Underplayed Gems

The Herbs (1968)

The Herbs poster
Directed by
Ivor Wood
Genre
children's television series
Country
United Kingdom
Length
1 season, 13 episodes
Rating
9.0 of 10 from 1 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A stop-motion children's series from 1968. It follows animal and human characters living in a magical walled garden. A narrator opens the garden gate by saying a special word at the start of each episode.

whimsicalgentlecharmingleisurelynostalgicquaintinnocentplayful

What happens

The Herbs is a television series for young children made for the BBC by Graham Clutterbuck's FilmFair company. It was written by Michael Bond (creator of Paddington Bear), directed by Ivor Wood using 3D stop motion model animation and first transmitted from 12 February 1968 in the BBC1 Watch with Mother timeslot. There were 13 episodes in the series, each one 15 minutes long. A spin-off series entitled The Adventures of Parsley was transmitted from 6 April 1970 in the five-minute period between the end of children's TV and the BBC Evening News. This had 32 episodes, some of which were released on VHS as Parsley the Lion and Friends. The Herbs consisted of a fantasy mix of human and animal characters inhabiting the magical walled garden of an English country estate. At the beginning of each episode, the narrator (Gordon Rollings) spoke the magic word, "Herbidacious", which caused the garden gate to open. As with The Magic Roundabout, the sophisticated writing style and narrative delivery of The Herbs meant that the appeal was somewhat broader than was originally intended, and much of Parsley's droll humour undoubtedly went over the heads of the age group that was its main target. Consequently, it still retains a following among those who watched it when it was first broadcast. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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