Torchy the Battery Boy is a British children's puppet television series, the second to be produced by AP Films (APF), which first aired on the ITV network between 1959 and 1961.

Created and written by author Roberta Leigh, it had music by Barry Gray, art direction by Reg Hill and special effects by Derek Meddings.

Featuring string puppets created by Christine Glanville,[1] the series depicts the adventures of the eponymous boy doll, who has a battery inside him and a lamp in his head, and his master Mr Bumbledrop (voiced by Kenneth Connor).

After APF declined to make a second series (opting to create Four Feather Falls instead), Leigh, who retained the rights to Torchy and its creative elements, commissioned Associated British-Pathé to produce a further 26 episodes.

Torchy, the Battery Boy, was created by Mr Bumbledrop, a lonely old toymaker who spends the majority of his days tending to his garden, where the neighbourhood children play.

However, Torchy frequently goes to earth to visit Mr Bumbledrop, get replacement batteries, and return with naughty children who need to learn a lesson.

Presumably, these were aired on London television in the proper chronological story sequence,[citation needed] but on DVD, the shows were presented in production order as two separate series.

Torchy and Squish go in search of cardboard to repair the rocket, and they discover the Ting-a-Ling bird, who suggests that they dig at the base of a pepper tree.

Torchy offers to take her to Topsy Turvy Land to retrieve the doll, but she refuses, so Mr Bumbledrop decides to use reverse psychology to get her into the rocket.

Flopsy exposes Bossy Boots to the various indignities she suffered at the girl's hand: she pushes her down, shoves food in her face, strips off her clothes, and locks her outside.

Whirly laments the fact that his innards are rusty, and he can no longer hum, so Torchy suggests that he eats peanuts so that the oil will lubricate his gears.

Moments later, Mrs Meaniemouth finds Torchy and decides to bring him home as a present for Bogie, despite Mr Bumbledrop's pleas from a distance.

After Daffy the Donkey pulls him into town, the king invites Torchy and Squish back to the palace for tea, but they soon discover the crown is not where he left it.

The bird explains that he loves shiny objects and likes to hold them in his mouth, so the king invites him back to the castle to guard his crown and jewels.

Torchy encounters Bogey drowning his pirate toy, Pongo, in the pond, so he decides to bring him back to Topsy Turvy Land.

Clinker is overjoyed to discover an enormous pile of coins that no one requires in Topsy Turvy Land, but Pongo the pirate decides to claim them for his own.

The old man and toy-boy decide to go to Topsy Turvy Land and lure the twins into the rocket with a bag of toffee, but Mr Bumbledrop is slow to react and gets left behind.

Mr Bumbledrop tells Torchy that Bossy Boots has become a good girl, so the toy-boy decides to reward her with a party in Topsy Turvy Land.

The toys have tired of the native food in Topsy Turvy Land, so Torchy decides to stop at the moon and grab some cheese as he returns Mr Bumbledrop home.

After returning Torchy to working order, Mr Bumbledrop falls ill, so the boy heads to Mrs Meaniemouth's to retrieve some cough syrup.

Bogey amuses himself by filling Flopsy with nuts and bolts, which weigh her down, so King Dithers punishes him by making him wear a suit of armour.

Bogey is unwillingly whisked away to Topsy Turvy Land, where Squish ties a tail and tin can onto the boy and forces him to walk through town.

[11] As with Twizzle, Leigh devised recurring songs for many of the characters[12] and would hum her tunes to composer Barry Gray, who was tasked with translating them into musical chords.

[17] Made in her garage, crafting the toys was a family affair, with Glanville's father creating the bodies, her mother sewing the clothes, and Christine sculpting the heads and putting finishing touches on the dolls.

[18][19] The crew began tinkering with automatic lip-sync on two minor characters,[20] and Glanville thought thin rubber might be the way to create the mouths, so she sent her father on a quest to buy condoms from various local vendors.

[25] Reg Hill and Derek Meddings created three-dimensional sets[26] using cardboard cut-outs[27] and wood, with a higher degree of detail than they could muster in Twizzle.

[34] "When the river overflowed, we would stand on the ballroom's impressive veranda and watch the water rush past us below," recalled set dresser Bob Bell.

[36] The show was popular, garnering the attention of an up-and-coming band named The Beatles, who performed the title theme song live at The Cavern Club.

[48] The majority of characters were featured in the single-page comic strip, but Flopsy was referred to simply as Rag Doll (and she had normal eyes, as opposed to buttons), there was no Mr Bumble-Drop, and Whirly and Ena never appeared.

The character bore no physical resemblance to the puppet (she sported glasses and wore her hair in a ponytail[50]), but like her Torchy counterpart, Bossy Boots loved to tell everyone what to do.