Morph is a British series of clay stop-motion comedy animations, named after the main character, who is a small terracotta-skinned plasticine man, who speaks an unintelligible language and lives on a tabletop, with his bedroom being a small wooden box. Morph was initially seen interacting with Tony Hart, beginning in 1977, on several of his British television programmes, notably Take Hart, Hartbeat and SMart.
In 1980, he was given his own spin-off series, The Amazing Adventures of Morph, followed in the 1990s by The Morph Files.
History
Morph was produced for the BBC by Aardman Animations, later famous for the "Sledgehammer" music video, Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep. Morph appears mainly in one-minute "shorts" interspersed throughout the Take Hart show. These are connected to the main show by having Hart deliver a line or two to Morph, who replies in gibberish but with meaningful gestures. Later on, Morph is joined by the cream-coloured Chas, who is much more troublesome and mischievous.
Morph can change shape. He becomes spheres in order to move around and extrudes into cylinders to pass to different levels of his environment. He can also mimic other objects or creatures. Morph lives in a wooden microscope box on an artist's desk. He and Chas both love to eat cake, as seen in many of the shorts. Most appearances of Morph revolve around his friendship and rivalry with Chas, with each often playing tricks on the other and laughing at each other's misfortune. While Morph's nature is that of an innocent, curious character, Chas is much more mischievous and prone to bad behaviour.
After Hart's shows ended, Morph and Chas appeared in shorts on the Children's BBC's successor programme SMart from 1994-2005.
Some of the early plasticine models of Morph were destroyed in a fire at the warehouse where they were being stored on 10 October 2005.
Morph's 30th birthday was celebrated in 2007 by creator Peter Lord and celebrity fan and comedian Phill Jupitus at events for the Encounters Film Festival in Bristol. In March 2009, shortly after Hart's death, a flashmob of Morph characters was organised in London outside the Tate Modern art gallery.
In 2009, the BBC drama Ashes to Ashes featured Morph in a guest appearance as a representation of a present-day medic. Morph was used to give a comic feeling despite a very serious situation in episode 3 of the second series. The character was pictured in an episode of Take Hart; however, Morph appeared on the television after it was turned off, separating it from the context of the Take Hart episode.
On 29 October 2013, Peter Lord (co-founder of Aardman Animations), created a fundraising project on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter. The campaign set a target of £75,000 to be used to fund 12 new one-minute episodes. The target was reached on 6 November 2013 after only nine days, attracting contributions from over 1,700 backers, who received a variety of rewards, including early access to the new animations and a small box of clay used in the production, depending on the individual's level of funding. In January 2014, Peter Lord and Aardman began production on 15 new episodes featuring Morph. The new series premiered on Morph's official YouTube channel with 15 episodes from 4 July 2014 to 30 January 2015.
In 2015, a Morph experience opened at Land's End. The Land's End signpost was rebranded "Lamb's End" with original sets, models, and characters from a range of Aardman productions. Visitors were also able to star in a real Shaun the Sheep scene, using green-screen technology, and meet other characters from the Aardman family, including Shaun the Sheep and Wallace & Gromit.
Released between 20 March and 2 October 2015, HD-restored versions of The Amazing Adventures of Morph appeared on YouTube; and in the summer of 2015, Morph returned to TV on CBBC with the 15 new episodes. From 6 November 2015 to 7 January 2016, The Lost Tapes from 2001 were revealed having been redubbed and remastered on YouTube. In March 2016, it was announced that Sky had made a deal with Aardman Animations to produce new Morph material to be directed at its child audience.Financial Times, 31 March 2016 From 6 May 2016 to 15 September 2017, all clips captured from Take Hart were revealed on the Morph YouTube channel. In August 2017, new Morph merchandise was shown at Wallace & Gromit's Charity Shop. Between 2 March and 14 September 2018, 15 more episodes of the new Morph series that were previously shown on Sky Kids were shown on YouTube. From 15 February to 17 May 2019, all 13 episodes of The Morph Files that were remastered into HD were released on YouTube.
