Fourways Farm
| Fourways Farm | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Chris Ellis |
| Directed by | Tom Stanier |
| Voices of | Martin Jarvis |
| Narrated by | Martin Jarvis |
| Music by | Jim Parker |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 25 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Patrica Williams |
| Running time | 10 minutes per episode (approx.) |
| Production company(s) |
Case Television 2 Entertain |
| Release | |
| Original network | Channel 4 |
| Original release | 1993 – 1996 |
Fourways Farm was a British children's animated television series produced in 1993 by Case Television (originally produced in 1991) and aired on Channel 4 during 4Learning Primary Science between 1994 and 1996.
Plot
Nine animals live together in Fourways Farm. In each episode, one or more of the animals make an accidental but interesting scientific discovery. By nightfall, the animals try to deduce a logical explanation for it. Often the trio of rats make mischievous attempts to get some food out of the farm animals throughout the series, but occasionally put their mischief aside to help out whenever there is trouble.
Characters
- Davenport the Sheepdog - Has black and white fur, and speaks in an excitable, posh voice.
- Martha the Cow - Has brown fur and mulls over situations.
- Godfrey the Horse - Piebald fur, who prides himself on his talents. He speaks with a Yorkshire accent.
- Ginger the Cat - Has stripy ginger fur and speaks in a posh, Edinburgh accent.
- Dudley the Pig - Tends to waddle when he trots and likes to eat turnips. He has a West Country accent.
- Brenda the Duck - Has white feathers and speaks rather loudly.
- Uno the Large Rat - Has brown fur, wears sunglasses and does most of the scheming. He is a cockney.
- Duo the Medium Rat - Has brown fur, buck teeth stick out, is not very bright and speaks in a deep voice. He is also a cockney.
- Trio the Small Rat - Has Buff coloured fur and speaks in a high-pitched voice. Like the other rats, he is a cockney.
- Voltaire the weather vane - The narrator with gold-coloured metalwork.
Episodes
| No. | Cartoons | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "On Reflection" | February 27, 1993 |
| Martha and Godfrey think there is a cow and a horse in the pond. The rats try to trick them, but Brenda reveals that those are really reflections in the water. | ||
| 2 | "Moonstruck" | March 1, 1993 |
| The animals try to stop the rats eating the moon and discover something important about the changing night sky. | ||
| 3 | "Falling Upwards" | March 3, 1993 |
| The animals discover why things always fall downwards, but they don't know the rats are trying to play a trick on them. | ||
| 4 | "Sunflowers" | March 6, 1993 |
| The farm animals decide to have a sunflower-growing contest, but Martha finds out that water, good soil and sunshine are needed to make the plants grow and wins the contest. | ||
| 5 | "Three of A Kind" | May 7, 1993 |
| Brenda has three mystery guests, but why do they look so much like her? | ||
| 6 | "Who's Been Eating" | June 9, 1993 |
| The mysterious disappearance of some food introduces the three rats, (Uno, Duo and Trio) to the farm - but which animal on the farm eats what, and why? Well, it's the rat pack, of course! | ||
| 7 | "A Drop Of The Hard Stuff" | July 10, 1993 |
| Why has the pond gone all hard? The animals discover the relationship between ice and water. Godfrey wants to slide on the ice but so hard that he cracks the ice, revealing into water again! When he sinks, it's up to Martha, Brenda and the rat pack to rescue him from the drown as a proclamation that icy places are dangerous to play on. They'd prefer only Brenda and Davenport to skate on it instead tomorrow. | ||
| 8 | "Material Differences" | August 12, 1993 |
| After such a terrible storm, Dudley's pigsty is in need of repairs, but what can be done to mend the pigsty? Only the correct material will do the trick. A plastic sheet and a tyre are perfect for a roof window for Dudley's sty! | ||
| 9 | "Ups and Downs" | August 20, 1993 |
| After going round and round like a merry-go-round, Davenport tries an experiment with a bucket with the rats, but who is either up or down? Well, when Davenport is stuck halfway up, Trio manages to climb onto him, and (along with the rats) fall onto Godfrey's head three times! | ||
| 10 | "The Sound Of Music" | August 26, 1993 |
| It is night time on the farm. The animals learn that there are many ways of making sounds, but all are musical! | ||
| 11 | "Floating And Sinking" | January 1, 1994 |
| While the rats try to substitute the farm animals' food for painted stones, Dudley and Godfrey discover that certain objects float and sink in water. | ||
| 12 | "Buried Secrets" | January 10, 1994 |
| The rats trick the animals into giving their food to be looked after by using "superior intelligence". However, the rats neglect some of the food and fully preserve their portion. Duo manages to get the (cut) plastic box providing the animals to find their food perfect to eat, as the rats won't again take more than their fair shares. | ||
| 13 | "Appropriate Measures" | February 20, 1994 |
| During a test to see whoever can jump the highest, Godfrey accidentally smashes Ginger's cat box by jumping onto it and smashing it against the farm's water trough. While building a new box, the animals get the scale and measurements all wrong. Luckily, Davenport has the correct box. Ginger is pleased that everything is sorted out, even Dudley, who manages to find the little box for turnips as a snack-keeper! | ||
| 14 | "Animal Magnetism" | June 26, 1994 |
| The mischievous rats find a magnet and attempt to trick the animals into thinking its attraction. They do an attractiveness test. Duo however, accidentally gives the game away. Uno manages to find Godfrey's lucky charm! | ||
| 15 | "Gauging The Weather" | August 27, 1994 |
| Duo unwittingly makes a rain gauge out of a round glass jar, thinking that it's an "all-over all-round umbrella". When it is dry and sunny on Godfrey's birthday, Godfrey is unhappy about the lack of rain, so the rats help him out as to make him think that there has been a short rainstorm in history! In a post-credits scene, Godfrey is happy the following night to end his birthday and blows all three of the cake's candles out in one go. | ||
| 16 | "Birth and Death" | February 3, 1995 |
| Davenport and the rats discover a dead bird lying near the farm's water well and decide to bury it in the ground before wishing it all the best for its afterlife in Heaven. | ||
| 17 | "Paws For Thought" | May 2, 1995 |
| When huge footprints appear in the snow, the animals think that there must be a giant on the loose, but they soon learn why all animals are different. | ||
| 18 | "Snow Problem" | June 6, 1995 |
| Everybody on the farm enjoys the snow, but when Dudley falls into the snow and freezes and cannot move unaided, it takes the other animals and a lot of applied science to help him get up by rolling him onto a cart and then giving him a lift back to the farm before placing him in front of the stove in the barn to warm him up. After good news, they tell Martha, the question is: are there any other ways of making things move more easily? | ||
| 19 | "Hot And Cold" | August 30, 1995 |
| It is a cold Winter's day on the farm, and after having Duo putting too much wood in the stove, the animals are out of petrol. What can the animals do to produce heat and conserve it? In the morning, Ginger tells them that the Sun has melted the snow away. | ||
| 20 | "Shadow Play" | November 9, 1995 |
| When the sky turns red, the animals are intrigued at their own shadows and use this new discovery to put on their very own play. They put a play about the animals making a wish. It is a great success! | ||
| 21 | "Colours" | January 1, 1996 |
| The rats attempt to decorate Davenport's kennel, but they keep mixing up their paint and the plan goes horribly wrong, that is, until the heavy rain washes all the paint away, leaving the kennel exactly how it was at the beginning of the plan. | ||
| 22 | "Sickness And Health" | January 6, 1996 |
| Davenport becomes ill and worries about if he'll ever get better or not. The animals don't have a solution to help him get well in time for a planned picnic (even as Uno uses a bottle of water as elexcia), except Ginger who provides proper medicine. Davenport is better the next day in time for the group picnic, and all is well. | ||
| 23 | "Changes" | February 4, 1996 |
| Duo accidentally falls into a bag of flour and turns white, like a ghost. The rats use the flour to make some pizzas and ask what topping it will have, along with a milkshake and their fast food and drink delivery service becomes a success. All in all, the day really does turn out to be "a day to remember". | ||
| 24 | "Four Seasons" | April 5, 1996 |
| The animals run out of wood for the stove, but with Martha's help, they learn all about the changing seasons. Trees loose their leaves in the Autumn, they sleep in the Winter and they wake up and get lively in the Spring before Summer. | ||
| 25 | "Wind And Air" | August 29, 1996 |
| It is a windy day on the farm and the rats are trying to find a way to take advantage of the strong wind, but Duo is accidentally flown on Davenport's kite and stranded on the rooftop next to Voltaire the Weather cock. Trio climbs up the kite string to the rooftop to rescue him before giving him the descent of his life! | ||
Home Media
Fourways Farm was released on video between 1993 and 2002 by Cinema Club, Video Collection International and The Video Collection, considering of five fifty-minute-long video tapes, each featuring five ten-minute-long episodes. Apparently, the following five VHS releases of Fourways Farm were (and still are) available in the United Kingdom. Fourways Farm will be released on DVD in 2018 and then on Blu-Ray in 2019 in order to celebrate the programme's twenty-fifth anniversary.
| VHS/Video Title | VHS/Video Release Date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|
| Fourways Farm - Moonstruck and Other Stories | 22 July 1994 | On Reflection, Moonstruck, Falling Upwards, Sunflowers and Three of a Kind |
| Fourways Farm - Ups And Downs and Other Stories | 22 May 1995 | Who's Been Eating?, A Drop of the Hard Stuff, Material Differences, Ups and Downs and The Sound Of Music |
| Fourways Farm - Buried Treasure and Other Stories | 22 November 1995 | Floating and Sinking, Buried Treasure, Appropriate Measures, Animal Magnetism and Gauging the Weather |
| Fourways Farm - Paws For Thought and Other Stories | 22 January 1996 | Birth and Death, Paws For Thought, Snow Problem, Hot and Cold and Shadow Play |
| Fourways Farm - Four Seasons and Other Stories | 22 September 1996 | Colours, Sickness and Health, Changes, Four Seasons and Wind And Air |
| DVD/Blu-Ray Title | DVD Release Date | Blu-Ray Release Date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fourways Farm - Moonstruck and Other Stories | 10 August 2018 | 13 May 2019 | On Reflection, Moonstruck, Falling Upwards, Sunflowers and Three of a Kind |
| Fourways Farm - Ups And Downs and Other Stories | 24 September 2018 | 26 July 2019 | Who's Been Eating?, A Drop of the Hard Stuff, Material Differences, Ups and Downs and The Sound Of Music |
| Fourways Farm - Buried Treasure and Other Stories | 22 October 2018 | 27 September 2019 | Floating and Sinking, Buried Treasure, Appropriate Measures, Animal Magnetism and Gauging the Weather |
| Fourways Farm - Paws For Thought and Other Stories | 26 November 2018 | 15 November 2019 | Birth and Death, Paws For Thought, Snow Problem, Hot and Cold and Shadow Play |
| Fourways Farm - Four Seasons and Other Stories | 21 December 2018 | 20 December 2019 | Colours, Sickness and Health, Changes, Four Seasons and Wind And Air |
References
This article is issued from
Wikipedia.
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