List of ''In the Night Garden...'' characters

Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy, the Tombliboos and Makka Pakka are played by actors in costumes, like the Teletubbies. The Pontipines and Wattingers are puppets.

Main characters

• Igglepiggle (played by Nick Kellington) is a blue creature, somewhat resembling a teddy bear-like doll with a bean-shaped head and a sideways red mohawk with average sized legs. He always carries his red blanket, and tends to fall flat on his back when surprised. He is the main character of the show. He arrives at the beginning and leaves the Night Garden at the end of each episode in a boat, for which the blanket doubles as a sail. Iggle Piggle has a bell in his left foot, a squeaker in his tummy, and a rattle in his left hand. His best friends in the garden are Upsy Daisy and Makka Pakka. He is the only character not to sleep in the Night Garden (with one exception when he fell asleep on Upsy Daisy's special bed), because sometimes he needs to find his boat; he sleeps on his boat instead of in a bed. He is the only character to walk on the Stepping Stone Path. He was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces". Sometimes Iggle Piggle has a red blanket in the boat.
• Upsy Daisy (played by Rebecca Hyland) is similar to a rag doll, with a brown complexion, a chime in her tummy, and brightly coloured clothes. She likes skipping through the Garden and blowing kisses to the other characters or to the audience. She often hugs and kisses other characters, particularly Iggle Piggle. Her catchphrases are "Upsy Daisy," and the more emphatic "Daisy Doo!", and she also says "Pip pip onk onk!", her way of saying goodbye. Her hair stands on end when excited or surprised, and her skirt inflates to a tutu when she dances or pulls the ripcord on her waist. She, along with Iggle Piggle were first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces".
• Makka Pakka (played by Justyn Towler) is a beige, small, round-bodied doll. He has three rounded protuberances on his head, ears and back to represent stones that he uses to make into piles. He lives in a cave and likes cleaning things, such as his collection of stacking stones, and sometimes the other characters. Makka Pakka often stacks freshly cleaned stones into piles resembling his head and body. He sleeps on a stone bed, often cuddling a stone. He travels around the garden riding his trolley, the Og-Pog, which carries his sponge, soap, orange trumpet, and a bellows-like apparatus called Uff-Uff which he uses to dry items after cleaning them. His house is approached by a stone-walled ditch, as his home is half buried in the ground. He says his own name and the phrase "Mikka makka moo" when he is happy, as well as the names of the Og-Pog and the Uff-Uff, and other phrases from his song such as "agga pang" (his soap and sponge), "hum dum" (his trumpet), and "ing ang oo". Like Upsy Daisy and the Tombliboos, he also uses a phrase meaning "goodbye", represented in publications as "pip pip onk onk". He, along with Iggle Piggle and Upsy Daisy were first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces". As Makka Pakka is smaller than the other characters, he is filmed on another identical set (or garden), and where he appears with other characters, two scenes are shot in parallel and he is filmed far away, whilst the other costumed characters are filmed close up.
• The Tombliboos – Unn (Andy Wareham), Ooo (Holly Denoon/Isaac Blake), and Eee (Elisa Laghi) – are dressed in costumes with stripes and spots: red and green (Unn), brown and pink (Ooo), and pink and yellow (Eee). Their names reflect phonetically how a young child might count to three, and the Tombliboos always appear in this order by saying their names. They live among the branches of a bush, on a series of platforms connected by stairs and chutes. The Tombliboos enjoy playing the drums and piano, although not with any particular musical prowess, and they also play with large blocks. Their trousers (pants) (which fall down unexpectedly) are often seen hanging on the washing line outside their home, and they usually take them down from the line and put them on before going on an adventure. They are sometimes seen brushing their teeth before bed. Tombliboos enjoy kissing each other whilst cuddling and reciting their names. They also have a song about staying together, which consists of them singing "Tombliboo, Tombliboo, Unn, Ooo, Eee!" over and over again. Tombliboo Eee is female and is shorter and smaller than Ooo and Unn. The Tombliboos, along with Iggle Piggle, Upsy Daisy and Makka Pakka were first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces".

