Joy Batchelor

BBC Four’s new documentary takes us on a journey through more than a century of animation. It examines the creative and technical inventiveness of some of the great animation pioneers who have worked in Britain – trailblazing talents such as Len Lye, John Halas and Joy Batchelor, Joanna Quinn, and Bristol’s world-conquering Aardman Animations.

This highly entertaining animated film begins as a young girl settles down into bed to sleep after coming home from a party. One of her feet protrudes from under the bed cover and the toes come alive and discuss how painful they are after being cramped into ill-fitting shoes all day. The toes show in a series of flash-backs how they have been maltreated, and a dream shows how they would like to be treated - feet measured, shoes fitted and lots of time spent out of shoes and stockings.

For centuries, the Murgatroyd family, the Baronets of Ruddigore, have been under a witch's curse — commit a crime every day, or die in agony. Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, the rightful heir, has run away to live as innocent peasant Robin Oakapple in the Cornish village of Rederring, sticking his brother Despard with the curse. But on the very day that "Robin" is to marry sweet, beautiful Rose Maybud, it all falls apart. Can Sir Ruthven outwit a picture gallery full of his ancestors' ghosts to save the day?

For centuries, the Murgatroyd family, the Baronets of Ruddigore, have been under a witch's curse — commit a crime every day, or die in agony. Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, the rightful heir, has run away to live as innocent peasant Robin Oakapple in the Cornish village of Rederring, sticking his brother Despard with the curse. But on the very day that "Robin" is to marry sweet, beautiful Rose Maybud, it all falls apart. Can Sir Ruthven outwit a picture gallery full of his ancestors' ghosts to save the day?

For centuries, the Murgatroyd family, the Baronets of Ruddigore, have been under a witch's curse — commit a crime every day, or die in agony. Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, the rightful heir, has run away to live as innocent peasant Robin Oakapple in the Cornish village of Rederring, sticking his brother Despard with the curse. But on the very day that "Robin" is to marry sweet, beautiful Rose Maybud, it all falls apart. Can Sir Ruthven outwit a picture gallery full of his ancestors' ghosts to save the day?

An animated cartoon on smoking and health. The villain, Old Nick O'Teen, disguises himself as an 18-year-old motorcyclist, the better to lure children into the cigarette habit. Fourteen-year-old Sam falls into the trap, but after awesome visions of his future, expert advice from a doctor, and straight talk from a friendly lorry-driver renounces the habit.

Animated version of the fairy tale. Tom proves himself cleverer than his brothers when he outwits an ogre and returns home with treasure.

Puck is introduced to the twentieth century and is as amused by the contemporary obsession with television as he was by the lovers' antics.

An animated, dark satire of America's automobile-obsessed, consumerist culture. An anonymous, brilliant scientist toils tirelessly in his ivory tower satisfying the public's ever-increasing demands for novelty and status consciousness, with predictable environmental consequences.

The story of three children who find themselves with a friendly monster that grows at an alarming rate.

An animated film about the history and use of hot water.

An animated film about the history and use of hot water.

T'was the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

A candlemaker entrusts his young son with the task of making candles for their church on Christmas Eve.

A successful farmyard revolution by the resident animals vs. the farmer goes horribly wrong when corrupt pigs hijack it for their personal gain. Based on the socialist George Orwell’s novel “Animal Farm”, a critique of Stalinist authoritarianism.

A successful farmyard revolution by the resident animals vs. the farmer goes horribly wrong when corrupt pigs hijack it for their personal gain. Based on the socialist George Orwell’s novel “Animal Farm”, a critique of Stalinist authoritarianism.

A successful farmyard revolution by the resident animals vs. the farmer goes horribly wrong when corrupt pigs hijack it for their personal gain. Based on the socialist George Orwell’s novel “Animal Farm”, a critique of Stalinist authoritarianism.

A BAFTA award nominated animation looking at the development of oil prospecting techniques since the 19th century.

A BAFTA award nominated animation tracing the development of the motor car from the original horseless carriage common in the late 19th century to the 1950s streamlined, massed produced, designs.

A poem of unrequited love: the studio's first puppet production. Based on a poem by Cosbie Garstin, the film tells the story of a carved wooden saint who is painted to look like a soldier and used as a figurehead on a sailing ship. The ship sinks and the figurehead is saved by a beautiful mermaid who falls in love with him. Her love is not returned because despite his dashing looks he has the wooden heart of a saint.

