Raggy Dolls

Title: Raggy Dolls
Country of Origin: UK
Produced by: Yorkshire Television
Air Date: 1986 - 1994
Number of Episodes: 112 (series 1-11)
Episode Length: 5 minutes
Shown in: UK, Australia, Sweden, Portugal

The Raggy Dolls

Info: British 2D animated series about the dolls sent to the reject bin.

Raggy Dolls lyrics

Opening theme tune lyrics:
It's not much of a life when you're just a pretty face,
Just to be whoever you are is no disgrace,
Don't be scared if you don't fit in...
Look who's in the reject bin!
It's the Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Dolls like you and me,
Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!)
M ade imperfectly!
So if you got a bump on your nose or a lump on your toes, do not despair,
Be like the Raggy Dolls, and say I just don't care,
'Cause Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Are happy just to be,
Raggy Dolls, Raggy Dolls,
Dolls like you and me!

Closing theme tune lyrics:
It's not much of a life when you're just a pretty face,
Just to be whoever you are is no disgrace,
Look around and you will find,
People of every kind!
Like the Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Dolls like you and me,
Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Raggy Dolls made imperfectly,
So if you’re not at ease with your knobbly knees and your fingers are all thumbs,
Stand on your two left feet and join our raggy doll chums!
'Cause raggy dolls, raggy dolls
Are happy just to be,
Raggy dolls, raggy dolls,
Dolls like you and me!

coming soon

EXCLUSIVE Interview with MARK MASON - animator of the Raggy Dolls!

Over December 03 and January 04 I took questions from visitors to ask Mark...
and these are his answers!

1. Christopher asked..
I am a HUGE fan of the raggy dolls! How did you get the ideas of raggy dolls?
And also can you give me Neil Innes email address? thank you!!

The Raggy Dolls concept was by Melvyn Jacobson, I was the animator and animation director.
The key members of the production team would throw ideas into the air, and Neil Innes would home in on some of them and write the scripts. I'm not sure of Neil's email address. Type him into Google to find his site, and email from there.

2. Phillip asked...
Hi, Mark! I used to watch the Raggy Dolls when it was on.
So, are you pleased with the success of the Raggy Dolls?

Very pleased, though it seems like such a long tme ago. It's great to hear from people like yourself who watched the show and still remember it fondly. I was recently asked to design a new Raggy Doll for Portsmouth University's rag week. They still owe me a T-shirt!
It's such a shame that no-one is rerunning the series.

3. Karen asked...
I grew up with the Raggy Dolls, and collected all the dolls. My favourite was by far Dotty. Who was your favourite and why? Ta!

I think my favourites are Back-to-Front and Lucy because they were fun characters to animate. BtF was a puzzle at times to draw- walking one way and looking another, and Lucy could dismember herself which had a lot of comic potential. My least favourite was Hi-Fi and his striped trousers.(Also see 4a)

4. Chris asked....
There are quite a few questions, so here goes!

a) Was it fun animating the episodes?
Most of the time. The animation crew on the show were great fun to work with, but the work was sometimes very hard due to tight schedules. At one stage I was having very bad nightmares about Hi-Fi.

b) What did you think when the Raggy Dolls got a 'new look'?
As I designed the new look, I liked it very much. Yorkshire TV wanted to up the quality from the marker pen style to something cleaner, cuter and fresher. The viewing figures rocketed as a result.

c) How long did it take you to become an animator?
I started 19 years ago. You never stop learning.

d) What other interests do you have?
I like silent movies, and recently saved an 80 year old cinema in my home town from being demolished.

e) Who is your favourite Raggy Doll and why?
See 3 above.

f) Did you get along well with Neil Innes? What did you think of his narrations?
Neil was great. We did't meet very often, but he's a lovely chap. He had the hardest job of all: writing all the scripts, doing all the voices and all the music; all brilliantly.

g) What do you do nowadays?
I continue to animate and illustrate. Take a look at my website at www.markmasonanimation.co.uk. Angelmouse, The Forgotten Toys, William's Wish Wellingtons, Philbert the Frog are some of the shows I've animated, but also TV commercials for Haribo, The York Dungeons and Park Hampers.

h) What was your favourite episode to do?
The Raggy Doll Disco and The Puppet Show.

i) If you've ever looked at an early Raggy Dolls episode, then another episode with their brighter look, did you think your work has really improved during those years?
I worked on the 64 brighter shows, so I suppose I'm biased. But you should strive for your work to always improve.

j) Would you like to see a Raggy Dolls DVD?
Yes, certainly. I've not seen most of the shows for nearly 14 years.

k) Is there any chance of a Raggy Dolls 'reincarnation'?
I really don't know. I'd love to work on a new incarnation of the show, but I don't hold the rights to the series.

l) What advice would you give to any young wannabe animators/artists?
Draw, draw,and draw. Don't copy other people's work, think up your own characters and ideas. Don't expect to get rich, only do it if it really makes you happy.

m) What happens in the last ever R.D episode?
I'm sorry, I really can't remember. Maybe they launch the reject bin into the sea and sail off into the sunset.

n) How were the Raggy Dolls created?
Traditional 2D animation. Script written, storyboard drawn, layouts and backgrounds drawn, the animation was drawn on paper, then inked onto transparent cels, painted by hand, shot under a rostrum camera onto 16mm film, edited, sound effects added.

5. Zyk0tiK asked...
Do you think that today's Children's TV shows are as good as the Children's TV Shows from the 80s?
Yes, some of them are. Some aren't. The Animated Batman was great. I like House of Mouse, Animaniacs, Odd Parents(?), Ren and Stimpy and Spongebob Squarepants. I do also like Angelmouse, William's Wish Wellingtons and Philbert the Frog.I'm currently working on a brand new pre-school series of Muffin the Mule (out next year) and three 1.5min episodes of a fun project by a friend of mine called Sausage and Mash for Nickelodian.

6. Nikki asked...
I can see how Princess would of been a princess doll if she had not somehow got horrible straw hair and a patchwork skirt but what I'm always confused about is what was sad sack supposed to be?
Sad Sack was a "one off" prototype doll. His backstory was that he proved too expensive to mass produce because of his size, and so only one was made and swiftly thrown into the reject bin.

7. Cabe asked...
they say that there is a Raggy doll in all of us, which character would you say you most identify with? (I would definitely be a HiFi :) )
I designed a new RaggyDoll who appeared in 3 or 4 episodes called Raggymuffin. He was a wandering, traveller doll who'd lost his owner and decided to spend his life taking in new sights and experiences. I think I most identify with that.

8. Gaz asked...
Is that Paul McCartney I hear singing the theme tune to Raggy Dolls??? It sounds just like him?? Help!
Neil Innes sings the title song, which he also wrote. See also 4f.

Mark added...
Many thanks for all the questions. I hope I've answered them to your satisfaction.
It's so nice to know that all the work I and the Raggy Doll crew did over the years is so fondly remembered.