Recurring characters

• The Pontipines (red) and The Wottingers (blue) are two families of ten tiny creatures (a mother and a father, plus four boys and four girls) similar to peg dolls. They live in a semidetached house at the foot of a tree. The Pontipines appear in most episodes, while appearances by the Wottingers, are rare. The Pontipines all dress in a very similar fashion to each other, as do the Wottingers. Each family sleeps in one room, their beds next to each other in rows. The Pontipines enter their home by flying down the chimney or going through the front door. They have no feet. The Pontipines enter the Pinky Ponk through a different door from all the other characters, and stay on a separate deck. The Pontipines and the Wottingers appear to be animated using stop motion, but in reality they were hand puppets on sticks that were moved in real time by a puppeteer, with a strobe effect applied in post-production to give the illusion of stop motion animation. They constantly chatter, making high-pitched "mi-mi-mi" sounds and "farting" noises. Mr Pontipine's moustache occasionally flies off his face and settles on Mrs Pontipine. The adult Pontipines and the adult Wottingers wear large hats. Mrs Pontipine carries a pair of binoculars around her neck at all times, which she uses to look for her children when they get lost. The Wottingers are similar in design to the Pontipines, though not identical; they can be glimpsed in the general dance sequences, but are not seen going to bed. The Pontipines, along with Iggle Piggle, Upsy Daisy, Makka Pakka and the Tombliboos were first featured in the 1st episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces" and the Wottingers first appeared in the episode "The Pontipine Children in the Tombliboo Trousers".
• The Haahoos are five very large inflatable pillow-like creatures of various shapes and colours with eyes and smiling mouths. They move slowly around the garden making deep springy sounds ("boing, boing"). The Haahoos appear behind the gazebo during general dance sequences, and are also seen going to sleep, closing their eyes and deflating slightly. They come in the shape of a flower, an X, a star, a circle and a figure of 8. They were first featured in the episode "The Tombliboos' Waving Game".
• The Tittifers are CGI enhanced tropical birds with their own unique songs. There are four small blue tittifers (long-tailed finches), three larger pink ones (hoopoes), two big green ones (white-cheeked turacos) and one Channel-billed toucan with a huge purple beak. They usually sing between segments, and when they sing together, near the end, it is time to sleep. They, along with Iggle Piggle, Upsy Daisy, Makka Pakka, the Tombliboos and the Pontipines were first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces".
• The Ninky Nonk is a train of five differently sized and shaped carriages. Its size is non-euclidean: exterior shots of the moving Ninky Nonk show a toy-sized train, quite small compared to the main characters and scenery, while interiors and static exterior shots are done on sets or with life-sized models so that the main characters can easily fit inside. When it stops or starts, the seat-belted passengers jerk sharply in their seats, and the ride is often described as "bumpy". Bells and green lights warn everyone inside when the Ninky Nonk is ready to depart. The Ninky Nonk can drive up and down trees and upside-down along branches. Like the other characters, it goes to sleep. The engine is banana-shaped with a green flashing light on top, and is followed by a green spheroidal carriage used by the Tombliboos and Makka Pakka, a tiny house-like carriage used by the Pontipines and Wottingers, a blue rectangular carriage used by Upsy Daisy and Igglepiggle (when he is travelling with Upsy Daisy), and a tall rounded single-seater carriage used by Iggle Piggle when he is travelling alone. All the carriages have lights on top that flash in sequence when the Ninky Nonk is stationary. It was first featured in the episode "Everybody, All Aboard the Ninky Nonk".
• The Pinky Ponk is an airship, speckled with many slowly waving fins and several small propellers that can spin fast, plus a large propeller at the rear that always turns very gently. The characters often use it to travel around the forest, and during their journey are able to drink "Pinky Ponk juice" which is dispensed in "sippy cups". It comes in several colours. If drunk too much, you can feel ill, as demonstrated by Tombliboo Ooo in the episode Tombliboo Ooo Drinks Everyone else's Pinky Ponk Juice (2007).^[1] As well as whirrings and clankings, and a sporadic honking sound from the "Ponk light" at the front, the Pinky Ponk makes flatulent noises.^[2] Like the Ninky Nonk, the Pinky Ponk does not conform to euclidean geometry: exterior shots are chroma keyed model shots showing a model smaller than the main characters, while interior ones shots produced on a set into which they can fit. It has two doors, one for the costumed characters and the other for the tiny characters. One table has three seats (for the Tombliboos), another has two seats (for Iggle Piggle and Upsy Daisy), and the third has one seat (for Makka Pakka). The Pontipines take a table with no seats in a small room. It also has a habit of crashing into tree trunks, thus sounding the "Ponk Alert" (repeated honking and flashing of the "Ponk Light" and interior lights flashing and making noises.) This is a warning for all the passengers to take their seats and brace. Sometimes, the Pinky Ponk rocks during the "Ponk Alert", causing the passengers and their tables and chairs to slide from one end to the other. It, along with the Haahoos was first featured in the episode "The Tombliboos' Waving Game".
• The Ball is a colourful living ball that plays with the Night Garden characters. It was first featured in the episode "The Ball".
• The Bed is Upsy Daisy's specially private bed. She moves it around the Night Garden, with its ripcord; sometimes she has to catch the Bed, before it runs away. It was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka's Trumpet Makes a Funny Noise".
• The Tiddle is a small geyser-like fountain. It appears in any place of the Night Garden when someone stomps his/her feet three times. It disappears when someone stomps one of his/her feet once. It was featured in the episode "Igglepiggle's Tiddle".
• The Trubliphones are a sort of telephone scattered randomly throughout the garden. The characters can use them to communicate with one another. They were first featured in the episode "Upsy Daisy's Big Loud Sing Song".

References