Percy the Park Keeper
Percy the Park Keeper is a British animated children's television series based on the popular books by British author Nick Butterworth. It stars Percy, and many wild animals, such as the Badger, the Owl, the Fox, the Mice, the Mole, the Robin and so on. The series started out as four seasonal specials airing between December 1996 and January 1998, before finally turning into a series of thirteen ten-minute episodes in September 1999. Several VHS releases were made during this period and still are available in the United Kingdom.
| Percy the Park Keeper | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Children's television show |
| Created by | Nick Butterworth |
| Voices of | Jim Broadbent Enn Reitel David Holt Kate Harbour Chris Lang |
| Narrated by | Richard Briers (only on the audiobooks) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 13 (4 specials) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 10 minutes per episode (approx.) |
| Production company(s) | HiT Entertainment Grand Slamm Children's Films |
| Distributor | HiT Entertainment |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV (CITV) |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original release | 1 December 1996 – 12 December 1999 |
Characters and Voice Cast
- Percy the Park Keeper – (voiced by Jim Broadbent) – The star of the show who regularly maintains the park, and is able to find the time to have fun with the animals.
- Fox – (voiced by David Holt) – A fun loving sort, who tends to make others laugh and can be quite sensitive.
- Badger – (voiced by Enn Reitel) – A wise and sensible sort, who often tries to organise games in the park to keep the other animals happy. Unfortunately, Badger dislikes water.
- Rabbits – (voiced by Enn Reitel and Kate Harbour) – An excitable sort, who easily gets timid at anything remotely scary.
- Squirrels – (voiced by David Holt and Kate Harbour) – An irritable sort, who often buries nuts and acorns and cannot always remember where they are.
- Hedgehog – (voiced by David Holt) – A quiet type, who finds his spines very problematic.
- Mice – (voiced by David Holt and Kate Harbour) – Playful sorts who are always happy to join in various challenges.
- Ducks – (voiced by Enn Reitel and Kate Harbour) – Quarrelsome sorts who usually play by the duck pond, and migrate when winter comes.
- Owl – (voiced by Kate Harbour) – She doesn't hunt at night, like an ordinary owl, but she is active during the daytime and forgets things very easily.
- Robin – (voiced by David Holt) – Spends most of his down time flying around the park and perching on trees.
- Mole – (voiced by Enn Reitel) – He is always in a rush, and has trouble finding his way under the ground.
Episodes
Specials (1996–1998)
| # | Title | Air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "One Snowy Night" | 1 December 1996 | |
| It is Winter. After his hard day's work, Percy prepares for his coldest night yet. The night is a lot colder than the animals expected and all the snow is making it hard for them to find shelter. They all decide to spend the night at Percy's hut and finally Mole and Robin turn up, making the hut completely crowded. | |||
| 2 | "The Secret Path" | 12 March 1997 | |
| It is Spring. Percy has a very big job to do by pruning a hedgerow maze. The squirrel comes with him after an accident with the hedgehog. However, when all the other animals come to play with Percy in the maze centre, they get stuck in the maze, but the hedgehog cleverly provides them the way out, along with the red wool from Percy's jumper. | |||
| 3 | "The Rescue Party" | 20 July 1997 | |
| It is Summer. It is a hot day in the park and Percy is taking the day off with a picnic. Everybody else wants to come, but first they have to join in Percy's little peace and quiet. Soon, the little girl rabbit falls down into an old well, but a toad tells her how to escape and she eventually re-enters the park. Percy and the other animals, meanwhile, gather with a long rope to help pull the girl rabbit out, but, all they pull from the well is an Oak tree branch, which the rabbit ties the rope to without thinking. | |||
| 4 | "After the Storm" | 1 January 1998 | |
| It is Autumn. A gale and heavy rain in the night cause damage in the park, especially the animals' oak tree, leaving them homeless. Percy helps the animals find a new home and build a treehouse in an enormous hollow tree. | |||
Season 1 (1999)
| # | Title | Air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Hedgehog's Balloon" | 19 September 1999 | |
| Hedgehog is very upset. He loves balloons, but he can never keep them, because, as he tells Percy, they always pop the instant his spines touch them. Then Percy comes up with an ingenious plan, and with the help of some corks from his garden shed, the problem is solved. | |||
| 2 | "The Fox's Hiccups" | 26 September 1999 | |
| Fox gets the hiccups from drinking lemonade while laughing at a funny joke. After an accident, bumping into Percy's washing and flower pots, his hiccups are cured, until he laughs and drinks again. | |||
| 3 | "One Warm Fox" | 3 October 1999 | |
| Fox cannot sleep due to cold drafts. He borrows some of Percy's woolen clothes, putting on more than he needs, but Percy finds the extra clothes ideal for his scarecrow, leaving Fox with just a pullover. | |||
| 4 | "The Rabbit Who Was Afraid of the Dark" | 10 October 1999 | |
| Rabbit has become afraid of the dark, and the others don't know what is causing it, but Percy does - she hasn't been eating enough carrots! She then eats some more carrots, and is then able to see in the dark, and is not scared any more. | |||
| 5 | "Sledge Ride" | 17 October 1999 | |
| Percy is taking the day off and decides to build a sledge. However, Fox and Squirrel borrow Percy's materials to make their own sledge. Then they offer a Percy a ride in it. | |||
| 6 | "The Hedgehog's Wings" | 24 October 1999 | |
| It is a very windy Autumn day in the park, so Hedgehog sneaks into Percy's garden shed and borrows his tools in order to build himself something to fly with - wings. But he then soon discovers that flying in the air unaided is quite frightening indeed. | |||
| 7 | "The Owl's Lesson" | 31 October 1999 | |
| Owl discovers a little bird who doesn't know how to fly, so she attempts to teach him. Then Percy comes along and explains he cannot fly because he is only little, which Owl doesn't know. | |||
| 8 | "Badger's Bath" | 7 November 1999 | |
| Badger spends a long time digging, getting himself dirty. Percy tries to give the badger a bath, but he doesn't want one. As Percy has the bath all to himself, Badger eventually falls out of his hiding place in the tree and into the bath tub, startling him. | |||
| 9 | "Owl Takes Charge" | 14 November 1999 | |
| When Percy catches a cold, Owl offers to help make a rake, plant a tree and paint the park's roundabout. But she isn't very good at remembering and gets the chores all muddled up. | |||
| 10 | "A Very Useful Little Friend" | 21 November 1999 | |
| As Badger and Fox help Percy tidy his shed, Mouse joins in the work, but her clumsiness isn't helping. But when the three get locked inside the shed, Mouse proves to be very useful to them by hooking the door handle up and banging it into the hole in the shed door with her feet. | |||
| 11 | "Treasure Island" | 28 November 1999 | |
| Percy uncovers a treasure map and he and Squirrel go and find the island that it was buried in. They do find it eventually, but Percy then remembers that he left a fruitcake in the oven, and goes back to his hut, leaving Squirrel not knowing where he is. | |||
| 12 | "The Cross Rabbit" | 5 December 1999 | |
| Winter is coming to the park, and poor Old Rabbit wants some sleep, but the mice are disturbing him with their fun and games. Percy persuades the mice to play elsewhere, but the peace does not last for long. | |||
| 13 | "The Lost Acorns" | 12 December 1999 | |
| Percy plants some bulbs in the ground for the cold months ahead. Unfortunately, Squirrel has lost her acorns and mistakes the planted bulbs for possible acorn storages. Mole finds her secret storage by accident and the squirrel replants the bulbs. | |||
External links
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