Peter Hazel the Postman (lost BBC pitch pilot; 1965)

The original puppet of Peter Hazel, as seen in the pilot.

Status: Lost

In 1965, in preparation for the production of the Watch with Mother series ‘Camberwick Green’ a pitch pilot was produced to show to members of the BBC. It roughly followed the same plot as the first episode of the finished series, ‘Peter Hazel the Postman’, which follows Peter as he goes on his postal rounds, meeting characters such as Windy Miller, Dr Mopp and Captain Snort. When a full series was commissioned, the decision was made to film the episodes in both black & white and colour, using two cameras placed side by side However, as Peter had already been shot in black & white (as the pilot), it was decided to film a new colour version only. As most UK households at the time did not have colour television sets, the Peter pilot marked the first broadcast of Camberwick Green on the 3rd January 1966.

Little is known about the pilot version, though we are able to make some educated guesses. According to an article by Tim Worthington, one shot of Peter Hazel walking through the woods featured an error where, during the animation process, the trees around him sagged slowly downwards due to the hot studio lights. The animators had no way to look back at the animation they had done at the time, and as the sagging happened so gradually it was not noticed until days later when they were viewing the reels.

In the 1966 LP release ‘Welcome to Camberwick Green’, during Mrs Dingle’s song in the post office, the character later known as Mickey Murphy was referred to as ‘Bertie Baker’, making it possible that this was the original name of the character as featured in the pilot. Interestingly, in the 1968 book ‘Songs from Camberwick Green’, which featured sheet music and lyrics of the songs from the series, ‘Bertie Baker’ is named, as well as ‘Mr Dingleweed’ taking the place of Mr Honeyman.

On the back cover of a 1972 re-release of the same record, simply titled Camberwick Green, there is an image of Peter which is believed to be from the pilot. His head is smaller, and the shape of his hair is slightly different. The photo is quite low quality, but it is possible that he also has a pointed nose, as opposed to the round nose of his later incarnation. It is unknown if the puppet body is the same as on the later puppet. A traced over drawing of this image was featured in the Radio Times issue from 30th December 1965, as well as on an early bagatelle toy featuring some of the characters.

This pilot has not been aired since at least the 1980s, when broadcasts of the series majorly stopped altogether, and it has never been released on any home media. It is unknown if the BBC have the pilot or any of the other black and white versions of the episodes in their archives, however all the original film masters of the colour versions still exist, so we can hold out hope that perhaps one day it will be found.

Picture Gallery

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  A sheet music excerpt from ‘Songs from Camberwick Green’ featuring the original names of the characters ‘Bertie Baker’ and ‘Mr Dingleweed’, who were later replaced by ‘Mickey Murphy’ and ‘Mr Honeyman’ respectively

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  The original puppet of Peter Hazel, as featured on the back cover of the ‘Camberwick Green’ LP

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  The head of the original Peter puppet as seen in the pilot

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  The head of the second Peter puppet as seen in the finished episode

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  A radio times article from 30th December 1965, featuring a traced version of the Peter photo

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  A bagatelle game from 1966, featuring a traced version of the Peter photo