Brian Trueman, the writer of classic British cartoons like Danger Mouse and Chorlton and The Wheelies, has died aged 92, his son has announced.
Ben Trueman wrote on X: “Some sad news. My father, Brian Trueman, has died.
“92 years of happy life. A career in television and radio that included Children’s Hour, Clitheroe Kid, Scene at 6.30, Granada Reports, Brass Tacks, Screen Test.
“He may be best known as the writer of and actor in Dangermouse, Duckula, Jamie and the Magic Torch, Cockleshell Bay, Chorlton and the Wheelies etc.
“He was clever, funny, resilient, an absolute gentleman, loving and loved. We will all miss him so much.”
Trueman was from Manchester, and did most of his best-known work with the legendary Manchester animation studio, Cosgrove Hall.
The studio, formed in 1976 by animators Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall and based in the Manchester suburb of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, the namesake of Chorlton and The Wheelies, was behind some of the most successful children’s shows of the 1980s, before it was wound down in 2009.
As well as writing many of Cosgrove’s most successful shows, Trueman was a prolific voice actor, with 47 credits as Nanny in Count Duckula across the show’s 65 episodes, of which he also wrote 11. He also contributed as a writer or voice to household names including Thomas the Tank Engine, Wallace and Gromit and Postman Pat.
Dangermouse was arguably Trueman’s biggest success, however. Trueman contributed to 79 episodes of the original Danger Mouse series, which ran from 1981 to 1992 and starred David Jason and Terry Scott, according to his IMDb page.
Tributes to the scribe followed from some well-known local faces:
