''Greenclaws'' is a

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...

series aired on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

between 3 January 1989 and 6 February 1990. It starred Nick Mercer and Stella Goodier, was written by

Ursula Jones Ursula Jones is a British actor and author of children's fiction. Her picture book ''The Witch's Children and the Queen'' won a gold Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, and the sequel ''The Witch's Children Go to School'' won the inaugural Roald Dahl ...

, directed by

Adrian Mills Adrian Mills (born 16 July 1956) is a British television presenter and actor. He appeared on ''That's Life!'' with Esther Rantzen for seven years until 1994. The programme regularly attracted 20 million viewers. Since then, he has presented ta ...

, and produced by Christine Hewitt.

Content

Greenclaws, played by Nick Mercer, was a big green monster who lived in a

greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

. Every week, Iris (Stella Goodier) would visit Greenclaws. They would put one of Greenclaws' fabulous seeds (that were once found and left by Greenclaws' Great Uncle Vasco d'Itchyclaws) in a plant pot, put the plant pot inside a secret growing place in the Riddle Tree, wait for Owlma (a mechanical

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

) to alert them that the plant was ready, answer three riddles/questions correctly from Owlma (which were always along the lines of "Twit twoo, twoo, twit twit twoo?" and then translated into English by Iris for her and Greenclaws to solve), then open the tree to find the plant had grown into something bearing unusual fruit. Each episode featured a song filmed (lip-synched) on location, most of which were written b
Hilary James and Simon Mayor
There would also be a story told featuring relatives of Greenclaws while the plant was growing, accompanied by illustrations.

Broadcast

Only one series of ''Greenclaws'' was produced – reportedly due to the fact that some young

pre-school A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an educational establishment or learning space Learning space or learning setting refers to a physical s ...

ers at which the series was aimed, were frightened by Greenclaws's appearance, regardless of his gentle-natured persona. Despite this, the series was repeated several times, including in a later-afternoon

Children's BBC BBC Children's and Education is the BBC division responsible for media content for children in the UK. Since the launch of specially dedicated television channels in 2002, the services have been marketed under two brands. CBBC (short for Chil ...

slot, where a slightly older demographic audience less likely to be intimidated by Greenclaws's appearance, would be watching.

Theme

In the greenhouse, Greenclaws' greenhouse,
Greenclaws grows them amazing plants.
They're surprising, mystifying,
Greenclaws grows them crazy plants!

Notes

Owlma is meant to be a female owl. The "Twit Twoo" call is actually two owls calling to each other. The female calls out the "twit" sound to which a male owl answers with a call of "twoo"

Reception

"The whole premise of the show was pretty bizarre, but for many 90′s kids, Greenclaws was their answer to

Alan Titchmarsh Alan Fred Titchmarsh (born 2 May 1949) is an English gardener, broadcaster and writer. After working as a professional gardener and a horticultural journalist, he became a radio and television presenter and a novelist. Early career Alan Fred T ...

.", commented retrospectively ''The Huffington Post.'' ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' characterised the show by its "melancholy".

References

External links

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''Greenclaws''
at ClassicKidsTV.co.uk 1989 British television series debuts 1990 British television series endings 1980s British children's television series 1990s British children's television series BBC children's television shows British television shows featuring puppetry British English-language television shows Television series about monsters {{BBC-children-tv-prog-stub