In the Night Garden... is a popular British preschoolchildren's television series created, written and composed by Teletubbies co-creator Andrew Davenport[2][3] for CBeebies and BBC Two and produced by Ragdoll Worldwide, a joint venture of Ragdoll Productions and BBC Worldwide. The show was aimed at children aged from one to six years old.[4] The programme is narrated by Derek Jacobi. It is filmed in live action and features a mix of actors in costume, stop motion, puppetry and CGI animation. The characters include Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy, Makka Pakka, the Tombliboos, the Pontipines, the Wottingers, the HaaHoos, the Ninky Nonk, the Pinky Ponk, the Ball and the Tittifers.
Andrew Davenport stated in an interview with the Guardian that the key inspiration for the series was his own dream world as a child. This started coming into place in 2004 when Davenport created sketches for the characters of Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy and Makka Pakka. The series would go on to be publicly announced a year later, and filming would eventually start in early 2005.[5]
Chroma key sets would be constructed for use on the show. Backdrops would be used as well and would come in the form of a modified video of an actual forest. The show was filmed at Smatchley Wood, a private forest located in Warwickshire, England. Hundreds of props would be built too: the majority were spherical flowers resembling pom-poms as well as several types of oversized oval-shaped stones. Vector art for the show (e.g. the pictures of the characters and props on the gazebo and in the bedtime story) was all designed in Adobe Illustrator.
The constant usage of gigantic inflatable structures, hundreds of props, expensive chroma key, heavy costumes and radio controlled vehicles meant for an estimated amount of £145,000 per episode.[citation needed]
Overview
The show 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 and repetitive phrases and each one has its special song and dance. The garden is a sunny and colourful environment and the music is jaunty and music box-like. According to Wood:
"We wanted to explore the difference between being asleep and being awake from a child's point of view: the difference between closing your eyes and pretending to be asleep and closing your eyes and sleeping."[6]
Each episode starts with a shot of a night sky with the stars appearing, followed by a shot of a child in bed while the narrator introduces the programme's episode. The scene then cuts to Igglepiggle in his boat, getting ready to travel to the Night Garden whilst the theme music plays. The camera pans up to the night sky, followed by brightly coloured flowers. Then, we see Igglepiggle going to the gazebo to meet his friends. After that, the title appears on a bush, and either the Ninky Nonk or the Pinky Ponk appears.
The episodes end with the Tittifers singing their song, and then one character gets ready to go to sleep. At the same time, they hear 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 which was animated using Adobe Animate (then known as Adobe Flash when the show was in production). Sometimes, the characters all dance together under the Gazebo. Then, we see all the characters except for Igglepiggle going to sleep while Igglepiggle delivers his goodbye sequence. Then, the theme music plays as the Night Garden turns and retreats into the night sky, and Igglepiggle is seen asleep on his boat as the end credits roll over.
In the Night Garden... is intended to help children relax and achieve calming relationships with their parents. Producer Anne Wood also states: "We became very aware of the anxiety surrounding the care of young children which manifested itself in all kinds of directions, but the one big subject that came up, again and again, was bedtime. It's the classical time for tension between children who want to stay up and parents who want them to go to bed. So this is a programme about calming things down whereas most children's TV is about getting everything up."[6]
In 2007[7] and 2008,[8] the show won the Children's BAFTA for "Pre-School Live-Action," as well as being nominated in 2009.[9]
In some episodes, when a problem needs solving, the gazebo spins and chooses a picture until it finds one associated to a solution that will solve the problem.
"Episode 8: Igglepiggle's Blanket in Makka Pakka's Ditch" - Igglepiggle's Blanket and Makka Pakka Blowing His Trumpet.
"Episode 9: The Ninky Nonk Wants A Kiss" - All 6 things that Upsy Daisy kissed, then it finally ends with the Ninky Nonk, to tell Upsy Daisy that the Ninky Nonk wanted a kiss. This is the only episode where the gazebo lands on a picture more than once.
Isaac Blake (Series 1)/Holly Denoon (Series 2) as Tombliboo Ooo
Elisa Laghi as Tombliboo Eee
Critics
One parent petitioner was quoted by The Daily Telegraph commenting: "My four-year-old refused to believe it was bedtime because In the Night Garden... hadn't been on and it was daylight outside.", this is because the show was removed from CBeebies' Bedtime Hour for a while in 2008.[10]
Telecast and home media
In the United Kingdom, In the Night Garden... debuted on 19 March 2007 and aired its final episode on 6 March 2009. From 23 April until 10 June 2007, the show took a break from airing on the CBeebies channel although it was still shown on BBC Two. From 11 June 2007 until 28 March 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 11 am showings on BBC Two on weekday mornings.[11] From 29 March until 29 August 2008, In The Night Garden... was removed from its 6:25 pm "Bedtime Hour" slot, which resulted in a nationwide fan petition outside the BBC's Television Centre studios asking for the programme to be re-instated to its normal slot.[10] The show returned to the daily "Bedtime Hour" slot at 6.20 pm as of 30 August 2008 and began showing the second series (beginning with "Slow Down Everybody") on 1 September 2008.[12] From 3 January until 4 September 2009, the show was moved to a 6:00 pm transmission time but was still retained in the “Bedtime Hour” slot. From 5 September 2009 onwards; to this day, the show remains in the 6:20 pm slot and is traditionally the last full-length programme of the day before the bedtime story segment, it was also the last programme shown in the mornings on BBC Two from 2007-2013.
