Hickory House

Hickory House is a British television programme aimed at pre-school children. It was produced by Granada Television from 1973 to 1977 and broadcast on weekday lunchtimes. Each programme was usually hosted by a pair of presenters, most often including Alan Rothwell. The setting was a normal house, but in Hickory House household objects were brought to life through puppetry. The puppet characters included Humphrey Cushion, Dusty Mop and the Handle Family. The puppets were created by Barry Smith's Theatre of Puppets. All 129 episodes survive in Granada's archive, although none have yet been released on DVD. The animated opening title sequence of Hickory House began with Granada Television's "G" logo transforming into a house. This innovation was used again in 1978 with the game show 3-2-1, when Yorkshire Television's "Y" logo was worked into an animated title sequence. Curiously, this later programme also featured a character named "Dusty" based on a household item.