In the Night Garden...

Overview

The programme features a large cast of colourful characters with unusual names who live in a magical forest scattered with large daisies and brightly coloured pompom flowers. The characters mostly speak short, repetitive phrases and each has their own special song and dance. The garden is a sunny, colourful environment and the music is jaunty and music box-like. Producer Anne Wood said:

Each episode starts with a different child in bed, while the narrator introduces the episode. The scene cuts to Iggle Piggle, in his boat, traveling to the Night Garden. Then the camera pans up to the sky and zooms in, followed by blooming flowers. After the title appears under a hedge, either the Ninky Nonk or the Pinky Ponk appears. The episodes end with one character receiving 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. Sometimes the characters all dance together under the Gazebo.

Iggle Piggle does not go to sleep, and his goodbye sequence ("Iggle Piggle's not in bed!" ... "Squeak!" ... "Don't worry, Iggle Piggle! It's time to go") rounds off the programme. The Night Garden retreats into the night sky and Iggle Piggle is seen asleep on his boat as the end credits roll.

In the Night Garden... is intended to help children relax and achieve calming relationships with parents. Wood states: "We became very aware of the anxiety surrounding the care of young children which manifested itself in all kind of directions; but the one big subject that came up again and again was bedtime. It's the classic 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."

In 2007 and 2008, the show won the Children's BAFTA for "Pre-school live action," as well as being nominated in 2009.

Cast

Characters

Igglepiggle (played by Nick Kellington) is a blue teddy bear-like doll with a bean-shaped head and a sideways red mohawk. He always carries his red blanket, and tends to fall flat on his back when surprised. He is the main character of the show. He arrives at the beginning and leaves the Night Garden at the end of each episode in a boat, for which the blanket doubles as a sail. Iggle Piggle has a bell in his left foot, a squeaker in his tummy, and a rattle in his left hand. His best friends in the garden are Upsy Daisy and Makka Pakka. He is the only character not to sleep in the Night Garden (with one exception when he fell asleep on Upsy Daisy's special bed), because sometimes he needs to find his boat; he sleeps on his boat instead of in a bed. He is the only character to walk on the Stepping Stone Path. He was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces", and was last featured in the episode "Upsy Daisy Dances with the Haahoos". Sometimes Iggle Piggle has a red blanket in the boat.

Upsy Daisy (played by Rebecca Hyland) is similar to a rag doll, with a brown complexion, a chime in her tummy, and brightly colored clothes. She likes skipping through the Garden and blowing kisses to the other characters or to the audience. She often hugs and kisses other characters, particularly Iggle Piggle. Her catchphrases are "Upsy Daisy," and the more emphatic "Daisy Doo!", and she also says "Pip pip onk onk!", her way of saying goodbye. Her hair stands on end when excited or surprised, and her skirt inflates to a tutu when she dances or pulls the ripcord on her waist. Upsy Daisy has an orange megaphone on a stand and enjoys singing through it, much to the annoyance of the other characters. She was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces", and was last featured in the episode "Upsy Daisy Dances with the Haahoos".

Makka Pakka (played by Justyn Towler) is a beige, small, round-bodied doll. He has three rounded protuberances on his head, ears and back to represent stones that he uses to make into piles. He lives in a cave and likes cleaning things, such as his collection of stacking stones, and sometimes the other characters. Makka Pakka often stacks freshly cleaned stones into piles resembling his head and body. He sleeps on a stone bed, often cuddling a stone. He travels around the garden riding his trolley, the Og-Pog, which carries his sponge, soap, orange trumpet, and a bellows-like apparatus called Uff-Uff which he uses to dry items after cleaning them. His house is approached by a stone-walled ditch, as his home is half buried in the ground. He says his own name and the phrase "Mikka makka moo" when he is happy, as well as the names of the Og-Pog and the Uff-Uff, and other phrases from his song such as "agga pang" (his soap and sponge), "hum dum" (his trumpet), and "ing ang oo". Like Upsy Daisy and the Tombliboos, he also uses a phrase meaning "goodbye", represented in publications as "pip pip onk onk". He was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces", and was last featured in the episode "Ninky Nonk or Pinky Ponk" As Makka Pakka is smaller than the other characters, he is filmed on another identical set (or garden), and where he appears with other characters, two scenes are shot in parallel and he is filmed far away, whilst the other costumed characters are filmed close up.

