George Cole

The passing of George Cole was announced this morning; he worked with Honeycomb in the late eighties during the height of his fame as Minder’s Arthur Daley. 

When we were developing Tube Mice, our first series for ITV, voices for two loveable rouge mice, Vernon and Toaster, were needed. Originally, they were to be secondary characters, but Minder’s George Cole and Dennis Waterman came to mind. Amazingly, they both agreed to work on the project, promoting Vernon and Toaster to become the main characters.

I remember a kind and professional man, who was very encouraging to the young actors, directors and writers who were beginning their careers in television.

Although Tube Mice was a very minor part in the life of George Cole, he mentioned his time on the show in his recent autobiography.

Tube Mice Remembered

The blog site, London Particulars, has an article comparing Honeycomb Animation's Tube Mice from 1988, with two modern day series for Cbeebies, Rastamouse and Underground Ernie.


"Those who do remember it tend to recall it as some sort of children’s version ofMinder – not entirely unreasonable, as George Cole basically reprises his Arthur Daly role as the teddy-boy mouse Vernon and Dennis Waterman plays his sidekick, a punk mouse named Toaster.  The series, as the name implies, was about the adventures of the mice who live on the London Underground. The protagonists were Bubble, a lifelong Londoner (seen right – the aforementioned Rastafarian mouse) and Squeak, a country mouse newly arrived in the city. Vernon and Toaster might be allies or antagonists, depending on the demands of the story. Other characters included mouse equivalents of various London types, including a bohemian artist and an MP (affiliation unknown)."

The full article can be read HERE.

More about Tube Mice can be found at Retro Junk

Tube Mice are back in Town

Tube Mice was made for ITV at the London studios of Honeycomb Animation in the 1980s. Since leaving Smithfield for rural Devon, it seems that the studio may have left some of their characters behind. They may be the descendants of Toaster, (pictured here) who was voiced by Dennis Waterman (New Tricks) or George Cole's Vernon.

The series creators, Simon & Sara Bor got their inspiration from watching a mouse eat a sandwich at the Angel Tube Station. It seems that 24 years later, the mice have moved into Farringdon Station, which was a two minute walk from their studio.

Time Out has a story about this vicious new breed of mouse, which may bring the humble cycle clip back into fashion. You can find it at http://now-here-this.timeout.com/2012/08/29/tube-mice-on-the-loose-in-farringdon-station/

Thanks to Trev.