''Tales from Fat Tulip's Garden'' was a British children's TV programme in the mid-1980s, starring

Tony Robinson Sir Anthony Robinson (born 15 August 1946) is an English actor, author, broadcaster, and political activist. He played Baldrick in the BBC television sitcom ''Blackadder'' and has presented many historical documentaries, including the Channel ...

. It was produced by Debbie Gates for

Central Independent Television ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the ITV (TV network), Independent Television franchisee in Midlands, the English Midlands ...

and was broadcast on the

ITV network ITV, legally known as Channel 3, is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is b ...

from 1985 to 1987, in a 4:00pm timeslot, with each episode lasting about 10 minutes. The series won prizes at the Chicago International Festival of Children's Films and the Children's Program at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Robinson told children's stories directly to camera in an English garden setting, with Robinson performing each character's dialogue in different voices. The show was written by Gates and Robinson and carried by Robinson's unique and engaging storytelling style, which was semi-improvised. The stories generally involved the adventures of Ernie and Slyv, two frogs who lived in the titular garden; the garden's (presumably) human owner, Fat Tulip, who lived in the adjoining house; and often Fat Tulip's best friend, Thin Tim. Other characters included Lewis Collins the Tortoise, Fred the Baddy, Gilbert Harding Sheep, Bunting Tadpole, Anwar and Amita Rabbit, Tracey Bee, a cockle called Jim Morrison, and the Terrible Stinkers - Peter, Paul and Mary. Robinson hoped to provoke the imagination and to produce a sense of immediacy in contrast to the shortcomings he saw in children's television at the time. The majority of the programme was filmed in the house and garden of Little Monkhams, a property in

Woodford Green Woodford Green is an area of Woodford, London, Woodford in East London, England, within the London Borough of Redbridge. It adjoins Buckhurst Hill to the north, Woodford Bridge to the east, South Woodford to the south, and Chingford to the we ...

in the

London Borough of Redbridge The London Borough of Redbridge is a London boroughs, London borough established in 1965. The borough shares boundaries with the Epping Forest District and the ceremonial county of Essex to the north, with the London Borough of Waltham Forest t ...

. Further scenes were filmed in the part of

Epping Forest Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the Lond ...

facing the house (Lord's Bushes and Knighton Woods). Two books based on the series, ''Tales from Fat Tulip's Garden'' () and ''Tales From Fat Tulip's Garden: Meet a Dog Called Dorian'' (), were published in 1985.

Transmission guide

*Series 1: 13 episodes from 1 May 1985 *Series 2: 13 episodes from 4 June 1987

External links

References

1985 British television series debuts 1987 British television series endings 1980s British children's television series ITV children's television shows Television series by ITV Studios British English-language television shows Television shows produced by Central Independent Television {{UK-kids-tv-prog-stub