The Tombliboos – Unn (Andy Wareham), Ooo (Holly Denoon/Isaac Blake), and Eee (Elisa Laghi) – are dressed in costumes with stripes and spots: red and green (Unn), brown and pink (Ooo), and pink and yellow (Eee). Their names reflect phonetically how a young child might count to three, and the Tombliboos always appear in this order by saying their names. They live among the branches of a bush, on a series of platforms connected by stairs and chutes. The Tombliboos enjoy playing the drums and piano, although not with any particular musical prowess, and they also play with large blocks. Their trousers (which fall down unexpectedly) are often seen hanging on the washing line outside their home, and they usually take them down from the line and put them on before going on an adventure. They are sometimes seen brushing their teeth before bed. Tombliboos enjoy kissing each other whilst cuddling and reciting their names. They also have a song about staying together, which consists of them singing "Tombliboo, Tombliboo, Unn, Ooo, Eee!" over and over again. Tombliboo Eee is female and is shorter and smaller than Ooo and Unn. The Tombliboos were first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces", and were last featured in the episode "Fall Down Ball".

The Pontipines (red) and The Wottingers (blue) are two families of ten tiny creatures (a mother and a father, plus four boys and four girls) similar to peg dolls. They live in a semidetached house at the foot of a tree. The Pontipines appear in most episodes, while appearances by the Wottingers are rare. The Pontipines all dress in a very similar fashion to each other, as do the Wottingers. Each family sleeps in one room, their beds next to each other in rows. The Pontipines enter their home by flying down the chimney or going through the front door. They have no feet. The Pontipines enter the Pinky Ponk through a different door from all the other characters, and stay on a separate deck. The Pontipines and the Wottingers are animated using stop motion. They constantly chatter, making high-pitched "mi-mi-mi" sounds and blowing raspberries. Mr Pontipine's moustache occasionally flies off his face and settles on Mrs Pontipine. The adult Pontipines and the adult Wottingers wear large hats. Mrs Pontipine carries a pair of binoculars around her neck at all times, which she uses to look for her children when they get lost. The Wottingers are similar in design to the Pontipines, though not identical; they can be glimpsed in the general dance sequences, but are not seen going to bed. The Pontipines were first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces", and last featured in the episode "Oh Look! Its the Wottingers!" and the Wottingers were first featured in the episode "The Pontipine Children in the Tombliboo Trousers", and last featured in the episode "Oh Look! Its the Wottingers!".

The Haahoos are five very large inflatable pillow-like creatures of various shapes and colours with eyes and smiling mouths. They move slowly around the garden making deep springy sounds ("boing, boing"). The Haahoos appear behind the gazebo during general dance sequences, and are also seen going to sleep, closing their eyes and deflating slightly. They come in the shape of a flower, an X, a star, a circle and a figure of 8. They were first featured in the episode "The Tombliboos' Waving Game", and were last featured in the episode "Upsy Daisy Dances with the Haahoos".

The Tittifers are CGI enhanced tropical birds with their own unique songs. There are four small blue tittifers (long-tailed finches), three larger pink ones (hoopoes), two big green ones (white-cheeked turacos) and one multicoloured toucan with a huge purple beak. They usually sing between segments, and when they sing together, near the end, it is time to sleep. They were first featured in every episode.

The Ninky Nonk is a train of five differently sized and shaped carriages. Its size is non-euclidean: exterior shots of the moving Ninky Nonk show a toy-sized train, quite small compared to the main characters and scenery, while interiors and static exterior shots are done on sets or with life-sized models so that the main characters can easily fit inside. When it stops or starts, the seat-belted passengers jerk sharply in their seats. A range of bells and klaxons warn everyone inside. The Ninky Nonk can drive up and down trees and upside-down along branches. Like the other characters, it goes to sleep. The engine is banana-shaped with a green flashing light on top, and is followed by a green spheroidal carriage used by the Tombliboos, a tiny house-like carriage used by the Pontipines, a blue rectangular carriage with a flashing light used by Upsy Daisy, and a tall rounded single-seater carriage used by Igglepiggle. It was first featured in the episode "Everybody All Aboard the Ninky Nonk", and was last featured in the episode "Oh Look! Its the Wottingers!".

