Llan-ar-goll-en

Llan-ar-goll-en is a Welsh live action/animated children's television series created by Siwan Jobbins for S4C, and produced by Twt Productions and Cwmni Da. The series follows the adventures of two detectives; human Prys ar Frys and Ceri the Dog-tective, who manage to solve many mysteries in the titular village. It ran for 2 seasons with 51 episodes (including a half-hour Christmas special) from December 23, 2013 to March 14, 2016.

The series was filmed in Portmeirion, Wales, and notably features animated animal characters (such as one of the main characters, Ceri) interacting with a live action environment. The animation was done by Cloth Cat Animation.

You can watch almost all episodes on YouTube here and here.

Plot
In the small, crazy village of Llan-ar-goll-en, Wales, things are known to go missing all the time. Luckily for its citizens in dire need, two detectives that are very different from each other; Prys ar Frys the human, and his animated dog sidekick, Ceri, are known for solving mysteries and finding lost things. Whenever there's trouble, a siren is sounded and Prys and Ceri are immediately on the case.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Epic theme song that gets you pumped in each episode, even if you don't speak Welsh.
 * 2) The characters are sweet and kind to each other. Even when they bicker or have disagreements, they always find a way to work it out between each other in the end.
 * 3) This show is a great, light-hearted gateway to the detective drama genre.
 * 4) Smooth animation, and the show makes great use of it as all of the animals in the show are animated, and are constantly seen interacting with the live-action environment around them (like Blue's Clues), which this show pulls off perfectly.
 * 5) Speaking of Blue's Clues, the show is seen as a good spiritual successor to that one, as both are about a live-action man solving mysteries with their animated female doggy sidekick.
 * 6) *It's also compared to LazyTown, since both shows are mixed-media (puppets in that show, animated characters in this show) and have similar cases of a close-knit eccentric community. It helps that there are a few references to Iceland dropped in this show.
 * 7) The show has a lot of catchy, quotable catchphrases.
 * 8) Ceri is adorable, and the actress who plays her, Siwan Bowen Davies does a good job voicing her.
 * 9) *The other animated characters are also just as cute.
 * 10) Prys ar Frys and Tara Tan Toc are constantly shown to have a crush on each other, and it's very sweet.
 * 11) Perhaps surprising of a formulaic preschool show, every episode manages to have so many jokes. The show is hilarious.
 * 12) *Anytime Prys ar Frys does something silly, you can't help but laugh.
 * 13) Also despite being a preschool show, it has a more mature vibe and doesn't belittle any child watching. Case in point, NO FAKE INTERACTIVITY!!!
 * 14) The citizens of the village are all awesome in their own way. Like Radli Miggins, who has a flying magic bike, or AbracaDebra, the resident magician with a rad hairstyle.
 * 15) *Let's not forget about Mrs. Tomos, the "adventurous grandma", who among all else once visited Iceland in order to hunt a large and hairy yeti.
 * 16) Following the above, the show can be very wacky and creative in a good way. Every day in Llan-ar-goll-en is a pleasantly weird delight!
 * 17) While there is no English dub made for the show, the channel provided official subtitles itself.
 * 18) While it didn't last long, the show still got 2 seasons and a half-hour Christmas special.
 * 19) *The Christmas special in particular, "Ceirw Coll Siôn Corn" is made of awesome, with Santa Claus dropping in on the village and depending on Prys ar Frys (who's always wanted to see Santa since he was young) and Ceri to help solve the mystery of his lost reindeer.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Mrs. Tomos hits on every male in the village in the first episode. It gets so bad that one of them had to hide from her in a sack. Yuck...
 * 2) The episodes can be very repetitive since it's still a preschool show that sticks to a formula that it uses in every episode. Though some may still see this as a good quality since it doesn't feel too samey, and makes use of the show's formula like Phineas and Ferb.
 * 3) Some of the animated characters' voices, like Ianto, Carwyn, and Caradog, sound grating.
 * 4) The joke about Barti Felyn being unintelligible can get tiresome at times.
 * 5) The narrator feels a bit useless as she only shows up at the beginning and the middle of each episode for a short amount of time. Depending on your view, this is a shame as she actually has some funny moments, such as when she jokes on how bad Prys' detective skills are.
 * 6) Mia Pia isn't that much of an interesting addition to the village, as her whole gimmick is that she's a vet but no animals like her, except rats. She was randomly added in season 2, too.
 * 7) *Also, the mayor of the village who similarly doesn't appear for most of season 1 until the end, isn't all that well liked either. It doesn't help that the last episode depicts her as maliciously stealing something for her own gain and lying about not being the culprit.
 * 8) Speaking of the finale, it doesn't act as a faithful conclusion to the show itself, as if the writers did not plan for the show to be a two-season wonder. It's just an average episode with a few characters and a simple, not-intriguing plot.
 * 9) Not a fault to the show itself, although it is a very underrated masterpiece, probably because the show was made in Wales.
 * 10) *There are also no dubs or adaptations made for the series either. Awful-schmawful...
 * 11) **And no DVDs or official streaming release, either.

Episodes With Their Own Pages

 * Dirgelwch y Llythyr Coll

Trivia

 * The name of the show is actually a pun on the real life town of Llangollen, and the Welsh word for lost, "ar goll".
 * There are no official English episode title translations, however all episodes have aired on S4C subtitled in English. Also, the episode titles themselves don't appear on-screen.
 * There is actually a dog in real life in Wales named Ceri, named after her owner who had rescued the dog from getting shot. Later, the two had reunited with each other.
 * The show developed a very small fanbase starting March 6, 2020, when a Twitter user spread word of the show. Since then, its gained detailed Wikipedia and TV Tropes pages.
 * All of the episodes of the show were made available on the BBC iPlayer for only 30 days after each re-airing, so the fanbase of the show came together to archive what they could. An additional 18 episodes were uploaded to Dailymotion two years prior, as well.
 * However, the episode "Sanau" is currently the only lost episode of the show, since it hasn't aired since August 23, 2019. Despite this, the transcript of the episode can be found here.