Camberwick Green village’s ‘pride’ at TV show’s 60th anniversary

Residents of a village believed to have inspired the children’s TV programme Camberwick Green have been expressing “pride” in the connection on its 60th birthday.

Gordon Murray’s beloved stop-motion animation show, which became the first BBC children’s show in colour on 3 January 1966, is thought to have been based on Wivelsfield Green in East Sussex.

The programme’s 13 episodes, which have been repeated regularly, were voiced by Brian Cant and introduced “iconic” characters such as Windy Miller, PC McGarry and Mickey Murphy the baker.

Richard Morris, a village resident who watched it with his mother as a child, said Camberwick Green was “a soap opera for kids” and “quite unique for its time”.

He added: “It was a character-driven show, everyday stories about everyday people.

“I have some of the DVDs and watched them with my own children.

“People in the village know it’s a quirky thing and it makes people smile.”

Sue Morris, his wife, said the connection was “something really to be proud of”.

The Trumptonshire Trilogy – Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley – were shown weekly by the corporation from 1966 for 20 years.

They were all thought to have been based on neighbouring Sussex villages with very similar sounding names – Wivelsfield Green for Camberwick Green, Plumpton for Trumpton and Chailey for Chigley.

Each episode of Camberwick Green began with a shot of a musical box which rotates while playing a tune, accompanied by the narration: “Here is a box, a musical box, wound up and ready to play.

“But this box can hide a secret inside. Can you guess what is in it today?”

Tim Worthington, TV historian, said: “It has lasted because it was a very forward-thinking programme for its time.

“It was one of the very first independently made programmes. It inspired a lot of other shows that followed.”

The author of The Golden Age of Children’s TV added: “Gordon Murray said Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley are representative of real locations which are one and a half miles from each other in an equidistant triangle.

“He said their exact location must remain a mystery as the disclosure could lead to the actual places being inundated with tourists.”

Gordon Murray died in 2016 aged 95.

In 2025, residents in Wivelsfield Green dressed in Camberwick Green costumes to protest about housebuilding plans for the village.