The Adventures of Portland Bill

1983 United Kingdom

Portland Bill is the keeper of the Trinity House lighthouse, on Guillermot Rock. Accompanied by Ross and Cromarty and his faithful pet pooch Dogger, Bill is the head lighthouseman who busies himself with keeping the shipping lanes safe, running maintenance repairs and keeping thing generally tidy. He often pops ashore in his old rowboat, The Puffin, to the local village of McGuillycuddy in order to pick up provisions from Edward Stones' Emporium shop. Eddy is also the town's electrician, water board inspector, postman, milkman, policeman and mayor. Here Bill catches up on the local gossip from Grandma Tiree, the crofter Finisterre, Fastnet-the village fisherman and old Mrs Lundy.

All the characters take their names from shipping forecasts, sea regions and nautical terms. The series was devised and scripted by John Grace and the voices were supplied by Norman Rossington. The Adventures of Portland Bill was filmed in stop-motion animation and ran for approximately 11-minutes each.

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Published on November 26th, 2018. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.

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