The ''Munch Bunch'' is a series of children's books, created in the UK by Barrie and Elizabeth Henderson and originally published between 1979 and 1984. The ''Munch Bunch'' are a group of unwanted

vegetable Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including edible flower, flo ...

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

legume Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consum ...

s and nuts who were swept to the corner of a shop but ran away together and set up home in and around an old, forgotten garden shed. A spin-off television programme also ran for four series during the early 1980s. In addition, a licensed range of children's yoghurts — originally a tie-in with the television series — were launched in the early 1980s. "Munch Bunch" yoghurts and fromage frais continue to be marketed today, albeit using a cow mascot and with little remaining connection to the original characters and stories.

Books

Original series

The original books were written under the pen name ''Giles Reed'' by Barrie Henderson, Elizabeth Henderson, and British author Denis Bond, and illustrated by Angela Mitson. They were published between 1979 and 1984 by Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. in the United Kingdom. United States publication rights were sold to Rourke Publications, Inc."Learn opposites with the Munch Bunch"
''Google Books''. Retrieved 2016-07-02. The books went out of print in the mid-to-late 1980s following a fire at a Studio Publications which destroyed all the original artwork.

1998 Ladybird Books series

A completely different series of ''Munch Bunch'' books was published in 1998 by Ladybird Books in the UK to tie in with the yoghurts, following the resurgence brought about by the TV commercials of 1994–96. Denis Bond and Angela Mitson were not involved and the characters were different, although a few such as Sally Strawberry were similarly named.

Television series

There was also an early 1980s marionette/

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...

-based television show, produced by long-time Gerry Anderson associates Mary Turner and John Read for

ITC Entertainment The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in the production and distribution of television programmes. History Incorporated Television Programme C ...

, that featured the characters from the books. The stories for the television series were different from those contained in the books and were written mainly by Bond (this time under his real name), though other writers such as Rosemary Kingsland also contributed. The characters in the series were voiced by the veteran husband-and-wife team of Judy Bennett and Charles Collingwood, well best known for their work in

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word Radio broadcasting, channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now pr ...

. 52 ten-minute editions were produced, thus originally airing between September 1980 and May 1982. The show was also broadcast in Hong Kong on TVB Pearl and New Zealand on TV One. *Series 1: 12 editions, first shown from 24 September 1980 *Series 2: 13 editions, first shown from 25 March 1981 *Series 3: 21 editions, first shown from 30 September 1981 *Series 4: 6 editions, first shown from 7 April 1982

Yoghurt

The Munch Bunch yoghurt brand- aimed at children between three and line- was launched by Express Dairies' Eden Vale division circa 1981 to coincide with the launch of the television series. These originally featured Mitson's characters as well as a few non-book characters such as Jenny Cherry and Charlie Chocolate. However, by the 1990s the yoghurt line had struck out completely in its own right retaining only the logo and a few character names. The brand had a resurgence in the UK during the 1990s, largely as a result of a popular TV commercial for the ''Munch Bunch'' "pot shots" range (a petits-filous type yoghurt aimed at the young) set in a pool hall, which ran from May 1994 until February 1996. This popularity proved short-lived, and only three of the ''Munch Bunch'' characters were featured in the "pot shots" range. A new range of Munch Bunch books based on the then-current characters used by the yoghurt line (including "Sally Strawberry") were released by Ladybird in 1998. The ''Munch Bunch'' yoghurt brand was sold by Express Dairies' parent company to

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

in 2002 and continues to this day under their ownership. However, since 2008 marketing has been focused on a new mascot, Munch the Cow, with little remaining connection to the original "fruit and veg" characters, stories or concept.

Characters and publications

Original character series 1979-82

*Aubrey Aubergine *Adam Avocado *The Banana Bunch *Barnabus Beetroot *Billy Blackberry *Bounce (spring onion) *Button and Tiny (mushrooms) *Casper Carrot *Chunky Pineapple *Corky Coconut *Corny-on-the-Cob *Dick Turnip *Emma Apple *Lizzie Leek *Lucy Lemon *Merv Marrow *Nurse Plum *Olive *Olly Onion *Peanut *Pedro Orange *Pete Pepper *Penny Parsnip *Percy Prune *Pippa Pear *Professor Peabody *Rory Rhubarb *Rozzy Raspberry *Runner Bean *Sally Strawberry *Scruff Gooseberry *Spud (Potato) *Supercool (cucumber) *Suzie Celery *Tom Tomato *Wally Walnut

US character name differences

*Aubrey Aubergine - Eddie Eggplant *Barnabus Beetroot - Barnabus Beet *Merv Marrow - Zack Zucchini

1979 group 'Munch Bunch' book series

*Meet the Munch Bunch *The Munch Bunch at the Seaside *The Munch Bunch Have a Party *The Munch Bunch Go Camping *The Munch Bunch Welcomes New Friends (1982)

1983 series

*Pete Pepper's Trip to the Zoo *Casper Carrot's Big Mistake *Lucy Lemon and the Birthday Post *Aubrey Aubergine and the Grandfather Clock *Spud's Sports Day *Adam Avocado and the Picnic Basket *Barnabus Beetroot's Blue Umbrella *Penny Parsnip Starts a School *The Banana Bunch Have Half a Holiday *Button and Tiny Buy Bicycles *Nurse Plum's Busy Week *Peanut Goes to the Circus *Emma Apple's Jumble Sale (1985)

1984 series

*Spud and the Big Red Balloon *Sally Strawberry and the Painted Snake *Olly Onion's Fancy Dress Party *Casper Carrot's New Blue Jumper *Dick Turnip and the Crazy Clowns *Rozzy Raspberry's Wallpaper Machine *Billy Blackberry's Secret Tunnel *Corny-on-the-Cob's Not so Funny Day *Rory Rhubarb and the River Monster *Merv Marrow's New Police Car *Scruff Gooseberry and the Wishing Well *Emma Apple's Late Birthday Party

New Zealand character series 1985

*Charlie Kumara *Kiri

Kiwifruit Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi), or Chinese gooseberry, is the edible berry (botany), berry of several species of woody vines in the genus ''Actinidia''. The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa, ...

*Patty

Passionfruit ''Passiflora edulis'', commonly known as passion fruit, is a vine species of passion flower native to the region of southern Brazil through Paraguay to northern Argentina. It is cultivated commercially in tropical and subtropical areas for its ...

*Ted Tamarillo

Yoghurt tie-in series 1998

*Andy Apricot *Barney Banana *Bertie Blackcurrant *Ollie Orange *Rozzy Raspberry (different character though identically named) *Sally Strawberry (different character though identically named)

References

External links

The Munch Bunch TV series at the IMDb
* (TVARK)
The Munch Bunch TV series intro online
(YouTube) * (TVARK) {{italic title British picture books ITV children's television shows Television series by ITC Entertainment 1979 children's books 1980 British television series debuts 1982 British television series endings 1980s British children's television series British television shows based on children's books British television shows featuring puppetry British English-language television shows TVNZ 1 original programming Fruit and vegetable characters Series of children's books