[1] From 1936, John Halas ran a small animation unit that created commercials for theatrical distribution.

Halas and Batchelor also created a series of anti-fascist cartoons intended for viewing in the Middle East; starring an Arab boy named Abu, who was "enticed and misguided by the forces of Austrian Painter and Mussolini.

"[5][6] The heavy workload (at one point the studios were creating a minute-long short every three weeks) and minimal budgets meant that simple animations with economically driven stories were the norm.

[4] The studio grew from a small unit to a proper animation company, with several different British locations.

The company was sold to Tyne Tees Television in the early 1970s, although Halas and Batchelor themselves broke away from this association after a few years.