A poem of unrequited love: the studio's first puppet production. Based on a poem by Cosbie Garstin, the film tells the story of a carved wooden saint who is painted to look like a soldier and used as a figurehead on a sailing ship. The ship sinks and the figurehead is saved by a beautiful mermaid who falls in love with him. Her love is not returned because despite his dashing looks he has the wooden heart of a saint.

Cartoon of chicken's adventures while being chased by woodland animal.

This cartoon propaganda short by Halas & Batchelor sweetens the pill of post-war coal prices by promising jam tomorrow.

This cartoon propaganda short by Halas & Batchelor sweetens the pill of post-war coal prices by promising jam tomorrow.

This cartoon propaganda short by Halas & Batchelor sweetens the pill of post-war coal prices by promising jam tomorrow.

First Line of Defence is a short cartoon recruitment film for the RAF created in 1949 by animation duo Halas and Batchelor. The story follows a trainee pilot dreaming about the history of flight.

An overview of the new schooling system. Part of BFI collection "Your Children and You."

A powerfully graphic piece of animation that best expresses John Halas' own feelings about mans universal quest for freedom.

No man is an island, but Charley represents his nation in this economical cartoon tale of Britain's economics. Meet Charley, the portrait of a nation. At the end of the 1940s the Central Office of Information commissioned Halas and Batchelor to make seven films about policies of the post-war Labour Government. Charley was cast as the figurehead of the campaign, learning about mining, farming, national insurance, and even schooling via a son at the end of the series. This short looks at the Marshall Plan, and makes the most explicit link between character and country as his life story stands in for 270 years of British economic history.

Popular animated character Charley explains the National Insurance Act, which was legislation that made health insurance available to all British citizens.

Popular animated character Charley explains the National Insurance Act, which was legislation that made health insurance available to all British citizens.

In this film Charley demystifies the new state-funded National Health Service, detailing the benefits a free-at-point-of-delivery health service will offer to everyone in England.

Meet Charley, your jovial cartoon guide to Britain’s changing towns and cities.

Joy Batchelor directed, produced, wrote and designed this short film for Brook Bond Tea: two girls compete for the affections of a Teddy Bear.

Joy Batchelor directed, produced, wrote and designed this short film for Brook Bond Tea: two girls compete for the affections of a Teddy Bear.

Joy Batchelor directed, produced, wrote and designed this short film for Brook Bond Tea: two girls compete for the affections of a Teddy Bear.

Joy Batchelor directed, produced, wrote and designed this short film for Brook Bond Tea: two girls compete for the affections of a Teddy Bear.

Cartoon proof that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. In this 1940s cinema advert, the tardiness of Signalman Squirrel's breakfast brings passengers to the brink of a major rail disaster every day. The solution is not setting his alarm earlier, finding an extra pair of hands for his long-suffering wife, or (heaven forbid) making his own breakfast. No, the answer lies in a home delivery mix-up of a familiar cereal box.

In commissioning Halas & Batchelor, the War Office recognised the potential of cartoons as an unobtrusive and entertaining medium by which official messages could be conveyed - in this case some rather unsavoury warnings pertaining to foot rot, dysentery and VD. Aimed at soldiers serving in the Far East, the antics of six sprightly soldiers stationed in the jungle illustrate with humour and clarity the potential pitfalls of poor personal hygiene.

Instructional cartoon for the Admiralty.

Instructional cartoon for the Admiralty.

A dancing radio stops partying to transmit an announcement on fuel conservation in this WWII cartoon short.

The film is designed to encourage recycling - which was a key part of the war effort.

The film is designed to encourage recycling - which was a key part of the war effort.

The film is designed to encourage recycling - which was a key part of the war effort.

The film is designed to encourage recycling - which was a key part of the war effort.

This World War II propaganda short encourages British people to "dig for victory," by planting vegetable gardens.

A particularly vicious Father Time with a hit-list in his Book of Doom seeks to wipe out characters brought to life from fabric patterns. This neat concept for a cartoon washing powder commercial can be credited to Alexander Mackendrick, who worked at the J Walter Thompson advertising agency before making films at Ealing and then Hollywood.

The film is designed to encourage recycling - which was a key part of the war effort.

A colorful cartoon commercial for soap flakes seems the last place that the realities of wartime life should creep in. A clothes cupboard opens to reveal a fantasy world where figures on fabric patterns come to life, and a neglected clown is shunned until he bathes in Lux Flakes. But in a last-minute coda, the clown returns to break the animated fourth wall and tell the audience that the product will not be made again till the war is over.

The first British animated Technicolor film.