The Gingerbread Man (TV series)

The Gingerbread Man is a British stop motion animated children's television series about a gingerbread man and his friends who come to life on a kitchen dresser after the household’s occupants, known as the Big Ones, have gone to sleep.^[2]

The series was written by David Wood, adapted from his two-act musical play The Gingerbread Man, which premiered in 1976 at the Towngate Theatre in Basildon, Essex, and went on to great international success.^[1] The play is inspired by "The Gingerbread Man", a 19th-century fairy tale.

The screen adaptation was co-produced by FilmFair and Central Independent Television in 1991, and broadcast on ITV in 1992. Andrew Sachs voiced the Gingerbread Man, Mr Salt the Sailor, Herr Von Cuckoo and Sleek The Mouse. Jacqueline Clarke voiced Miss Pepper and Old Tea Bag. Although uncredited, Anton Rodgers voiced the narrator. David Wood and Jacqueline Clarke voiced The Big Ones.

The Gingerbread Man

The Gingerbread Man is a gingerbread man cookie who lives with his friends on the kitchen dresser.

Mr Salt

Mr Salt is a sailor-like salt grinder who frequently makes references to sailing when he is woken.

Miss Pepper

Miss Pepper is a pepper mill who frequently asks Mr Salt to twist her handle.

Herr Von Cuckoo

Herr Von Cuckoo is the wooden cuckoo bird in the kitchen's cuckoo clock.

Old Bag

Old Bag is a bad-tempered old tea bag who lives in a teapot on the top shelf of the dresser in the kitchen.

Sleek the Mouse

Sleek is a gangster with a Brooklyn accent who is often hungry and in search of food.

The Big Ones

A married couple with children who live in the house. (They never appear on-screen.)

The Gingerbread Man, Mr Salt, Herr Von Cuckoo, and Sleek are voiced by Andrew Sachs. Miss Pepper, Old Bag, and the lady of the house (the female Big One) are voiced by Jacqueline Clarke. The man of the house (the male Big One) is voiced by David Wood.

In the United Kingdom, PolyGram Video released at least nine episodes on VHS videocassette in the 1990s:^[18][19] The Gingerbread Man, Volume 1 (1992) compiled the first five episodes,^[5] and The Gingerbread Man, Volume 2: Further Adventures (1992) contained episodes six through nine.^[20]

After including a portion of the series on its VHS animation compilation All Together Now (2001), Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the first five episodes on a Region 2 DVD, titled The Gingerbread Man, on 12 April 2004 (distributed by PolyGram Video and Channel 5). Abbey Home Media released the first six episodes on DVD in 2006, and the remaining seven episodes on a second DVD in 2007.^[21]

• The Gingerbread Man at IMDb