Once close to being thrown away, the vast archive of Manchester’s Cosgrove Hall – the studio behind Danger Mouse, Postman Pat and Bill & Ben – has been saved and is now on public display at Sale Library.
A permanent exhibition featuring a number of items from Cosgrove Hall’s animation archive has opened(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Ten years ago, there was the very real possibility that a whole treasure trove of film and television history in the form of character models, sets, prompts, scripts and much more which had sat idly by for years in a loading bay could have ended up discarded and thrown in a skip.
But, thankfully, the vast archives of animation studio Cosgrove Hall – behind the likes of Danger Mouse, Bill & Ben, Postman Pat and The Wind In The Willows – were saved thanks to the rallying of animators and local residents demanding the Manchester studio’s history was preserved. A grant supported by Heritage Lottery Fund, Sale Waterside and Arts Council England helped save the hundreds of items from making it to the doomed skip.
This week, a mere snippet of those items saved, dating from the 70s to 2011, have gone on display at a new exhibition at the recently-restored Sale Library. Marking the archive’s first permanent collection, the free-to-attend space aims to not only remind people that Europe’s largest animation studio in Europe was once right on our doorstep.
The collection features artwork, models, and props used in shows like Danger Mouse and Noddy(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Founded in 1976 by Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall, who met whilst at university in Manchester and later worked alongside each other in the graphics department at Granada TV, Cosgrove Hall began with Chorlton and the Wheelies, a popular stop-frame animated series for ITV which ran for three years until 1979, which featured a titular character named after the south Manchester suburb where the original studio base was located.
Not long after came Danger Mouse, which pivoted the studio into international acclaim. Then The Wind in the Willows, earning them both a BAFTA and an international Emmy award. Count Duckula, Truckers, Noddy’s Toyland Adventures, Andy Pandy, Postman Pat, Pocoyo, Bill & Ben, Fifii and the Flowertots, The BFG and many others all proceeded in the following years – marking four successful decades of animation. In 2011, Cosgrove Hall was absorbed into its parent company ITV, later ceasing to exist.
Models and props used for filming of The Wind in the Willows(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
“It’s really nice to be able to share all of this history with the public,” Rosy Whittemore, the archivist and curator at Cosgrove Hall Films Archive, tells the M.E.N of the Sale Library space. “To have it in its own permanent place just feels really special. I think for a number of years, Cosgrove Hall has become a bit of a ‘If you know, you know’ thing. But even if people don’t know the name of the studio, they will often still know of Danger Mouse or Bill & Ben.
Every single person who has walked into the exhibition so far has been able to connect something to their childhood. And I think that’s one thing that made them really special and helped them stand out. They were so versatile, they made so many different things.”
Richard Evans, Creative Industries Trafford (CIT) leader at Waterside Arts, has been heavily involved in the saving and restoration of the Cosgrove Hall archive and he is still amazed today how many of the works on display were just months away from being thrown away. “It does actually feel like a bit of a milestone,” he acknowledges.
Archivist and curator Rosy Whittemore said it ‘feels really special’ for the collection to be on permanent display(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
“It’s been a long time coming, but it’s just great that we are able to celebrate the creativity, the talent and the stories that they told. We are calling it a live-in archive as we really do want to make it relevant to a new generation of animators.”
Cosgrove Hall has clearly served as a reference point for Hollywood and global productions throughout the years, with LAIKA Studios, behind the likes of Coraline and Paranorman, as well as directors Guillimero Del Toro and Tim Burton, all taking inspiration from the Manchester studio’s back history.
The exhibition offers a chance to get a close-up look behind the scenes of some of Cosgrove Hall’s iconic shows(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
And with the rise of AI blurring the lines of animation and art, Richard believes now is the ideal opportunity to open a collection which honours the traditional and painstakingly-precise methods of production and storytelling. “Stop-motion has gone global,” he explains. “It is still being made, it’s still an eternal life form.
“It’s nice that these crazy stories have had such success behind them. They demonstrate a real care for storytelling, and that was always important to Cosgrove Hall. They often didn’’t make much of a big deal out of themselves, because they cared more for the stories they were telling. I think seeing these wholesome projects and the way they were made could be really important in keeping that light going and encouraging the next generation.”
A set used for Postman Pat is on display in the exhibition(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
It’s something that curator Rosy agrees with too. “Because of studios like Cosgrove Hall, Manchester is still regarded as one of the big capitals of animation,” she says. “I do feel like they are still inspiring so many animators today.
“What I hope the most with this exhibition is that it will put the spotlight on how important and influential they were. I am excited for fans to reconnect with things, but also for new generations to learn about Cosgrove Hall for the first time.”
The Cosgrove Hall Films Archive is open at Sale Library now. Free to attend.