1. Overview

2. Cast

3. Places

4. Broadcast

5. Awards and nominations

6. Merchandising
    Books  DVDs  Toys 

7. Live theatrical show

8. References

9. External links

In the Night Garden... is a live-action puppet educational BBC children's television series, aimed at children aged from one to six years old.^[2] It is produced by Ragdoll Productions. Andrew Davenport created, wrote, and composed the title theme and incidental music for all 100 episodes.^[3][4] It was produced by Davenport and Anne Wood, the team that also co-created Teletubbies. The programme is narrated by Derek Jacobi. It is filmed mostly in live action, and features a mix of actors in costume, puppetry and computer animation. The characters include Iggle Piggle, Makka Pakka, Upsy Daisy, the Tombliboos, the Pontipines / the Wottingers, the Haahoos, the Ninky Nonk and the Pinky Ponk.

The series was announced in {{dts|format=dmy|2006|10}}, and twenty episodes were first broadcast in {{dts|format=dmy|2007|3|19}}. Two series were made, with 100 episodes in all. The BBC confirmed in 2010 that it WOULD be commissioning another series.^[5] The show's budget was £14.5 million.^[6]

The programme's creators have said that it is designed to relax and entertain its intended audience of one to six-year-olds.^[6]

Overview

The programme features a large cast of colourful characters with unusual names who live in a magical forest scattered with large daisies and brightly coloured flowers. The characters mostly speak short, phrases and each has their own special song and dance. The garden is a sunny, colourful environment and the music is jaunty and music box-like. Producer Anne Wood said:

Each episode starts with a different child in bed, while the narrator introduces the episode. The scene cuts to Iggle Piggle, in his boat, travelling to the Night Garden. Then the camera pans up to the sky and zooms in, followed by flowers. After the title appears under a hedge, either the Ninky Nonk or the Pinky Ponk appears. The episodes end with one character receiving a bedtime story, which is generated by the magical gazebo that sits at the centre of the Night Garden. This story is a summary of the plot of the episode. Sometimes the characters all dance together under the Gazebo.

Iggle Piggle does not go to sleep, and his goodbye sequence ("Iggle Piggle's not in bed!" ... "Squeak!" ... "Don't worry, Iggle Piggle! It's time to go") rounds off the programme. The Night Garden turns into the night sky and Iggle Piggle is seen asleep on his boat as the end credits roll.

In 2007^[10] and 2008,^[11] the show won the Children's BAFTA for "Pre-school live action," as well as being nominated in 2009.^[12]

Cast

• Derek Jacobi as Narrator
• Nick Kellington as Igglepiggle
• Rebecca Hyland as Upsy Daisy
• Justyn Towler as Makka Pakka
• Andy Wareham as Tombliboo Unn
• Isaac Blake (Series 1)/Holly Denoon (Series 2) as Tombliboo Ooo
• Elisa Laghi as Tombliboo Eee

Places

The Stepping Stone Path is a path where only Igglepiggle goes, for a session in the Night Garden. It leads to the Gazebo at the beginning and end of an episode.^[8] It was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces".

The Daisy Patch is where Upsy Daisy lives. It is a field full of daisies. Upsy Daisy is usually the only character that can be seen in the patch.^[9] It was first featured in the episode "The Pontipines in Upsy Daisy's Bed".

Makka Pakka's Cave is where he lives and his Og-pog is kept outside it, behind a boulder. The cave, along with the Stepping Stone Path was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces".

The Tombliboo Bush is where the Tombliboos live. It is the largest house in the garden with so many activities to do such as playing music, playing with blocks and brushing teeth (like the Pinky Ponk and the Ninky Nonk it is bigger on the inside). It was first featured on the outside in "The Tombliboos' Waving Game" and on the inside in the episode "Too Loud Tombliboos!! Nice and Quiet!!"

The Pontipines/Wottingers' House is a small house at the foot of a tree where the Pontipines and Wottingers live. It, along with the Stepping Stone Path and Makka Pakka's Cave was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces".

The Tune Bridge is a musical bridge near Makka Pakka's cave. Whenever someone walks on the bridge, it plays a musical tune. It, and the Stepping Stone Path, Makka Pakka's Cave and the Pontipines/Wottingers' House, were first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces".

However, Makka Pakka and the Tombliboos, for unknown reasons, do not walk on the bridge.

The Gazebo is where the characters meet to dance at the end of some episodes.^[10] It has a picture of all the characters including the Ball (but except the Tittifers, one of the Trubliphones, the Tiddle and the Bed), the Tittifers' Tree, a Daisy, the Tune Bridge, the Tombliboo Bush, the Tombliboo Instruments, Igglepiggle's Blanket, the Tombliboo Bricks and, of course, the Gazebo, itself. It has two pictures of Makka Pakka, one with his Og-Pog, the other with him blowing his trumpet. The first dance was featured in the episode "The Tombliboos' Waving Game" and it first gave a clue in "Igglepiggle's Blanket in Makka Pakka's Ditch".

The Tittifers' Tree is where the Tittifers sing in a certain section and together and at the end.

Broadcast

Until 1 April 2008, the show aired on the CBeebies channel every day, including weekends, at 6:25 PM in the "Bedtime Hour" slot, in addition to earlier daytime showings on weekdays (like every other show on CBeebies, the same episodes are shown all day).^[11] From April until August 2008, In The Night Garden... was removed from its 6:25 PM "Bedtime Hour" slot, which resulted in a petition asking for the programme to be re-instated to its normal slot.^[12] One parent petitioner was quoted by The Daily Telegraph commenting that "My four-year-old refused to believe it was bedtime because ITNG hadn't been on and it was daylight outside."^[12]

The show returned to the daily "Bedtime Hour" slot at 6:25 PM as of 30 August 2008, and began showing the second series (beginning with "Slow Down Everybody") on 1 September 2008.^[13] From December 2008, the show was moved again, this time to 6:00 PM. As of January 2010, it airs at 6.20 PM.

As of February 2008, in Canada, the show airs daily at 5:30 AM on Treehouse TV, Mondays to Fridays at 7:30 PM, and Saturdays at 10:30 AM.And as of April 11, 2016 in Canada, as well the show airs daily at 2:00 pm on family jr during the Monday funday block of programming .

As of March 2016, in Australia, the show airs during the ABC 4 Kids block of programming on ABC2 every weekends at 11:30 AM. As of October 2008, in India, the show airs every day on the CBeebies channel, including weekends, at 9 AM, 12 PM and 3 PM.

As of 2008, in Norway, the show airs every weekday on the NRK Super channel, at 5:30 PM. As of 2009, the show airs on TV2 in Malaysia on weekday mornings at 8:30 AM. As of 2009, the show airs on Luli and Hop! in Israel. Twenty new episodes began broadcasting on CBeebies and BBC HD on 9 February to continue at 6 PM daily. As of 2010, Series 1 of the show airs daily on Baraem on Nilesat and Arabsat covering the Middle East in Arabic at 7:30 PM. As of 2010, the show airs on Clan in Spain sometime around 8:30 AM on weekdays and around 7:50 AM on weekends. In The Netherlands, it airs on Disney Junior. And In Poland, it airs on CBeebies.

As of 11 October 2010, the series was added on The Hub in the U.S. as part of the "HubBub" programming block. On 24 June 2012, it was removed on The Hub along with The Future Is Wild and Wilbur. However, the series returned on Hub Network on 2 June 2013 and was removed again on 13 October 2013.

Awards and nominations

• BAFTA Children's Awards 2007
• Awarded Best Children's Live-Action Series^[14]
• The website for the programme was nominated for Best Interactive Site^[14]
• BAFTA Children's Awards 2008
• Awarded Best Pre-School Live Action Series^[15]
• BAFTA Children's Awards 2009
• Nominated for Best Pre-School Live Action^[16]

Merchandising

In the Night Garden... books, DVDs and toys have been marketed since 2007.

Books

In 2014, Penwizard^[17] introduced a line of personalised books where customers can customise the story to include their child's name and likeness in the story alongside IgglePiggle and friends.

DVDs

Several Region 2 DVDs have been released in the UK:

Each DVD features five episodes.

A boxset, Hello Everybody!, has been released, containing "Hello IgglePiggle!", "Hello Upsy Daisy!", "Hello Makka Pakka!" and "Hello Tombliboos!" Each of these titles have episodes relating to the character on which the DVD is based.

Toys

The show's makers, Ragdoll Productions, signed a deal to make the toy producer Hasbro a global partner before the show was first broadcast, and merchandise was first made available in July 2007. The range includes small Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy and Makka Pakka stuffed toys and a small Ninky Nonk train with detachable carriages. Wheeled toy licensee MV Sports & Leisure Limited produced a range of scooters and trikes. Play-doh made some dough that came packaged with an Igglepiggle-shaped cut-out.

In spring 2008, several new toys arrived, including roll-along characters, Talking Cuddly Makka Pakka, Ninky Nonk Pop-up tent and more. Hasbro won the 2008 "Best Licensed Toy or Game range" Licensing Award for their In The Night Garden... range.^[18]

In January 2009, a spokesman for the BBC confirmed that they had asked Hasbro to change the skin colour of the Upsy Daisy doll following "a handful of complaints". The doll was originally released with a noticeably lighter complexion than seen in the television series, as it was based on the animated version of Upsy Daisy.^[19]

Live theatrical show

References

External links

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150508153033/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/in-the-night-garden In the Night Garden on Cbeebies]
• In the Night Garden official site
• {{IMDb title|0896228|In the Night Garden...}}

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