The Pinky Ponk is an airship, speckled with many slowly waving fins and several small propellers that can spin fast, plus a large propeller at the rear that always turns very gently. The characters often use it to travel around the forest, and during their journey are able to drink "Pinky Ponk juice" which is dispensed in "sippy cups". It comes in several different colours. If drunk too much, you can feel ill, as demonstrated by Tombliboo Ooo. As well as whirrings and clankings, and a sporadic honking sound from the "Ponk light" at the front, the Pinky Ponk makes flatulent noises. Like the Ninky Nonk, the Pinky Ponk does not conform to euclidean geometry: exterior shots are chroma keyed model shots showing a model smaller than the main characters, while interior ones shots produced on a set into which they can fit. It has two doors, one for the costumed characters and the other for the tiny characters. One table has three seats (for the Tombliboos), another has two seats (for Iggle Piggle and Upsy Daisy), and the third has one seat (for Makka Pakka). The Pontipines take a table with no seats in a small room. It also has a habit of crashing into tree trunks, thus sounding the "Ponk Alert" (repeated honking and flashing of the "Ponk Light" and interior lights flashing and making noises.) This is a warning for all the passengers to take their seats and brace. Sometimes, the Pinky Ponk rocks during the "Ponk Alert", causing the passengers and their tables and chairs to slide from one end to the other. It was first featured in the episode "The Tombliboos' Waving Game", and was last featured in the episode "Fall Down Ball".

The Ball is a colourful living ball that plays with the Night Garden characters. It was first featured in the episode "The Ball", and was last featured in the episode "Fall Down Ball"

The Bed is Upsy Daisy's specially private bed. She moves it around the Night Garden, with its ripcord, around the garden; sometimes she has to catch the Bed, before it runs away. It was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka's Trumpet Makes a Funny Noise", and was last featured in the episode "Upsy Daisy Only Wants to Sing".

The Tiddle is a small geyser-like fountain. It appears in any place of the Night Garden when someone stomps his/her feet three times. It disappears when someone stomps one of his/her feet once. It was featured in the episode "Igglepiggle's Tiddle".

The Trubliphones are a sort of telephone scattered randomly throughout the garden. The characters can use them to communicate with one another. They were first featured in the episode "Upsy Daisy's Big Loud Sing Song", and were last featured in the episode "Trubliphone Fun".

Places

The Stepping Stone Path is where Igglepiggle lives, for a vacation in the Night Garden. It leads to the Gazebo at the beginning and end of an episode. It was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces", and was last featured in the episode "Sneezing".

The Daisy Patch is where Upsy Daisy lives. It is a field full of daisies. Upsy Daisy is usually the only character that can be seen in the patch. It was first featured in the episode "The Pontipines in Upsy Daisy's Bed", and was last featured in the episode "Upsy Daisy Dances with the Haahoos".

Makka Pakka's Cave is where he lives and his Og-pog is kept outside it, behind a boulder. The cave was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces", and was last featured in the episode "Ninky Nonk or Pinky Ponk".

The Tombliboo Bush is where the Tombliboos live. It is the largest house in the garden with so many fun things to do such as playing music, playing with blocks and brushing teeth (like the Pinky Ponk and the Ninky Nonk it is bigger on the inside). It was first featured on the outside in "The Tombliboos' Waving Game" and on the inside in the episode "Too Loud Tombliboos!! Nice and Quiet!!"

The Pontipines/Wottingers' House is a small house at the foot of a tree where the Pontipines and Wottingers live. It, along with the Stepping Stone Path and Makka Pakka's Cave was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces", and last featured in the episode "Oh Look! Its the Wottingers!".

The Tune Bridge is a musical bridge located near Makka Pakka's cave. Whenever someone walks on the bridge, it plays a musical tune. It, along with the Stepping Stone Path, Makka Pakka's Cave and the Pontipines/Wottingers' House was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces", and last featured in the episode "Ninky Nonk or Pinky Ponk".

