I had completely forgotten about the flumps until I saw an episode on tv the other day, and suddenly hearing the music brought it all back! The Flumps was another one of those shows that only lasted for thirteen episodes (first aired 14th Feb 1976), but is a cult classic. It follows the very gentle lives of the Flump family, which as you can see are basically a group of fur-balls with hats! The cartoon is fifteen minutes long and generally involves the day to day adventures of the Flump children, that inevitably need the sage advice of one of their parents to put them on the right track.
More recently the distinctive Flumps music has been used in a number of adverts on UK tv, so it may seem very familiar even if you never saw the show the first time round! Watching the Flumps again, I think it is probably the voice of the narrator Gay Soper that gives the show so much life, and makes the little fur-balls so real! The Flumps all seem to have Yorkshire accents and occassionally break out into song which sounds fantastic, well worth a look if you missed them the first time round! The producer of the Flumps, David Yates also brought us such gems as Bod and Pigeon Street.
Grand-Father Flump
Gr4and-Father Flump is often found playing in the garden with the baby Flumps. When he's not doing this he likes to play his Flumpet (see above), or even better he likes to catch a few zzz's, at which point his snores gently with his moustache sluttering an dhis toes all curl in rythm!
Father Flump
Father Flump spends his time out on the garden/allotment digging and watering his vegetables. Fatheer Flump is also a great inventor and often likes to experiment and build things for the Flump family.
Mother Flump
Mother Flump is foten found cookingin the kitchen. Mother Flump also hasa big book form which she reads the children stories or shows then fantastical pictures.
Perkin Flump
Perkin Flump is the oldest and perhaps most outspokenof the children. Perkin can sometimes be a bit grumpy (as memorably shown in the episode the Cloud, where a cloud follows him around all day, until he is cheered up by Grand-Father Flump who tries to play the Flumpet without realising their is a carrot stuck in it!)
Posie Flump
Posie Flump is the only girl of the Flump children and likes to wear a blue bow in her hair.
Pootle Flump
Pootle was the baby of the bunch and probably got into more trouble than the other two combined, due to his inquisitive nature.
Lend A Hand - Pootle walks around the house giving wach of the adults a hand with what they are doing. By lunch-time Pootle realises he is exhausted and so goes with Posie to eat some jam tarts.
Quiet Please - Mother Flump has got a headache because it is so noisy in the Flump house, Grand-Father is playing the trumpet and Fatheris fixing a noisy floor-board. Posie shows Pootle some pictures of animals and talks about th enoises they make. Byt the end of the episode Mother Flump's headache has gone!
Grandfather's Birthday - Grand-Father thinks that everyone has forgotten his birthday, so he is very happy to find that they have thrown him a surprise party!
What A Carrot - The veegtables are not growing properly, so Father Flump tries out a potion from the book. When the Flumps go to investigate the carrot on which Father Flump poured the potion, it's the biggest carrot they've ever seen!
Where's Grandfather? - Grand-Father thinks he's lost his glasses but they are actually on the back of his head! Mother Pootle starts a lost property box and the children play hide & seek. After looking for Grand-Father for some time, they find him sleeping in the workshop!
The Flumps: Episode Guide
Secret - Posie gets told lots of secrets during the day by the Flump adults. Eachtie they tell her to keep it under her hat. When the wind blows her hat away, Posie becomes scared she will forget all of the secrets!
The Cloud - Perkin is in such a bad mood that a grey cloud begins to follow him around. Fortunately his bad mood is lifted when Grand-Father Flump tries to play the Flumpet, not realising Perkin has stuck a carrot inside it!
The Magnet - Pootle is given a purse from Mother Flump, then Father Flump gives him a magnet to put into it. At the end of the episode lots of things that the Flumps have been looking for are found stuck to the magnet, due to Pootle having walked around the house.
Get Your Skates On - Father Flump makes some skates for Posie and Perkin, meanwhile Mother Flump, Father Flump and Pootle get to ride the Flumpcycle!
Moon Shot - Mother Flump shows the Flumps a picture ofthe moon in her book. The Flump children build a toy rocket, and Pootle has a great dream about meeting Moon Flumps in space!
Balloons - Posie and Perkin get a red and yellow balloon to play with. Grand-Father Flump gives Pootle a blue balloon and warns him not to pump it up too much. Pootle being Pootle over-inflates the balloon and starts to float away!
Keep Fit- The Flump family all talk about th edifferent ways the keep fit. Father Flump shows the children how he used to weight-lift and Grand-Father Flump dreams of being a world famous weight-lifter.
Something Different - The children are board with eating vegetable soup and so Mother sends them out to search for somethig different. After talking with the Flump adults and hearing their stories, the Flump children realise they are happy beuing who they are, and don't actually want anything different, they go back to enjoy their vegetable soup.
