''The Slow Norris'' is a British children's television programme that aired on

CITV CITV is a British children's morning programming block on ITV2 and formerly a free-to-air channel owned by ITV plc. CITV, then Children's ITV, launched on 3 January 1983 as a late afternoon programming block on the ITV network for children aged ...

from 4 September 1995 to 23 December 1999. The programme portrayed

moral A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. ...

tales and

fable Fable is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a parti ...

s through various

anthropomorphized Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

creatures. The show was produced by HTV and

Hat Trick Productions Hat Trick Productions Limited is an independent British production company that produces television and radio programmes, mainly specialising in comedy, based in London. The company's logo is depicted as a rabbit pulling a man out of a hat inste ...

for CITV. There was also a version produced for American television by Hollywood Ventures which ran on PBS in the fall of 1997.

Main characters

* The Slow Norris (voiced by

Nick Ryan Nick Ryan is a film director and producer from Dublin, Ireland. Ryan directed '' A Lonely Sky'' (2006), ''The German'' (2008), '' Electric Picnic: The Documentary'' (2008), and the award-winning documentary ''The Summit' ''(2012); In 2016 he ...

) – The lead character is a large, hairy

Slow loris Slow lorises are a group of several species of Nocturnality, nocturnal Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhine primates that make up the genus ''Nycticebus''. Found in Southeast Asia and nearby areas, they range from Bangladesh and Northeast India in the ...

-like creature who – although not very clever (and somewhat naive) – is willing to learn and participate in stories and activities. The Slow Norris lives in a

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

-like dwelling within a

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

. * Allie (voiced by Buddie Maddicott) – As the only human character, Allie is the group's natural leader. She travels through the woods on her

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

to visit the Slow Norris. Allie has a magic book which shows Slow Norris what things are or an animated story featuring Jane the Fairy and her frog Ferdy. Allie is voiced by Buddie Maddicott, a relation of the show's producer Dan Maddicott * Ben Beetle (voiced by Gary Martin) – Ben Beetle is a wise

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

who spends much of his time sat on a

toadstool A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

with his

walking stick A walking stick (also known as a walking cane, cane, walking staff, or staff) is a device used primarily to aid walking, provide postural stability or support, or assist in maintaining a good posture. Some designs also serve as a fashion acces ...

. * Walter the

Worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateria, bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limb (anatomy), limbs, and usually no eyes. Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine ...

– Walter the Worm lives in a house made of mud and talks with a slight

stutter Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder characterized externally by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses called blocks in which the person who ...

. * Jane the Fairy – An animated

fairy A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...

who only appears in Allie's magic book. She wears a

lilac ''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering woody plants in the olive family or Oleaceae called lilacs. These lilacs are native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and widely and commonly ...

dress and a leaf hat. * Ferdy the Frog – He is Jane's froggy companion. He's very sensitive and bit naughty sometimes. * Hodgehug – A baby

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction. The ...

. * Stork – A white

stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons and ibise ...

. She appears in "Things That Fly" and is only seen throughout the 1996 series.

Episodes

Episodes include one where Allie shows the Slow Norris a story of someone baking a

cake Cake is a flour confection usually made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elabor ...

, in her magic book. In another, the Slow Norris is putting off tidying the

where he lives. Allie shows him a story involving a

named Jane whose house has a leak due to a hole in the roof. Jane's friend, a

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

named Ferdy is supposed to fix the roof, however doesn't. The pair go out on a

train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

journey to have a

picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors (Al fresco dining, ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event su ...

with Jane's gran; they return home to find it has rained and Jane's house is now flooded. This persuades the Slow Norris to tidy his

. In one episode, Walter the Worm loses his tail cosy, only to find later on that the Slow Norris has it. In a later series, the opening music gained lyrics sung by Allie.

Series 1 (1995)

# Making Friends – 4 September 1995 # Colours – 11 September 1995 # Things With Wheels – 18 September 1995 # Being Yourself – 25 September 1995 # Food – 2 October 1995 # Birthdays – 9 October 1995 # Feeling Poorly – 16 October 1995 # Schools – 23 October 1995 # Where We Live – 30 October 1995 # Being Kind – 7 November 1995 # Games – 14 November 1995 # Big And Small – 21 November 1995 # Being Teased – 28 November 1995 # 2 Legs 4 Legs 6 Legs And No Legs – 4 December 1995 # The Slow Norris's Party – 11 December 1995

Series 2 (1996)

# Things That Fly – 9 September 1996 # Keeping Fit – 16 September 1996 # Being Worried – 23 September 1996 # Penfriends – 30 October 1996 # Things That We Wear – 7 October 1996 # Making Music – 14 October 1996 # Being Angry – 21 October 1996 # Things That Grow – 28 October 1996 # Bones – 4 November 1996 # Things That Swim – 11 November 1996 # Friends And Relations – 18 November 1996 # The Shape of Things – 25 November 1996 # Putting Things Off – 2 December 1996 # The Four Seasons – 9 December 1996

Series 3 (1997)

#Day And Night 1 September 1997 # Holidays – 8 September 1997 # Babies – 15 September 1997 # Pictures And Stories – 22 September 1997 # Harvest Time – 29 September 1997 # Dreams – 6 October 1997 # Being Different – 13 October 1997 # Water – 20 October 1997 # Decorating – 27 October 1997 # Keeping Secrets – 3 November 1997 # Money – 10 November 1997 # Episode 11–17 November 1997 # Episode 12–24 November 1997 # Episode 13–1 December 1997 # Episodes 14–8 December 1997 # Sizes – 15 December 1997

Series 4 (1998)

Series 5 (1999)

Puppeteers

* David Barclay - *

Mike Quinn Michael Patrick Quinn (born April 15, 1974) is an American former professional football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans, and Denve ...

- *

Karen Prell Karen Leigh Prell (born July 26, 1959) is an American puppeteer and animator. She is the performer of Red Fraggle in ''Fraggle Rock''. Early life and career Prell was born on July 26, 1959, in Florida but grew up in Seattle, Washington. She a ...

– Slow Norris (facial puppeteer), Walter the Worm * Helena Smee * Katherine Smee - * Michael Bayliss – Allie * Rebecca Nagan * Jeremy Stockwell * Simon Buckley * Alison McGowen * Rebecca Clow * Margaret O’Flaherty

Voices

* Buddie Maddicott – Allie * Gary Martin – Ben Beetle *

– Slow Norris

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slow Norris, The 1995 British television series debuts 1999 British television series endings 1990s British children's television series 1990s preschool education television series British children's fantasy television series British preschool education television series British television series with live action and animation British television shows featuring puppetry British English-language television shows ITV children's television shows First-run syndicated children's television series PBS Kids shows Television series by Hat Trick Productions Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Harlech Television