[6] From 1971 to 1972, the company released the animated series, The Magic Ball, which they created in a renovated shed located in the yard of Cosgrove's father-in-law.

[6] Hall directed two animated productions for Stop Frame, Captain Noah and His Floating Zoo, which was released in 1972, and the television series, Noddy, which aired in 1975.

The producer of Rainbow, Thames Television, an ITV franchisee, created a new subsidiary animation studio called Cosgrove Hall Productions in the following year, 1976.

[6] Its first series was Chorlton and the Wheelies, the lead role being named after the suburb of Manchester where the company was based (the other characters were placed on wheels as this made the stop-frame animation easier).

In each one, Danger Mouse, the world's greatest secret agent, and his well-meaning but useless sidekick, Penfold, outwit the evil Baron Silas Greenback and various scoundrels.

All the music and songs for the feature and series were written by Keith Hopwood, late of Herman's Hermits and Malcolm Rowe.

However, Cosgrove Hall Productions' days became numbered as on 31 December 1992, their financial backer and owner, Thames Television lost its ITV franchise and began divesting/closing its subsidiaries.

Cosgrove Hall Films' first two projects were new episodes of both Avenger Penguins and Noddy's Toyland Adventures (both of which began airing prior to the sudden shutdown and reopening).

[7] Nearer the end of the 1990's, ownership was placed under ITEL itself, with then-Anglia owners United News & Media purchasing HBO's stake in November 1999.

One of the studio's specialities was producing programmes for young children, such as Noddy's Toyland Adventures, Bill and Ben, and Andy Pandy for the BBC.

ITV started reducing its children's department in 2006 and towards the end of 2008 it began winding down the operations of Cosgrove Hall.

[13][14] The land occupied by Cosgrove Hall's studios, in Albany Road, Chorlton, adjacent to the town's telephone exchange, which had stood empty for two years, was finally sold in the summer of 2010 to a housing development company.

[citation needed] Coincidentally, during April of that year it was announced that during the past summer, prior to the death of Mark Hall, he and Brian Cosgrove had pitched the idea of resurrecting the brand to possible investors.