The Raggy Dolls
The Raggy Dolls is a 1986-1994 British cartoon series which originally aired on ITV. The series is set in Mr Grimes' Toy Factory, where imperfect dolls are thrown into a reject bin. While unobserved by human eyes, the dolls come to life and climb out of the reject bin to have adventures. The series was designed to encourage children to think positively about physical disabilities. 112 episodes were produced. History. The series was produced for Yorkshire Television from 3 April 1986 to 20 December 1994. It was created by Melvyn Jacobson, with scripts, narration and music  by Neil Innes. Yorkshire Television produced the first two series of "The Raggy Dolls" before awarding the commission to Orchid Productions Limited in 1987. This was the first programme Yorkshire Television commissioned from an independent production company. Orchid Productions went on to produce over 100 more episodes of the series. The initial animator for Yorkshire TV was Roy Evans. After the move to Orchid Productions Mark Mason took over the role, animating and storyboarding 26 episodes, and storyboarding and directing other animators on a further 26 episodes before moving onto work on other children's shows. He was replaced by  Peter Hale from the 7th series onwards. The series was sold abroad to a number of other countries. Later broadcasts. After the series ended, "The Raggy Dolls" later aired on digital television on the defunct children's network Carlton Kids and then on free for air satellite television on Tiny Pop. The series was broadcast to many countries worldwide, with the exception of the United States. Merchandise. Three videos (with 5 programmes each) were released during the late 80s by Castle Communications Plc, each featuring a selection of episodes from the first two series narrated by Neil Innes. They were  later re-released in Australia during the early 90s by Castle Communications Australasia. In the Spring of 1993, 4 Front Video released one cassette under 'Pocket Money Video' range (Cat No. 0867323) with six episodes- "The Flying Machine", "The Pigeon Race", "The Fun Fair", "Spring Toys", "A Trip to the Sea", "A Royal Tour" The complete first series of The Raggy Dolls was released on DVD on 21 June 2010 through Revelation Films; the complete second series was available from 18 October 2010; the complete third series was available from 7 February 2011; the complete fourth series was released on  6 June 2011, but the complete fifth series was never released. Books. A series of at least 10 books were published in 1990 by both Boxtree Limited (in association with Yorkshire Television Limited) and ABC Enterprises (for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation). The books were written or adapted by Neil Innes and illustrated by Steve Smallman. Titles include: