A resident has called for a Danger Mouse statue to be erected in the centre of Chorlton.
A post by Andrew Jones in the Facebook group Chorlton M21 shared the idea of crowdfunding for a Bronze statue of the animated mouse on the corner of Barlow Moor Road and Wilbraham Road.
The idea proved popular and was met with more than 150 likes.
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Silly, exciting and with a huge amount of custard, Danger Mouse was a huge success on screen, and in 1983, once racked up 21 million viewers, beating Corrie, and smashing records for the highest viewings of a children’s show.
Andrew, a resident of Chorlton, believes that the statue would be a 'great focal point for the local community' as well as celebrate the history of Danger Mouse.
He said: "Frank always makes me smile when I go past it in Timperley, I thought something non-political and Chorlton connected would be a good idea. Chorlton could do with a centre-piece.
"[It's] something fun following the long months of Covid, celebrating Cosgrove Hall's rich animation heritage and Chorlton's favourite son."
Danger Mouse is a strong part of Chorlton’s history with the animation studio where it was created, Cosgrove Hall Films, being based there.
However, Danger Mouse was not the only great animation to come out of Cosgrove Hall Films. An adaptation of Roald Dahl’s BFG and Count Duckula also deserve honourable mentions.
The mouse who lived down the road from Sherlock Holmes, and was a parody of spy fiction, was voiced by Sir David Jason in the original run of the show, from 1981 to 1992. Meanwhile his sidekick Penfold, who is actually a hamster, was voiced by Terry Scott.
In the 2015 reboot, the prestigious roles were taken over by Alexander Armstrong and Kevin Eldon, respectively.
The idea for a commemorative statue was seemingly inspired by the statue of Frank Sidebottom in Timberley, where the character was created.
One commenter on the post even chimed in with their own artistic vision for the statue saying: “It should be mouse-sized with Penfold & car, on top of postbox”.
While the studio closed in 2009, to become Cosgrove Hall court retirement flats, a plaque was placed there in 2014 to commemorate Danger Mouse’s home.
Speaking to the BBC at the time, Brian Cosgrove, one of the co-creators of Danger Mouse said: "I am delighted and honoured to have the development named after Cosgrove Hall and would like to wish the residents many happy years living here".
Earlier in the year, Manchester Council opened consultations where the public were invited to have their say on how public space should be used to reflect the history of the city.
Sadly, this consultation ended in March of this year, but does show that the council is open to artworks reflecting the history of an area.
That consultation specifically related to ‘statues, monuments and memorials’ and prided itself on illustrating the rich cultural history of Manchester.
So, there is a chance that Danger Mouse could, one day, stand at four banks.
Manchester Council have been contacted for comment.
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