In May 2019, Morph and Chas appeared in an advert for Tesco as part of the company's centenary celebrations, which also featured celebrities Anneka Rice and Derrick Evans (the latter more commonly known as Mr. Motivator).
On 9 November 2020, the new Morph series, The Epic Adventures of Morph, appeared and began to stream on Sky Kids. The series features Morph, Chas, and two old characters—Delilah and GrandMorph—who were brought back to add more life to the show. There is also a very small cameo from Gillespie, who is another character from The Morph Files and The Amazing Adventures of Morph that was revived for the series.
Films, shorts, and TV series 1977–83Take Hart1980–81The Amazing Adventures of Morph1984–93Hartbeat1994–2005SMart1996The Morph Files1997Morph TV (with Tony Hart)1998On Your Marks2001The Lost Tapes2006Morph (series of restored shorts)2009Ashes to Ashes (guest appearance)2012Ricky's Radical Reinventions2014–2019Morph2019Retro Morph2020The Epic Adventures of Morph 2021–present The Very Small Creatures (Opening)
Series overview Series Episodes First aired Last aired Original episodes 44 2006 2006 1 17 4 July 2014 6 March 2015 2 15 2016 2016
Original episodes (2006) The original 43 episodes of Morph were originally produced on the Aardman website in 2006. Subsequently, they were re-used on Aardman's YouTube channel from around September 2008 until 2010, and Morph's YouTube channel from 4 November 2013 until 23 October 2015. The original episodes uses the same clips originally used from Take Hart, The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Hartbeat, SMart and The Morph Files. # Episode Original airdate 101 (1) Hats 2006 102 (2) No Entry 2006 103 (3) Magic Boots 2006 104 (4) Invisimorph 2006 105 (5) Sweet Showdown 2006 106 (6) The Amazing Mimic 2006 107 (7) Get The Picture 2006 108 (8) Cake 2006 109 (9) Robomorph 2006 110 (10) Messy April Fools 2006 111 (11) Card Trick 2006 112 (12) Ice Cream 2006 113 (13) Row Your Boat 2006 114 (14) Sailors 2006 115 (15) Cleaning 2006 116 (16) Minimorph 2006 117 (17) Football 2006 118 (18) Sitting Comfortably? 2006 119 (19) Pudding Time 2006 120 (20) Blancmange 2006 121 (21) Self Portrait 2006 122 (22) Sculpture 2006 123 (23) Bed Time 2006 124 (24) Paint Job 2006 125 (25) Toll Bridge 2006 126 (26) Invisidog 2006 127 (27) Morph Off 2006 128 (28) Pop 2006 129 (29) Still Life 2006 130 (30) Poser 2006 131 (31) Abominable Snowman 2006 132 (32) Dog Show 2006 133 (33) Cowboys 2006 134 (34) Sharpshooter/Silver Disc Shooting 2006 135 (35) Dinner Time 2006 136 (36) Sea Shell/Rock and Roll Hole 2006 137 (37) Hide and Seek 2006 138 (38) Strong Morph 2006 139 (39) Sticky 2006 140 (40) The Painters 2006 141 (41) Cheese 2006 142 (42) Washing Machine 2006 143 (43) Bake Off 2006
Series 1: 2014–2015 The first series of Morph (referred to in YouTube video titles as Brand New Morph) was released on YouTube from 4 July 2014 to 30 January 2015 with a Red Nose Day special being released on 6 March. The series also aired on CBBC throughout the summer of 2015. It was later released on Sky Kids, albeit in a different order.
