Hilltop Hospital was an claymation

Clay animation

Clay animation or claymation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually Plasticine clay....

 childrens television programme made in 1999. It consisted of 52 ten minute shorts. The series was directed by Pascal Le Nôtre and produced in English, French (Hôpital Hilltop), German (Klinik Hügelheim) and Dutch (Heuvellandziekenhuis). The series was adapted from a series of books by Nicholas Allan

Nicholas Allan

- Biography :Nicholas Allan was born and brought up in Brighton, attending Brighton College from 1970 to 1975. He studied at the Slade School of Art and completed an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia...

 of the same name. ZDF

ZDF

Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...

 started broadcasting the shorts in 2003.

It was released by Buena Vista Home Video in 2000 and Maverick Entertainment in 2006 in the UK.

List of Characters

It was about a hospital staffed by animals with mainly young animals as patients. Regular characters include:

• Dr. Matthews, a dog, who seeks the romantic attention of Surgeon Sally.
• Nurse Kitty, a cat, who seeks the romantic attention of Dr. Matthews, who for the most part does not notice.
• Surgeon Sally, a hippo, a workaholic surgeon who has no time for Dr Matthews' attention.
• Clare and Arthur, two rats, who provide technical and laboratory services.
• Dr Atticus, a tortoise, the anesthetist who often is sleeping.
• The two Teds, two identical twin bears, who drive the hospital ambulance and work as orderlies.

The English language version featured the voices of Kevin Whately

Kevin Whately

Kevin Whately is an English actor.Whately is known for his starring role as Neville Hope in the British television comedy Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, his role as Dr Jack Kerruish in the drama series Peak Practice, and as Robert "Robbie" Lewis in the crime dramas Inspector Morse and...

 (Dr. Matthews), Sally Ann Marsh

Sally Ann Marsh

Sally Ann Marsh is a British singer and actress who came to fame originally as a member of a short lived girlband with Diana Barrand and Dani Behr called Faith Hope & Charity, .-Performing career:...

 (nurse Kitty), Celia Imrie

Celia Imrie

Celia Diana Savile Imrie is an English actress. In a career starting in the early 1970s, Imrie has played Marianne Bellshade in Bergerac, Philippa Moorcroft in Dinnerladies, Miss Babs in Acorn Antiques, Diana Neal in After You've Gone and Gloria Millington in Kingdom...

 (Surgeon Sally), Paul Shane (the two Teds), Brian Murphy

Brian Murphy (actor)

Brian Murphy is a British actor.Murphy was born in Ventnor, Isle of Wight. Although a prolific actor in many films and theatre productions for almost half a century, Murphy's most famous role was as the henpecked husband George Roper in the sitcom Man About the House and spin-off George and...

 (Dr. Atticus), Julie Higginson

Julie Higginson

Julie Higginson is an English actress who played the part of fictional character Jean Hope in ITV's Emmerdale on a recurring basis until the character was made permanent in 2006 when Susan Penhaligon took over....

 (Clare the lab rat) and Jonathon Kydd (Arthur the lab rat). Guest voices included Dame Thora Hird

Thora Hird

Dame Thora Hird DBE was an English actress.-Early life and career:Hird was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. She first appeared on stage at the age of two months in a play her father was managing...

 as Gracey Greyshell in Gracey Greyshell's last day.

Series 1: 1999

1. Heart Trouble (Troubles cardiaques)
2. Easter Bunnies (Lapins de Pâques)
3. Blood Bank (Banque de sang)
4. The Big Event (Le Grand Evénement)
5. Rag Week at Hilltop (Rag semaine à Hilltop)
6. The Big Match (Le Grand Match)
7. Gracey Greyshell's Last Day (Dernier Jour Greyshell Gracey)
8. Fire Alert
9. Happy Birthday, Dr Matthews! (Joyeux anniversaire, le Dr Matthews!)
10. The Mystery Illness (La mystérieuse maladie)
11. Radio Hilltop
12. Nurse Kitty's a Star
13. The Ghost of Hilltop (Le fantôme de Hilltop)
14. November 1, 1999
15. November 2, 1999
16. November 3, 1999
17. November 4, 1999
18. November 5, 1999
19. November 8, 1999
20. November 9, 1999
21. November 10, 1999
22. November 11, 1999
23. November 12, 1999
24. November 13, 1999
25. November 14, 1999
26. November 15, 1999

Series 2: 2001

1. September 3, 2001
2. September 4, 2001
3. September 5, 2001
4. September 6, 2001
5. September 7, 2001
6. TBA...

External links

• Hilltop Hospital at itv.com/citv
  Itv.com
  itv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 11 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV1 brand. The website offers on-line streaming, ITV archive, news, sport, entertainment, games, soaps, lifestyle, drama and an interactive TV...
  
  
• Episode list
• Hilltop Hospital