Mopatop's Shop
Mopatop's Shop is a British-American children's television series that which premiered on CITV in the UK on 5 January 1999. 260 ten-minute episodes were made and aired daily. It was a co-production between Jim Henson Productions and Carlton Television. After it finished its run in 2005 it continued to be repeated for several years afterwards until 2009.
| Mopatop's Shop | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Children's television series |
| Developed by | Jocelyn Stevenson |
| Directed by | Simon Spencer Tom Poole Ian McLean |
| Starring | Mak Wilson (series 1–2) William Todd-Jones (series 3–4) Victoria Willing Nigel Plaskitt Brian Herring Susan Beattie Louise Gold |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 260 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Brian Henson Angus Fletcher David Mercer |
| Producer(s) | Jocelyn Stevenson Sue Taylor Angus Fletcher Pete Coogan |
| Running time | 8 minutes |
| Production company(s) | The Jim Henson Company Carlton Television |
| Distributor | The Jim Henson Company |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV Network (CITV) |
| Picture format | 4:3 (Series 1) 16:9 (Series 2-4) |
| Original release | 5 January 1999 – 23 April 2005 |
Production
The show was produced and written by Jocelyn Stevenson, who started working with the Muppets as a lead writer on Fraggle Rock. Stevenson explained, "The aim of Mopatop's Shop is to teach young children to embrace language and communication skills in a form where they can expand the boundaries of their imagination. It promotes goodness and wellbeing."
Plot
The show features a large green dragon-like Muppet named Mopatop (performed by Mak Wilson(series 1-2) and William Todd-Jones (series 3-4)) and his red and yellow dog-duck hybrid assistant Puppyduck (performed by Victoria Willing). Together they run Mopatop's Shop, a shop where you can buy anything you could ever think or dream of. They interact with characters including the Mouse family, local deliveryman Lamont the Sloth, neighbor Claudia Bird, a rabbit named Odd-Job Gerald. Each episode features background puppets from Bear in the Big Blue House, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, Little Muppet Monsters, A Muppet Family Christmas, The Jim Henson Hour, Dog City, Jim Henson's Animal Show, Secret Life of Toys, Muppets Tonight, Sesame Street, and other projects having been recycled as various customers and suggestions to Mopatop's Shop.
External links
- Mopatop's Shop at itv.com/citv
- Mopatop's Shop on IMDb
- Mopatop's Shop at TV.com