
19	The Explorer	Henry's Cat goes exploring to find the West Pole.	4 October 1983
20	The Christmas Dinner	Henry's Cat helps Chris Rabbit prepare a Christmas Dinner but they get themselves stuck.	24 December 1983

Series 2 (1984)

Each episode in this series is 4–5 minutes long.

#	Title	Summary	Original air date
21	The Secret Weapon	Henry's Cat dreams about himself and Chris Rabbit as scientists defending the earth from little blue men.	11 October 1984
22	The Hot Day	On a hot day in France, Henry's Cat unknowingly finds captain joining the Foreign Legion in the hot desert.	18 October 1984
23	The Invitation	Henry's Cat is invited to dinner party with Lady Snotgrove, but he feels unprepared without proper table manners.	25 October 1984
24	The Magic Tummy Button	Henry's Cat and his friends search a museum for the lost temple of Aki-Kun-Bubu to find the magic tummy button.	1 November 1984
25	The Actor	Henry's Cat decides to become a famous actor and does in the Theatre by accident.	8 November 1984
26	The Ventriloquist	Henry's Cat enters a contest as a ventriloquist with Chris Rabbit as his dummy, but it all goes wrong.	15 November 1984
27	The Hero	Henry's Cat imagines his Great Uncle Felix's adventure as a First World War ace fighter pilot against Baron Von Baa Baa in 1916.	22 November 1984
28	The Catseye Kid	Henry's Cat imagines himself as the cowboy Catseye who is out to stop the cattle rancher, Bandit Baa Baa.	29 November 1984
29	The Clever Trick	Henry's Cat learns a trick to bend objects, which eventually makes him famous around the world.	6 December 1984
30	The Abominable Snowman	Henry's Cat and Chris Rabbit go an expedition which winds them up in trouble.	13 December 1984
31	Caveman Cat	Henry's Cat daydreams about being a cave cat with his inventing neighbour Chris Rabbit.	20 December 1984
32	The New Year's Resolution	Henry's Cat is prompted to take exercise for New Year with a backwards running race with his friends.	28 December 1984
33	The Good News Day	On a day when nothing happens, Henry's Cat dreams he is a heroic captain of a plane that cruises across the world.	3 January 1984
34	The Merry Men and Women	Henry's Cat dresses as Robin Hood and recruits his friends as his Merry Men and Women.	10 January 1984
35	The Weatherman	Henry's Cat becomes a weatherman to report good weather forecasts.	4 December 1984

Series 3 (1986)

Each episode in this series is 14–15 minutes long.

#	Title	Summary	Original air date
36	The Treasure Hunt	Henry's Cat dreams of being a member of his own crew at sea after reading in 18th Century Treasure Island.	8 January 1986
37	The Day of Terrible Jokes	Henry's Cat fascinated by Medieval Knights dreams that he is a bold knight winning a jousting tournament against Sir Loin of Lamb. After that he is sent to capture a three-headed dragon.	15 January 1986
38	The Case of the Pilfered Pearls	Henry's Cat imagines himself as Sherlock Holmes on the trail of Rum Baba (here operating under the name of Rumbini) who has been using his magic shows as a means to steal expensive jewellery from the rich.	22 January 1986
39	The Lost World	Henry's Cat fascinated by a TV program called Tarzan dreams that he himself is a jungle man with the huge responsibility to take care of the Lost World. The next day Henry's Cat must keep Rum Baa Baa from capturing the mighty King Kongo.	29 January 1986
40	The Computer	Henry's Cat goes to a computer exhibition. There he rents a small computer robot he calls Pooter. Trying to buy Pooter is hard and keep his house orderly is difficult for Henry's Cat.	5 February 1986
41	The Correspondence Course	After seeing a cartoon advertisement on TV, Henry's Cat decides to become an animator himself. This episode features a character called Big Bob, who is a caricature of Bob Godfrey.	12 February 1986

Series 4 (1986–87)

Each episode in this series is 14–15 minutes long.

#	Title	Summary	Original air date
42	Once Upon a Time	Henry's Cat imagines himself meeting various fairy tale characters – and a wolf who wants to eat Little Red Riding Hood's Granny.	22 December 1986
43	The Birthday Caper	Fed up on his birthday, Henry's Cat decides to both go to Hollywood and try becoming a famous film star.	13 February 1987
44	The Funny Feeling	Mosey Mouse catches Clownitis, a disease a year on Mid-Summer's Day after he drank Moo-Moo Juice. Henry's Cat rushes to the Moo-Moo Juice factory to stop Rum Baa Baa (who is controlling the machine).	20 February 1987
45	Out for the Count	Henry's Cat and Chris Rabbit are in a blowing gum match, but get lost and enter the creepy castle of Count Rum Baa Baa. Together they thwart his experiments.	22 September 1987
46	The Jingle	Henry's Cat and Chris Rabbit go to Cyril Chipper to help in his advertising campaign becoming successful.	1 December 1987
47	The Great Adventure	Henry's Cat and his friends go to space in a flying carrot, eat food tablets and try to get Rum Baa Baa caught.	8 December 1987

Series 5 (1992–93)

Each episode in this series is 12 minutes long.

