They began in 1959 with "Ivor the Engine", a series for ITV about a Welsh steam locomotive who wanted to sing in a choir, based on Postgate's wartime encounter with Welshman Denzyl Ellis, who was once a fireman on the Royal Scot. It was remade in colour for the BBC in the 1970s. This was followed, also in 1959, by "Noggin the Nog", their first production for the BBC, which established Smallfilms as a safe and reliable pair of hands to produce children's entertainment, in the days when the number of UK television channels was restricted to two.