Who are the Tetley Tea Folk?

Who are the Tetley Tea Folk?

The Tetley Tea Folk are characters that advertise the tea brand Tetley. They Tetley Tea Folk have been around since 1973 when the fist advert aired. Peter Rigby created the original Tea Folk characters and then Wyatt Cattaneo studios had studio director Tony Cattaneo and animator Ramon Modiano to animate them in 1973. They also used live action too, using real tea bags as props these video shooting were done in  Morgan and Mount studios and later by Perkins StClaire. The series ran from its start until the early 1980s were animated by Ramon Modiano. The musical score for the "Tea Folk" song was composed by Ken Jones with the lyrics coming from their originator JM Lewis. Towards the end of the 1970s, the Tetley Tea Folk account moved to the advertising agency D'Arcy, MacMannus and Macius.

In the early 1980s, Tetley's advertising was written and produced by the advertising agency D'Arcy, while the Tea Folk illustrations and commercials were then animated by animator Richard Ollive. When Tetley Tea stopped using the Tetley Tea Folk adverts in 2000 Richard Ollive still did the adverts for Tetley Tea Australia until 2005.  When Tetley tea made it's come back in 2010 Richard Ollive was asked to advertise them again and he still advertises them to present day.

If you would like to know more about Richard Ollive check out his website it is filled with fascinating information about his work with Tetley and other brands also he has a wonderful portfolio of his Tetley Tea Folk advertisement and even has a few of the TV adverts for Tetley.
http://www.richardolliveanimation.co.uk/richard-ollive-tv-work.html

In 1995 they started selling little collectables that you would receive when you brought a box of Tetley Tea. Here is one of the adverts I found:

There was a lot more merchandise that came out with the Tetley Tea folk on such as:

• Tetley Tea Folk Spoons
• Tetley Tea Folk Coasters
• Tetley Tea Folk Tea Pot
• Little Tetley Tea Folk Figurines
• Tetley Tea Folk Biscuit Tin
• Tetley Tea Folk Mug's (Cups)
• Tetley Tea Folk Tea Cosies
• Tetley Tea Folk Tea Towel
• Tetley Tea Folk Paper Plates, Bowels and Napkins
• Tetley Tea Folk Tea bag Holder
• Tetley Tea Cake Stand

If you are looking for some memorabilia yourself or if you want to finish a collection I know that EBay has a lot of Tetley Tea Folk merchandise from the 1990s to present day.

Here are a few links to sites who sell Tetley Tea Folk

EBay.co.uk
http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/tetley-tea-collectables

EBay.com
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?poi=&adpos=1s5&ul_noapp=true&geo_id=10232&MT_ID=69&crlp=74328336922_867&keyword=tetley+tea+folk&rlsatarget=kwd-329069734&_nkw=tetley+tea+folk&device=c&crdt=0&treatment_id=7&clk_rvr_id=898894864374

Compare99
http://www.compare99.com/compare.html?q=Tetley-Tea-Folk&ort=Tetley-Tea-Folk-Sale&adid=iaCkp562yKWemNqPt5aTYKfRz5xYosyft5amn8bbkIWXlI6o0p2dWdSfypKnpofFy5KkcLU%3D&gaa=OT&gclid=CjwKEAjwsvmvBRCT5ozK-dmY7D4SJACyIoJmHFPzxNWp4w1RM2JOpHb7Aan6PxNJwC3Ikb7MXlx9URoCfDDw_wcB


I am sure there are a lot more collectables and if you know of any more please connect me and I will add them, I also would be anxious to know for my own collection.