#	Title	Summary	Original air date
48	The Mystery of the Missing Santa	Henry's Cat and Chris Rabbit as detectives go on a caper to find the kidnapped Father Christmas. They both break in the chateau, rescue Father Christmas and get Count Rum Baa Baa arrested.	24 December 1992
49	When Time Went Wrong	After attempting to fix his cuckoo clock, Henry's Cat along with Chris Rabbit travel in time to Prehistoric Times. As they try to go back to the Present, they travel from one Epoch to another.	30 December 1992
50	The New President	Henry's Cat applies to be the new president of the United States of America and have his portrait carved into Mount Rushmore. Chris Rabbit tells him about the history of America featuring George Washington, Charlie Chaplin and the Seven Dwarfs.	29 April 1993
51	Valentine's Day	Henry's Cat sees Pansy Pig on TV, wearing a paper bag on her head, thinking she is ugly and nobody loves her. He pities her, so he and his pals put on a "blind dates" show for her. Note: This episode along with "The President's Day" won a Cable Ace Award in 1994 for Best Children's TV Series.	10 June 1993

Notes

• For some reason, all of the Henry's Cat episodes from Series 1 are dated 1983 and from Series 2 to Series 5 are dated 1984 in the credits.
• Bob Godfrey Films' opening logo of this series was Henry's Cat meowing, in a direct parody of the MGM logo.
• The companies that released the videos were Guild Home Video, Castle Vision/Playbox Video, Children's Choice, and Screen Legends/Pickwick Video. Despite airing on Children's BBC, it was never licensed to home video by BBC Video. Family Home Entertainment and HBO Video also had released VHS tapes in the US in 1986 and 1989 respectively.
• In January 2008, a promotional DVD containing all Series 1 episodes was distributed by The Times newspaper.

Credits

Series 1

• Created by: Stan Hayward
• Script: Stan Hayward
• Animation: Bob Godfrey, Paul Stone, Kevin Baldwin
• Music & Sound: Peter Shade
• Narrated by: Bob Godfrey
• Camera & Editing: Derek Phillips
• Production: Mike Hayes
• Produced & Directed by: Bob Godfrey

(c) Stan Hayward Bob Godfrey Films Ltd. 1983

Series 2

• Created by: Stan Hayward
• Script: Stan Hayward
• Animation: Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey, Malcolm Hartley, Drew Mandigo, Paul Stone
• Assistant Animator: Malou Bonicos, one episode, series 2, The Hot Day
• Music: John Hyde / de Wolfe Ltd.
• Dubbing: John Wood Studios
• Editing: Sean Lenihan
• Camera: Derek Phillips
• Production: Mike Hayes
• Produced, Directed and Narrated by: Bob Godfrey

(c) Stan Hayward Bob Godfrey Films Ltd. 1984 (From Series 2 to Series 5)

Series 3

• Created by: Stan Hayward
• Script: Stan Hayward
• Animation: Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey, Malcolm Hartley, Mark Oz, Paul Rosevear
• Music: John Hyde / de Wolfe Ltd
• Trace & Paint: Tancy Baran, Beryl Godfrey, Louise Unwin
• Camera: Derek Phillips
• Editing: John Daniels
• Production: Mike Hayes
• Produced, Directed and Narrated by: Bob Godfrey

Series 4

• Created by: Stan Hayward
• Script: Stan Hayward
• Animation: Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey, Neil Salmon
• Additional Animation: Steve Roberts
• Music: Jonathan Hodge
• Trace and Paint: Beryl Godfrey, Louise Unwin
• Camera: Julian Holdaway, Heather Reader
• Editing: Picture Head
• Production: Mike Hayes
• Narrated, Directed and Produced by: Bob Godfrey

Series 5

• Created by: Stan Hayward
• Script: Stan Hayward, Mike Knowles, Kevin Baldwin, Bob Godfrey
• Storyboard, Layouts, Animation: Kevin Baldwin
• Additional Animation: Jeff Goldner, Neil Salmon, Bob Godfrey, Jody Gannon.
• Trace and Paint: Denise Hambry, Lisa Smith, Jazvinda Phull, Beryl Godfrey, Ricky Arnold
• Music: Rowland Lee
• Title Music: Jonathan P. Hodge
• Camera: Jeremy Moorshead
• Backgrounds: Bob Godfrey
• Editing: Picturehead
• Production: Mike Hayes
• Narrated, Produced and Directed by: Bob Godfrey

Home media

Australian VHS releases

• Roadshow Entertainment (2001)

VHS Title	Release Date	Episodes
Henry's Cat and Friends: The Hobby and Other Stories (102984)	14 March 2001	'The Hobby'; 'The Race'; 'The Circus'; 'The Competition'; 'The Moontrip'; 'The Film'; 'The Holiday'; 'The Treasure'; 'The Ill Wind'; 'The Diet'; 'The Fortune Teller'; and 'The Explorer'.
Henry's Cat and Friends: The Whale and Other Stories (102985)	13 June 2001	'The Whale'; 'The Invention'; 'The Dream'; 'The Robbery'; 'The Christmas Dinner'; 'The Hypnotist'; 'The Disco Dance'; 'The Artist'; 'The Magic Tummy Button'; 'The Secret Weapon'; 'The New Year's Resolution'; and 'The Good News Day'.
Henry's Cat and Friends: The Cat's Eye Kid and Other Stories (102986)	3 September 2001	'The Cat's Eye Kid'; 'The Hot Day'; 'The Merry Men and Women'; 'The Actor'; 'The Weatherman'; 'The Invitation'; 'The Ventriloquist'; 'The Clever Trick'; 'The Hero'; 'Caveman Cat'; and 'The Abominable Snowman'.

External links

• Official website
• The Henry's Cat Page
• Toonhound: Henry's Cat
• Henry's Cat at IMDb