Cosgrove Hall Films
Nate Spidgewood and CosgroveHallFanatic
Captures by
Nate Spidgewood and Dison
Editions by
Beanster44 and Dison
Background
Following the loss of Thames Television's ITV franchisee license to Carlton Television in 1991, Cosgrove Hall Productions started to produce less content, until going into dormancy. In October 1993, Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall announced that the studio would be reformed as Cosgrove Hall Films as a joint-venture with fellow ITV franchisee Anglia Television and HBO, under their Anglia Television Entertainment joint-venture, who owned 75% in the studio while Cosgrove and Hall owned 25%, with distribution being handled by fellow Anglia subsidiary ITEL.
The company continued work at the studios in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, producing new animated content. By 1996, Anglia's new owners United News & Media transitioned Cosgrove Hall over to ITEL, and in October 1999 had purchased HBO's shares in both companies.
In September 2000, Granada Media Group purchased the media assets of United News & Media, and soon folded ITEL into their own operations, placing Cosgrove Hall Films under direct ownership of Granada Media, and later ITV plc following their merger with Carlton Communications in February 2004.
In 2008, a lack of funding from ITV meant the studio was no longer viable, and the studio relocated to Granada's own offices. The following year in 2009, ITV plc folded Cosgrove Hall Films. The reason for the closure was due to struggles in the British animation industry. Three years later, Cosgrove Hall's headquarters was demolished to make way for retirement flats.
As of 2024, ITV plc owns a majority of the studio's catalogue. In 2011, the studio was reformed as Cosgrove Hall Fitzpatrick Entertainment (or CHF Entertainment), with the original founders and Murdaidh! creator Adrian Fitzpatrick.
Hall died of cancer on November 18, 2011, leaving his role in CHF Entertainment to his son Simon.
Logo (September 16, 1994-October 2009)
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Avenger Penguins (Season 2)
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Fantomcat
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Oakie Doke
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Sooty's Amazing Adventures
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Rocky and the Dodos
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The Animal Shelf
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Noddy's Toyland Adventures (Season 3)
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Noddy's Toyland Adventures (Season 4)
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The Foxbusters
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Vampires, Pirates and Aliens
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Engie Benjy
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Doctor Who (The Invasion Animated)
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Postman Pat (Early Season 3 episodes)
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Postman Pat (Some early Season 3 episodes)
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Postman Pat (Season 3)
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Postman Pat (Season 4)
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Postman Pat (Season 5)
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Fifi and the Flowertots (Seasons 1-2)
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Roary the Racing Car (Season 1)
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The Likeaballs
Visuals: There is a conglomeration of a purple square, a red down-facing triangle, a yellow circle with the word "FILMS" upon it, a purple down-facing trapezoid, a light blue curved rectangle with the word "COSGROVE" on it and a light orange trapezoid with the word "HALL" on it below.
Trivia: The logo reflects Anglia Television's then-current "heraldic flag" logo, introduced in 1988.
Variants:
- On the second and final season (1994) of Avenger Penguins, the logo is displayed on a backdrop of clips from the show, with "© Cosgrove Hall Films MCMXCIV" below.
- On Fantomcat, the logo is displayed on the vortex background from the intro, and the text "© Cosgrove Hall Films (year in Roman numerals)" is displayed at the bottom of the screen (with a grammatical error, as the first "C" in the Roman numerals is replaced with an "X").
- On Oakie Doke, the logo is displayed on a green background with "A" and "PRODUCTION" above and below it, and "© Cosgrove Hall Films Limited (year in Arabic numerals)" is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Original releases had it with the words "for" and the BBC Children's International logo below them.
- On Sooty's Amazing Adventures, the logo is displayed above the Sooty International logo, which is Sooty (the orange bear puppet of Harry Corbett, who later passed him onto his son Matthew) peeping out from behind his own name.
- On Rocky and the Dodos, the logo is displayed on an orange-light blue gradient background with "A Cosgrove Hall Films Production" below it, and "© 1997/1998" is displayed at the bottom of the screen.
- On The Animal Shelf, the logo is displayed on an orange background with "A Cosgrove Hall Films Production" below it, and "© Cosgrove Hall Films Limited (year in Arabic numerals)" is displayed at the bottom of the screen.
- On the final two seasons (1994 and 1999) of Noddy's Toyland Adventures, the logo is displayed in the same way the third one was for the first two seasons. Also, due to the fact that BBC Enterprises became BBC Worldwide in 1995, and a new logo was introduced for the corporation in 1997, the "produced for" and copyright texts that are displayed above and below the logo were changed to "A", "Production for", "BBC Worldwide", "Enid Blyton" and "Blyton Toyland", and "© BBC Worldwide and Enid Blyton Limited 1999" for the fourth and final season ("BBC", in both cases, being the corporation's then-current logo, with "Worldwide" being in the same font. "Enid Blyton" is also, again, her famous signature, as is the "Blyton" in "Blyton Toyland").
- On the French dub of season 4 of said show, the endboard is translated.
- On The Foxbusters, the logo is displayed on a black-blue background above the text "Distributed by ITEL". A fox from the show then appears on the right side of the screen, looks up and screams as a barrage of eggs land upon him.
- On Vampires, Pirates and Aliens (based on the book of the same name by Colin McNaughton), the logo is displayed alongside the Millimages and France Animation logos.
- On Engie Benjy, the show's three main protagonists (Engie Benjy, Jollop the Dog, and Dan the Van) are standing above the logo dancing to the show's closing theme.
- On the animated recreated version of part 1 and part 4 of the Doctor Who episode "The Invasion", the logo is displayed in black-and-white above the BBC's 1971 (not underlined, but slanted with round edges) logo.
- On the remakes of Postman Pat (both the initial one for the third through fifth seasons, and the "Special Delivery Service" one for the sixth season), and Rupert Bear: Follow the Magic..., the logo is displayed above that of Entertainment Rights' own logo.
- On both the first and second seasons of Fifi and the Flowertots and the first season of Roary the Racing Car, the logo is displayed below a decorated oval with clips of the show playing in it, with the text "A Cosgrove Hall Films Ltd." above it and "Production for Chapman Entertainment" below it.
- On The Likeaballs, the logo is displayed to the left of that of "Animated Adventures and Pictures", another animation studio, which comprised of the three letters "A", "A" and "P" on a theatre-style marquee with the text "An Animated Adventures and Pictures Production" below them.
Technique: A still, computerized graphic.
Audio: The closing theme of the show.
Availability: Seen on the second and final season (1994) of Avenger Penguins, the final two seasons (1994 and 1999) of Noddy's Toyland Adventures, and most other Cosgrove Hall shows from the time-period until the company's demise in 2009.
- It is also seen on the covers of DVD and (presumably) VHS releases of their shows, but does not appear on the actual releases themselves.
- The Noddy's Toyland Adventures season 3 variant of this logo is also intact at the end of the Noddy's Toyland Adventures episode "Noddy and Father Christmas", included on the 1999 UK VHS release of Toybox Christmas Video from BBC Video.
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Cosgrove Hall Films |
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