Chorlton & the Wheelies was a popular 70s stop motion animation series. The action takes place in "Wheelie World", which is inhabited by (you guessed it) the "wheelies", a race of anthropomorphic creatures who move around on (you guessed again…) wheels. They have three wheels each: two large ones at the front, and a smaller centred one at the back. The wheels are replaceable, and suitable wheels grow on vegetation found in Wheelie World.

The wheelie society is in constant conflict with Fenella the Kettle Witch, who lives in a separate part of Wheelie World, in Spout Hall, an oversized kettle. She has magical capabilities, including a form of teleportation which is her main mode of transport, and enchanted assistants including a talking book (called 'Claptrap Von Spilldebeans') and O'Reilly the Telescope, which advise her on magic spells.

Her minions include spikers (sinister looking objects like conker shells with baleful eyes, which roll everywhere) and toadies (pointed toadstools with similar eyes, which travel by bobbing through the ground as though it were water and who speak with a Chinese accent). Fenella hates happiness, and uses her powers primarily to make the wheelies unhappy. She has a very strong Welsh accent.

The wheelies have adopted into their society Chorlton, a "happiness dragon", who appears in Wheelie World at the very beginning of the series, hatching out of an egg. Chorlton is perpetually good-natured and perpetually clueless. For example, he fails to perceive Fenella as a villain, and affectionately refers to her as a "little ol' lady". Nevertheless, his presence negates the unhappiness magic, so the wheelies treat him as a hero. He has a strong Yorkshire accent and often says 'Aye Up'.

The plots are simple, mainly revolving around Fenella's schemes to make the wheelies unhappy and Chorlton's accidental rectification of everything that goes wrong. The main characters include:

* Chorlton the Happiness Dragon - where he goes happiness follows
* Fenella Fellorick the Kettle Witch - who does not like anyone to enjoy themselves
* Zoomer - a wheelie, notable for his speed
* Jenny - a wheelie girl with blonde hair who has a crush on Chorlton
* King Otto and Queen Doris - The monarchy of Wheelie World
* The Chamberlain - the politician of Wheelie World, who bears a striking resemblance to Harold Wilson, Prime Minister at the time
* Claptrap von Spilldebeans - A German spellbook who often speaks in rhyme and comes up with Fenella's schemes
* O'Reilly the one eyed telescope - An Irish telescope that Fenella stole from the end of Dún Laoghaire East pier
* Clifford - Fenella's giant son, who is so tall the only part of him that ever is in shot is his leg
* Pablo Perdito - A world famous Latin American dancing duck
* Floyd - The only toady to have pink spots rather than green (first called by name in the series two episode "Toady Trouble" - possible hidden reference to the band Pink Floyd)

The idea of “wheelies” came about after the difficulties of moving many different characters using stop-frame animation. Characters on wheels were easier to manipulate than those with limbs that needed fractionally moving many times for each second of filming.

The show was sold to numerous countries around the world. However it was never sold to Israel after a graphic artist mistakenly drew a Star of David instead of a Pentagram on the front of the talking spellbook, which spoke with a Germanic accent.