Author Language English Genre Juvenile fiction | Country United Kingdom Series The Woofits Published London: Collins, 1980 | |
The Woofits is a series of children's books written in the 1980s by the British television and radio personality Michael Parkinson, best known for his TV chat shows.
Contents
The stories featured the Woofits a family of anthropomorphic dog-like creatures who lived in the fictional Yorkshire coal mining village of Grimeworth (based on the real life Cudworth where Parkinson was born and nearby village of Grimethorpe). Most of the inhabitants of Grimeworth were woofits (and had the surname "Woofit"), although humans also appeared in the stories.
Books
The four original books published in 1980 by Collins of London were
In addition there were Woofit Annuals for the years 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983.
In some of the annuals the setting for the stories was moved from Grimeworth to Batley in West Yorkshire where the Woofits worked at a woollen mill and were of Scottish origin.
Television
In 1981 Yorkshire Television made two series of Woofits cartoons to be shown on ITV's lunchtime slot for young children based on the original stories and new stories with Michael Parkinson narrating them.
Characters
The main members of the Woofit family lived in 3 terraced houses along Grimeworth Street, Grimeworth these were -
Number 8
Number 10
Number 12
Other characters included Baskerville Woofit (editor of the Daily Woofit), Cluff Woofit (manager of the local football team) and local policeman Sargeant Cox.