Just like there was Monty Python's Fly- ing Circus and Monty Python Presents featuring the same people, so for the last two years we have had The Swamp in various guises - Return of the Swamp Thing, Deep Fried Swamp and currently The Swamp Shop - all concealing the same zany crew.
In fact, the television slot occupied by The Swamp Shop - which now runs on network two from about 7 to 9.30 a.m. on Saturdays and 8 to 10 a.m. on Sundays - has existed for four years, but was initially filled by Our House before becoming The Swamp three years ago and obtaining its current team a year later.
Aimed at an expected audience somewhere between four and seven years old, because of its early broadcasting time, The Swamp Shop is recorded in the RTE studios in Cork, in slots that vary from 30 seconds to five minutes; they add up to a total of 35 minutes over the weekend. The team comprises presenter Rory Cobbe, 124-year-old farmer Mossy Ferguson (actually Radio 1 presenter Alan Shortt) and the puppet Basher Bacon, a 10-year-old boy (voiced by Dominic Moore, who can also be heard as Rossa in The Morbegs).
Helen Barry handles the Blue Peter end of things, mixing paints and making cardboard models, while Frank Twomey plays characters like the Hallowe'en vampire. The increasingly adventurous set is designed by Brigid Timmons and the entire package is directed by David Bickley.
The Swamp team meets on Tuesday to discuss ideas and decide the story that will be filmed for the following weekend. The links and times are written on a white board, entered in a computer and each member gets a print-out. Their budget allows them limited use of EFP (Electronic Film Production) crews to shoot outside material to slot into the programme. This happens roughly every second Wednesday.
On Thursday, shooting starts with puppets the Cockroaches - or "Corkroaches", as they are known in the studio. Seen earlier this autumn inside a television set, they now appear with suitcases against backgrounds of a skyscraper or jungle. They "top and tail" each link between the cartoons and are used, says David Bickley, because being "squeaky and cartoon-like" they are an effective signal, particularly to younger children, of the transition between links and cartoons.
The aim on Thursday is to get Saturday's links filmed in the morning and Sunday's in the afternoon. They cover situations that children experience and adults remember, in an exaggerated, humorous way that is accessible to both - like Mossy not allowing Basher to have sweets, characters breaking and losing things, sneaking off and shirking responsibilities.
For time and economy reasons, the Swamp links are shot out of sequence. "Like if in the first link there's a particular set-up and there's also the same in link seven on Saturday and in link two on Sunday, we'll shoot these links together out of order," Bickley says. "It gets quite confusing because you have to keep track of what you have and haven't done."
There is no actual scripting - the characters have to improvise their lines on the set around the pre-arranged stories.
The Swamp differs from other children's slots (e.g. The Den) particularly in terms of the complexity of the set and the variety this allows in shooting. "We have a three dimensional set that can be shot from any angle, a front door that you can go through to the street, a back room, a corridor around the back and stairs going out the back," Bickley explains. Another thing that makes us different, I think, is the variety of atmospheres in terms of background sounds for each room and for people walking along. Kids love larger-than-life sound effects."
Once the slots are recorded in Cork, the tapes are sent to Dublin to be broadcast in sequence linking the various cartoons that complete the Swamp Shop programme.
The cartoons, like all of RTE's commissioned material, are bought at media markets throughout the world. The main suppliers are Warner Brothers (which now own the Ted Turner Studios and also incorporate Hanna-Barbera productions) and Disney. E's head of programme acquisitions, is to buy the best modern animation from the best sources and to achieve a mix between this and drama. Since 51 per cent of RTE's total commissioned material must be European, this also influences children's programming. There is an increasing tendency for French companies in particular to provide material with English voice-overs and for European companies in general to produce coproductions with US or Asian partners. Where possible, RTE tries to buy Irish - for example, Budgie the Helicopter and Sinbad, both of which come from the Fred Wolf Studios in Dublin.
