Today I’m taking a look at a series of wrappers released by Cadbury UK in the early-1970’s which featured characters from the classic children’s television show, The Wombles.
The first Wombles television show was produced by the BBC using stop-motion animation and aired from 1973 to 1975. The Wombles were a race of pointy-nosed creatures whose unusual-yet-noble purpose was to find litter and dispose of it properly. That, and to perform catchy musical numbers. Yes the 1970’s were a magical time.
The Wombles promotional photo
Based on children’s books of the same name, The Wombles became something of a UK pop culture institution with countless media mentions and more than a few revivals over the past four decades.
Here’s a video clip of The Wombles appearing on the UK program Top of the Pops in 1974: [Check out the presenter as I believe he’s holding a few Cadbury Creme Eggs in his hand.]
Keep_on_Wombling_1974 album cover – Source RepublicMedia.net
The heyday of The Wombles popularity was the 1970’s, which built upon the success of the television show and led to musical albums as well as a 1977 film and many licensed products including two series of Cadbury Dairy Milk bars.
From what I can tell there were two series of Wombles bars produced. I’m not certain how many wrappers there were across those two series, though I have thirteen different examples in my collection. Here they are:
UK – Cadbury’s – The Wombles Bungo – Bungo’s Musical Instrument – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
UK – Cadbury’s – The Wombles Great Uncle Bulgaria – Great Uncle Bulgaria’s Paperweight – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
UK – Cadbury’s – The Wombles Madam Cholet – Madam Cholet’s Pomander – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
UK – Cadbury’s – The Wombles Orinoco – Orinoco’s Noise-Machine – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
UK – Cadbury’s – The Wombles Tobermory – Tobermory’s Thingummy Box – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
UK – Cadbury’s – The Wombles Tomsk – Tomsk’s Vase – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
UK – Cadbury’s – The Wombles Wellington – Wellington’s Helicopter – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
The next six wrappers differentiate themselves as they feature six numbered “Womble Hints”:
UK – Cadbury’s – The Wombles Great Uncle Bulgaria – Hint No 1 – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
UK – Cadbury’s – The Wombles Tobermory – Hint No 2 – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
UK – Cadbury’s – The Wombles Orinoco – Hint No 3 – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
UK – Cadbury’s – The Wombles Bungo – Hint No 4 – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
UK – Cadbury’s – The Wombles Wellington – Hint No 5 – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
UK – Cadbury’s – The Wombles Tomsk – Hint No 6 – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
Those are all of the different Wombles wrappers I have in my collection though I do have one interesting variation to show.
Much like Cadbury’s Monster Bar wrappers I wrote about in 2012, Cadbury’s New Zealand division released a set of The Wombles bars that featured the same wrapper designs used in the UK, but in their case in a smaller size. Here’s a comparison of a UK Wombles wrapper next to the smaller version released by Cadbury New Zealand:
New Zealand – Cadbury The Wombles – Bungo – Hint No 4 – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
Special note: From what I’ve read online, The Wombles are set to return to television in 2015 for a new CGI version of their program.
Wombles publicity photo – Source Republic Media.net
That’s everything I’ve got to share today on The Wombles and their 1970’s Cadbury chocolate wrappers. See you next time!
I remember these well as a child, I was a big wombles fan. They were around the same time as Nestle’s Pink Panther strawberry chocolate which I also was a big fan of!
Freaky! I never heard of them before.
I collected these as a kid, and as far as I know I still have them (although I can’t find them at the moment). The artwork on them is gorgeous, and I wish it was possible to find out who the artist/s was/were, or to see high-quality reproductions of them.
Just to clarify, though :- the set of six with the full-length shots were the first set released; the set showing head-shots of the characters were released after… perhaps the following year. The second series was expanded to include Madame Cholet..
Although I never saw them myself, I have recently become aware of a third set showing each character in some kind of activity. The picture I’ve seen shows :- Tobermory driving; Tomsk riding a Big Dipper; Wellington outside what appears to be Buckingham Palace; Bungo playing a tin-can like a drum (?); and MacWomble cracking walnuts. Also include in this set was Great Uncle Bulgaria.
I hope this information is of some help to you, and maybe pictures of the mysterious third set will show up!
Wow, amazing information Kevin. Thank you! -J
Too bad , the chocolates never made it to the United States. I wish the candies had. Of course, I also wished there were Lego sets of Wombles, but that’s me.