Tales from Fat Tulip's Garden

Tales from Fat Tulip's Garden was a children's TV program in the mid-1980s, starring Tony Robinson. It was produced by Debbie Gates for Central Independent Television and aired on British TV network ITV from 1985 to 1987, in a 4:00pm timeslot, with each episode lasting about 10 minutes.

Robinson would tell children's stories directly to camera in an English garden setting, which generally involved the title character Fat Tulip, and often his best friend Thin Tim, and would put on all the voices himself. The show was written by Debbie Gates and Robinson and carried by Robinson's unique and engaging storytelling style, which was semi-improvised. Robinson hoped to provoke the imagination and produce a sense of immediacy in contrast to the shortcomings he saw in children's television at the time.^[1]

The majority of the programme was filmed in the house and garden of Little Monkhams, a property in Woodford Green in the Redbridge Borough of London. Further scenes were filmed in the part of Epping Forest facing the house (Lord's Bushes and Knighton Woods)

Two books based on the series were published in 1985: Tales from Fat Tulips Garden (ISBN 0-590-70453-2) and Tales From Fat Tulip's Garden: Meet a Dog Called Dorian (ISBN 0-590-70451-6).

Transmission guide

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

References