# Episode Original airdate 201 (20) Twin Decks 4 July 2014 202 (21) Portable Hole 18 July 2014 203 (22) Great Outdoors 1 August 2014 204 (23) Stand Up 15 August 2014 205 (24) Fetch 29 August 2014 206 (25) Bin It To Win It 12 September 2014 207 (26) Stick Up 26 September 2014 208 (27) Hiccups 10 October 2014 209 (28) Box of Tricks 24 October 2014 210 (29) Selfie 7 November 2014 211 (30) Clean Sweep 21 November 2014 212 (31) Goal 5 December 2014 213 (32) Xmas 19 December 2014 214 (33) Sloped World 2 January 2015 215 (34) Chas Express 17 January 2015 216 (35) Picture Perfect 30 January 2015 217 (36) Red Nose Day 6 March 2015
Series 2: 2016 The second series of Morph released on Sky Kids in 2016 and then YouTube from 2 March 2018 until 14 September 2018, albeit in a different order. It is the first series produced for Sky Kids, which also streamed the first two series of Morph on Sky TV. # Episode Original airdate 301 (37) Portable Portals 2016 302 (38) Desktop Rodeo 2016 303 (39) Remote 2016 304 (40) Shadow Puppets 2016 305 (41) Piñata 2016 306 (42) Treasure Map 2016 307 (43) One Man and His Dog 2016 308 (44) Lamp 2016 309 (45) Phosing 2016 310 (46) New Neighbour 2016 311 (47) Magic Doors 2016 312 (48) Birthday Party 2016 313 (49) Tablet 2016 314 (50) Rapper’s Delight 2016 315 (51) Boot Camp 2016
Series 3: 2019 The third series of Morph premiered on Sky Kids in 2019 and to YouTube on 12 February 2021 until 31 December 2021, with the episodes taking place during some special events that occurred during the year. Though it is said to be Series 3 on YouTube, it was released as separate specials on Sky Kids. # Episode Original airdate 316 (52) Valentine's Day 2019 317 (53) Pancake Day 2019 318 (54) World Book Day 2019 319 (55) Easter 2019 320 (56) Beached 2019 321 (57) Back To School 2019 322 (58) Halloween 2019 323 (59) Fireworks 2019 324 (60) Christmas 2019 325 (61) New Year 2019
The Epic Adventures of Morph: 2020 The first ten episodes of The Epic Adventures of Morph premiered on Sky Kids on November 9, 2020, with the series re-released on YouTube between 1 April 2022 and 8 July 2022. The episodes' running time was also extended to five minutes. Delilah, Grandmorph and The Very Small Creatures, who were originally from The Amazing Adventures of Morph, returned as main characters in the series and Gillespie made a cameo in 'Beanstalk'. Folly and Gobbledegook, who were also characters from said series, did not appear in the series. # Episode Original airdate 326 (62) Tangled Web November 9, 2020 327 (63) Pie Spy November 9, 2020 328 (64) Chas Air November 9, 2020 329 (65) Medieval Morph November 9, 2020 330 (66) Size Matters November 9, 2020 331 (67) Daredevil Delilah November 9, 2020 332 (68) Finding Nailbrush November 9, 2020 333 (69) Double Trouble November 9, 2020 334 (70) Camping Caper November 9, 2020 335 (71) Beanstalk November 9, 2020 336 (72) Operation Sausage 2020 337 (73) Dollshouse 2020 338 (74) Rainy Day 2020 339 (75) Game On! 2020 340 (76) Cheesed Off 2020
Characters
Main
Morph – The protagonist with terracotta skin. He is a clay figure who can transform into many things. He is very clever, curious and creative, and has a good sense of humour. Chas – Morph's cream-coloured best friend. Unlike Morph, he can't change shape. He is amoral, narcissistic, and dimwitted but has a good friendship with Morph, although this doesn’t stop him playing tricks on him at times. Chas was originally named Stu. Nailbrush – Morph's 'canine' companion, a barking, male nailbrush, thinking he's a dog. He is very loyal to Morph, although he sometimes gets him into trouble.
Supporting Grandmorph – Morph's elderly, bearded grandfather, who travels by skateboard and frequently invents things. Although wise and kind-hearted, Grandmorph is very strict, and often punishes Morph and Chas when they misbehave. Delilah – A bossy, bespectacled female character in a yellow dress with dark brown skin. She has a good relationship with Morph, although she gets in his way. Folly – A scatter-brained girl made of tin foil. Gillespie – A large, blue friend of Morph's. He is very clueless and silly but is peaceable and often meditates.