Review: Ivor the Engine – The Complete Collection

DVD: Ivor the Engine – The Complete Collection

There is one voice from my childhood that still resonates with me to this day and always makes me smile. That voice belonged to the late great Oliver Postgate; a man who voiced so many of my favourite childhood programmes, and whose welcoming narration also kept my 2 children under his spell too.

One of those programmes is Ivor the Engine, set in the “top left-hand corner of Wales” (as I sit here writing this in the “top right-hand corner of Wales“) and focusing on the titular Ivor the Engine; a small green steam locomotive who lives at at The Merioneth and Llantisilly Railway Traction Company Limited, and his adventures with his friends who include Jones the Steam, Evans the Song, Dai Station, and many more.

Stop-motion animation of watercolored cardboard cutout characters gives Ivor the Engine a dream-like look, which adds to the wonderfully relaxing narration and storylines as they take you on a journey through the Welsh hills and valleys. 

None of the stories involve too much danger or peril, but this programme doesn’t need that to keep its viewers interested, as Ivor the Engine is all about immersing yourself in this watercolored world and being swept along as Oliver Postgate (along with Anthony Jackson and Olwen Griffiths) voice the characters and take you on whimsical journeys where you know that everything will be alright in the end.

In a world where so many animated children programmes are full of fast action and even quicker vocal delivery, Ivor the Engine is a relaxing journey that is still just as enjoyable to take all these years after Ivor first made his way out of the engine shed at The Merioneth and Llantisilly Railway Traction Company.

Ivor the Engine is released on 8th August 2020.

Review by Dave from a disc kindly supplied by Fabulous Films.