Mark Hall, after a short illness, died on Thursday aged 74 . Mark Hall with co-creator Brian Cosgrove set up Cosgrove Hall animation that gave us  Danger Mouse, Duckula, Alias the Jester. These tales had the great idea of bringing  together two disparate genres. Danger Mouse - comic mouse and secret agent, Duckula - vegetarian duck and vampire inheritence, Alias - extra terrestial and Camelot, which appealed to both adults and children. Danger Mouse at it’s peak had 19 million viewers. The studios output was much wider than this however and made many child centred series including Rainbow, Chorlton and the Wheelies and Fifi and the Flowerpots.

Angus Allan and I visited their Manchester studio while we were working on Danger Mouse for Look-in. At the time they were making their stop motion Wind in the Willows series with its lovely models and sets. I remember them both as being welcoming, warm and avuncular. Avuncular - resembling an uncle, especially one who is friendly, helpful, or good-humoured.