Cosgrove Hall Productions

Background

In 1969, animator Mark Hall created a stop-motion animation studio named Stop Frame Productions, with Brian Cosgrove joining him soon afterward, both leaving their jobs at Granada Television.

In 1975, after the closure of Stop Frame Productions due to the lack of projects, the two went to work for ITV franchisee Thames Television (producer of Rainbow, one of their shows, which the two produced the intro sequence for). The following year, Thames created Cosgrove Hall Productions especially for the two to produce new animated content, with its headquarters in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the studio produced many memorable and well-known productions, with Danger Mouse and its spin-off Count Duckula being the studio's biggest international successes, largely thanks to their presence in Nickelodeon's late 80's lineup in the US. Up until 1984, the company had no real logo and mostly used in-credit notices before then.

In 1991, Thames Television lost its ITV franchisee license to Carlton Television. Within this point, production at Cosgrove Hall Productions began to halt, and in October 1993, the two announced the formation of Cosgrove Hall Films as a joint venture with Anglia Television and HBO, where the two producers would together hold 25% in the venture.

Much of Cosgrove Hall Productions' properties are currently held by Boat Rocker Media, who acquired the assets of previous owners FremantleMedia Kids & Family in 2018.

Contents

1st Logo (February 20, 1984-January 5, 1994)	2nd Logo (September 6, 1991-June 28, 1994)

1st Logo (February 20, 1984-January 5, 1994)

Standard logo
Alias the Jester
Danger Mouse (Season 6)
Avenger Penguins (Season 1)

Visuals: The text "COSGROVE HALL PRODUCTIONS" is shown in a stylized font with a tiny copyright symbol to its left and a copyright date in Roman numerals below.

Variants:

On Alias the Jester, the logo is displayed in a medieval-style border, which features six pictures of its main protagonists. Alias is seen both in his original futuristic guise on the left side, and in his medieval guise on the right.
In the fifth season (1985) of Danger Mouse, the logo is shown below the Danger Mouse badge (a red circle with the letters "DM" on it) with a copyright date underneath.
- In the sixth season of said show, the copyright date has been enlarged slightly, and is displayed in a serif font.
On Creepy Crawlies, Count Duckula, and the fifth season (1988) of The Wind in the Willows (also known as Oh! Mr. Toad!), the logo appears on a black background in alternating blue, red, and yellow letters. The copyright symbol has also been enlarged and placed above the logo, while the copyright date is displayed in a serif font.
- This version appears on a dark blue background, with all the text on a single line, in the first season (1993) of Avenger Penguins, with clips of the show playing in a rectangle up above it. A copyright disclaimer for Granada Television is seen below in a Dom Casual font.
- On Nickelodeon airings of Count Duckula, under the logo is "in association with" and a bat-shaped Nickelodeon logo. Below those are the following names:

Debby Beece
Geoffrey Darby
Linda Khan
Geraldine Laybourne
Anne Sweeney
Scott Webb

Technique: A still, printed image.

Audio: The ending theme of the show.

Audio Variant: On Count Duckula, an extended version of the thunderclap from the end of the show's opening theme is heard and continues into a downpour of rain once it fades into the zoomed-in version of the 1969 Thames Colour Production endcap (or the 2001 FremantleMedia logo in case of current prints of the show's first season). On current prints of the show's third season, the rain is heard over the Cosgrove Hall logo instead.

Availability: Seen on all episodes of Alias the Jester, Creepy Crawlies, and Count Duckula, the fifth and sixth seasons (1985 and 1990) of Danger Mouse, the fifth season (1988) of The Wind in the Willows, and the first season (1993) of Avenger Penguins.

2nd Logo (September 6, 1991-June 28, 1994)

Standard logo
Noddy's Toyland Adventures (Season 1)
Noddy's Toyland Adventures (Season 2)

Visuals: There is a down-facing triangle colored in a blue-yellow-red gradient on a white background, with the text "COSGROVE HALL" on it in alternating blue, yellow, and red letters, much like the colored variant of the previous logo. Towards the bottom of the triangle, the text "© Cosgrove Hall Productions Ltd. MCMXCI/MCMXCII" is displayed in a black serif font.

Trivia: This logo is based on the branding Thames Television used at the time; it was rather short-lived too, due to Thames losing their franchise at the end of 1992.

Variants:

An animated version exists, which is seen on some episodes of the first season of Victor and Hugo: Bunglers in Crime, entitled "Spacial Event" and "Water Boobies". The screen is white until the "COSGROVE HALL" text is wiped in from the left. The triangle itself then wipes in from above behind the text, and a spotlight shines over the logo from left to right before the copyright text "© Cosgrove Hall Productions Ltd. MCMXCI" (1991) fades in towards the bottom of it.
On the first two seasons (1992-94) of Noddy's Toyland Adventures, the logo is displayed on a black background, with either the text "PRODUCED FOR BBC ENTERPRISES" ("BBC" being the corporation's 1988 underlined logo) above it for the first season, or the text "PRODUCED FOR BBC CHILDREN'S INTERNATIONAL" ("BBC CHILDREN'S INTERNATIONAL" being the logo for that division) above it in the second season, with the three texts "COSGROVE HALL PRODUCTIONS LIMITED", "Based on the 'NODDY' books by Enid Blyton" (in a Dom Casual font and with "Enid Blyton" being her famous signature) and "© BBC ENTERPRISES 1992/1993/1994" ("BBC", for a third time, being the corporation's 1988 logo) displayed under it.

Technique: A still 2D graphic, sometimes in-credit. 2D effects on the animated variant.

Audio: None or the closing theme of the show.

Availability:

Seen on all episodes of Truckers and Victor and Hugo: Bunglers in Crime on ITV, and the first two seasons (1992-94) of Noddy's Toyland Adventures on Children's BBC and UK VHS releases, respectively.
Neither of the VHS releases of the first two shows feature this logo at the end of them, as it is plastered with the still version of the 1991 Thames Video logo instead.

◄	Stop Frame Productions

Cosgrove Hall Productions

Cosgrove Hall Films

►