DVDs
Several Region 2 DVDs have been released in the United Kingdom by BBC Worldwide since September 2007:
Makka Pakka's Stone Concert Makka Pakka's Present Runaway Og-Pog! Washing the Haahoos Makka Pakka Gets Lost!
Hello Tombliboos! (8 September 2008)
Too Loud Tombliboos! Nice and Quiet! The Tombliboos' Busy Day Tombliboo Trousers Tombliboo Ooo Drinks Everyone Else’s Pinky Ponk Juice The Tombliboo Tower of 5
Isn't That a Pip? (3 November 2008)
The Pontipine Children on the Roof Looking For Each Other Slow Down Everybody! Igglepiggle Goes Visiting Where is the Pinky Ponk Going?
Look at That! (23 March 2009)
Igglepiggle's Tiddle Makka Pakka's Piles of Three Where are the Wottingers? Mr. Pontipine's Moustache Flies Away What Loud Music, Tombliboos!
What Fun! (2 November 2009)
Sneezing Hide and Seek Mind the Haahoos The Pontipines Find Igglepiggle's Blanket Upsy Daisy Dances with the Pinky Ponk
All Together! (15 March 2010)
Waving from the Ninky Nonk Playing Hiding with Makka Pakka Wake Up Ball Over and Under Sad and Happy Tombliboos!
Best Friends! (6 September 2010)
Upsy Daisy's Tiring Walk Trubliphone Fun Shshsh! Upsy Daisy's Having a Rest! Who’s Next on The Pinky Ponk? Makka Pakka's Circle of Friends
All Aboard! (6 June 2011)
Ninky Nonk Or Pinky Ponk? Upsy Daisy's Special Stone Ninky Nonk Dinner Swap The Tombliboos Swap Trousers Igglepiggle's Accident
Out For A Walk! (5 September 2011)
Upsy Daisy's Funny Bed The Ball Wave to the Wottingers! The Pontipines in Upsy Daisy’s Bed Igglepiggle's Noisy Noises.
What Lovely Music! (28 May 2012)
Tombliboo Eee Gets Lost! Make Up Your Mind Upsy Daisy! Following Upsy Daisy Dances With The Haahoos Long Distance Ball Game
Wake Up Igglepiggle! (7 April 2014)
Wake Up Igglepiggle Where Can Igglepiggle Have A Rest? Oh Look It's The Wottingers! Dinner In The Ninky Nonk The Tombliboos Clean Their Teeth
The boxset Hello Everybody! (24 November 2008) includes "Hello Igglepiggle", "Hello Upsy Daisy", "Hello Makka Pakka" & "Hello Tombliboos"
In the Night Garden... has books, DVDs, toys and magazines that have been marketed since 2007.
Books
In 2007, Ladybird Books published a full In the Night Garden range of books, some had lifted the flap features (The Prettiest Flower, 2007) and some had sounds from the programme (What a Noisy Pinky Ponk!, 2009), these usually retailed for £8.99 when they were released from BBC Books/Ragdoll Productions.
Toys
The show's producers, Ragdoll Productions, signed a deal to make the toy producer Hasbro a global partner before the show was first aired 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 the spring of 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.[13]
In January 2009, a spokesman for the BBC confirmed that they had asked Hasbro to change the CGI skin colour of the Upsy Daisy CGI 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.[14]
In 2010, more new toys were released like the Igglepiggle and Upsy Daisy set that contained a copy of the Series 2 episode The Pontipines' Picnic (2008) on DVD as well as an electronic Ninky Nonk (which made the actual sounds from the Show) and a Playmat that had: the Bridge, the Tombliboo Bush (with The Tombliboos and their beds), the Gazebo and the Pinky Ponk.
A different company, Golden Bear Toys have also made a range of In The Night Garden... toys, featuring Upsy Daisy and Igglepiggle. These include the "Musical Ninky Nonk Bubble Train" and the "Igglepiggle Wind-up Musical Boat."[15]
On 1 October 2019, the "In the Night Garden Igglepiggle Peek-a-boo Clip-on Toy" made by Golden Bear Toys was recalled due to a possible choking hazard to young children.[16]
Live theatrical show
In the Night Garden...Live! started a first UK tour in July 2010. The show took place in an inflatable, purpose-built ‘show-dome’. The show debuted and premiered in Liverpool and moved on to London, Glasgow and Birmingham. In the Night Garden...Live! has toured the United Kingdom every summer.[17][18]
In 2018, the shows ended and the inflatable ‘show-dome’ would no longer be around. This may be because 1,000 tickets were sold to go.[19]
ZinkyZonk Specials
A spin-off special series, titled In the Night Garden... ZinkyZonk Specials was announced by WildBrain in September 2022. The six 15-minute specials are CGI-animated in Canada by WildBrain Studios, with an initial broadcast deal made with Hop! Channel and Luil tv in Israel.[20] The series first premiered in Australia on ABC Kids in September 2022.[21]
The specials centre on a brand new character called the Zonk, who sends the characters off to the magical world of the ZonkeyZoney so they can relax in peace. The series is fully animated in 3D CGI animation, unlike the original series which was a mix of CGI, 2D animation and live-action.
^ ab"In The Night Garden". Press Pack – From tot to toddler to tearaway, CBeebies celebrates its fifth birthday (Press release). BBC – Press Office. 19 March 2007. Archived from the original on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2010.
