Mongrels

Context & Trivia

The concept was born while creator Adam Miller and lead puppeteer Andy Heath were working together on the children's show 'Ripley and Scuff'; it took five years to reach the screen. UK company Talk to the Hand designed, built and operated more than fifty characters, developing in the process a custom blinking mechanism that gave performers a degree of control over comic timing that earlier systems could not achieve. Each lead puppet — capable of blinking and moving its ears — cost over £5,000 to make; replica sets were built for the second series to guard against damage during filming.

Construction begins with rough sketches and rudimentary models to establish shape and colour, using foam and inexpensive fur as base materials. Puppeteers operate them hand-in-head, with rods attached to the wrists for the arms, internal mechanisms for blinking, and paper controls for the ears. The set is raised so the characters reach the correct eyeline on camera, with performers crouching or hiding behind props throughout filming. Principal puppeteers include Andy Heath (Nelson), Richard Coombs and Sue Beattie (Destiny), Warrick Brownlow-Pike (Marion) and Iestyn Evans (Kali). Brownlow-Pike — who became obsessed with puppetry at age two watching 'The Muppet Show' — modelled Marion's body on shirtless photographs of actor James Corden.

An unaired pilot, also titled 'We Are Mongrels', featured different puppets and a different voice cast for Marion, Destiny and Kali, and included a sixth character, Debbie the suicidal chicken, who was cut before the series went into production.