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| Badger, voiced in the english version by actor Ron Moody. |
Based on the series of popular novels by Colin Dann,'The Animals of Farthing Wood' went into production in 1991, commisioned
by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which consists of 19 public television networks, including the BBC. London animation
company, Telemagination got their big break when they were chosen by the EBU to handle the management and production of the
series. The initial plan was for 26 episodes across two seasons, a third season was then added. Due to the length of time
animation took to make back in the early 1990's, Telemagination enlisted the help of French animators La Fabrique to draw
half the episodes. Eagle eyed viewers will notice that the episodes differ in visual style depending on which animation
team drew them.
After being animated, the episodes were dubbed for the various different languages they would be shown in. Heading the
English version cast was legendary actor Ron Moody (most famous for playing 'Fagin' in the movie musical 'Oliver!'), who voiced
major characters such as Badger, Toad and the Great White Stag. The other voice artists were impressionist Sally Grace (famous
for doing impressions of the Queen), actor Rupert Farley (The Tube Mice, From Hell), who played the series hero Fox, Pamila
Keevil-Kral, Jeremy Barret and Stacey Jefferson. The cast were joined in in season two by actor/comedian Jon Glover ('Mr.
Chomondley-Warner' in 'Harry Enfield & Chums'), who was brought in to play Scarface and various other new characters.
Season one was launched on BBC1 in January 1993, in a prime CBBC timeslot of 4.35pm. The episodes had been adapted from
Colin Dann's original novel by writer Valerie Georgeson (Who amongst other things had been part of the original writing team
for BBC flagship soap, EastEnders). The main storyline of the first season focused on the band of assorted creatures as they
fled the destruction of their home in Farthing Wood, making the long and dangerous journey to the nature reserve of White
Deer Park. The episodes were action-packed, often ending with a cliffhanger. The storylines were gritty (for a children's
animation), with shocking scenes such as the killing and impaling on thorns of baby mice and the death of the hedgehogs on
the motorway.
The second season began in January 1994, once again written by Valerie Georgeson. This season followed the animals as
they settled into their new life in White Deer Park, facing new dangers including a harsh winter, poachers and threats from
the viscious blue fox, Scarface. By the second half of the season many of the original characters had been killed off, and
the emphasise of the series shifted onto the foxes, with the growing feud between Fox and Scarface, and the adventures of
Fox's son Bold outside the safety of the park. The season's bittersweet finale is for me the greatest episode of the
whole series. Season two is considered by many fans to be the best, and I would agree with that.
Following the critical success of the series (which had over 60 million viewers throughout Europe, South Africa and Australia),
a third and final season had gone into production, which hit UK screens in September 1995. This season was (at times loosely)
based on the final two original novels by Colin Dann. However, Steve Walker had replaced Valerie Georgeson as the series writer.
Walker's writing style was a lot lighter and more comical, which dissapointed fans who missed the heart-wrenching grittyness
of the earlier series. The other major change to the series was the use of more digital animation techniques, which sometimes
enhanced the animation, but sometimes made it look too 'jerky'. Main storylines in the final season centred around Bully and
his rats' attempts to take over the park, a monstrous new leader of the deer herd, and an earth shattering hurricane.
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