The Gazebo is where the characters meet to dance at the end of some episodes. It has a picture of all the characters including the Ball (but except the Tittifers, one of the Trubliphones, the Tiddle and the Bed), the Tittifers' Tree, a Daisy, the Tune Bridge, the Tombliboo Bush, the Tombliboo Instruments, Igglepiggle's Blanket, the Tombliboo Bricks and the Gazebo itself. It has two different pictures of Makka Pakka, one with his Og-Pog, the other with him blowing his trumpet. The first dance was featured in the episode "The Tombliboos' Waving Game" and it first gave a clue in "Igglepiggle's Blanket in Makka Pakka's Ditch".

The Tittifers' Tree is where the Tittifers sing in a certain section and together and at the end. It was featured in every episode.

Broadcast

Until 1 April 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 daytime showings on weekdays (like every other show on CBeebies, the same episodes are shown all day). From April until August 2008, In The Night Garden... was removed from its 6:25 PM "Bedtime Hour" slot, which resulted in a petition asking for the programme to be re-instated to its normal slot. One parent petitioner was quoted by The Daily Telegraph commenting that "My four-year-old refused to believe it was bedtime because ITNG hadn't been on and it was daylight outside."

The show returned to the daily "Bedtime Hour" slot at 6:25 PM as of 30 August 2008, and began showing the second series (beginning with "Slow Down Everybody") on 1 September 2008. From December 2008, the show was moved again, this time to 6:00 PM. As of January 2010, it airs at 6.20 PM.

As of February 2008, in Canada, the show airs daily at 5:30 AM on Treehouse TV, Mondays to Fridays at 7:30 PM, and Saturdays at 10:30 AM.

As of March 2011, in Australia, the show airs during the ABC 4 Kids block of programming on ABC2 every day at 11:30 AM.

As of October 2008, in India, the show airs every day on the CBeebies channel, including weekends, at 9 AM, 12 PM and 3 PM.

As of 2008, in Norway, the show airs every weekday on the NRK Super channel, at 5:30 PM.

As of 2009, the show airs on TV2 in Malaysia on weekday mornings at 8:30 AM.

As of 2009, the show airs on Luli and Hop! in Israel. Twenty new episodes began broadcasting on CBeebies and BBC HD on 9 February to continue at 6 PM daily.

As of 2010, Series 1 of the show airs daily on Baraem on Nilesat and Arabsat covering the Middle East in Arabic at 7:30 PM.

As of 2010, the show airs on Clan in Spain sometime around 8:30 AM on weekdays and around 7:50 AM on weekends.

As of 11 October 2010, the series was added on The Hub in the U.S. as part of the "HubBub" programming block. On 24 June 2012, it was removed on The Hub along with The Future Is Wild and Wilbur. However, the series returned on Hub Network on 2 June 2013 and was removed again on 13 October 2013.

In The Netherlands, it airs on Disney Junior.

Merchandising

In the Night Garden... books, DVDs and toys have been marketed since 2007.

Books

In 2014, Penwizard introduced a line of personalised books where customers can customise the story to include their child's name and likeness in the story alongside IgglePiggle and friends.

DVDs

Several Region 2 DVDs have been released in the UK:

Each DVD features five episodes.

A boxset, Hello Everybody!, has been released, containing "Hello IgglePiggle!", "Hello Upsy Daisy!", "Hello Makka Pakka!" and "Hello Tombliboos!" Each of these titles have episodes relating to the character on which the DVD is based.

Toys

The show's makers, Ragdoll Productions, signed a deal to make the toy producer Hasbro a global partner before the show was first broadcast, 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 spring 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.

In January 2009, a spokesman for the BBC confirmed that they had asked Hasbro to change the skin colour of the Upsy Daisy 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.

Live theatrical show

In the Night Garden...Live! started a UK tour in July 2010. The show took place in an inflatable purpose-built show dome. The show premièred in Liverpool, and moved on to London, Glasgow and Birmingham. In the Night Garden Live has toured the UK every summer.

Awards and nominations