Concept and creative process
‘Butterflies’ was a prime-time show written by Carla Lane and starring Wendy Craig and Geoffrey Palmer. The previous series titles were based on a real butterfly collection, so I needed to do something different. The sung music theme (originally by Dolly Parton) was arranged by the BBC’s Ronnie Hazlehurst with vocals by Clare Torry. The concept was static and animated drawings of butterflies interspersed with drawings of the main characters. These were supported by the programme title being drawn in the same coloured crayon style. The track and lyrics formed the narrative. I storyboarded out the sequence to establish the illustrations, their sequence and timings. I photographed the main characters in the BBC photographic studio and commissioned the extraordinarily talented artist Tom Taylor to create the illustrations. The artwork was filmed in the BBC rostrum camera department. Sadly ‘Butterflies’ was one of Tom Taylor’s last projects for the BBC before he died in a tragic car accident.