The Herbs

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 5-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 a 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.

Characters

Each character was the personification of a herb. It is said that Bond used quotes from Nicholas Culpeper's 17th Century book, Culpeper's Complete Herbal, to find the herbs whose botanical traits he could best reflect in the individual characters. As each character appeared in the show, they were introduced by a little signature song, which varied slightly from one episode to the next.

The major character was Parsley the Lion. Parsley did not actually speak (although he did have his own signature tune: "I'm a very friendly lion called Parsley....") but his thoughts were voiced by the narrator. Rollings' dead-pan style became a feature of the programme, and was similar to that used by Eric Thompson in his characterisation of Dougal the dog in the English version of The Magic Roundabout.

The characters

Regulars (appearing in almost all episodes)

• Parsley the Lion – Parsley the Lion was the shy but friendly main character. He always sat on the path in front of the herb garden to welcome the viewers. He was very frightened of strangers until he got to know them. He was one of only two Herbs who seemed aware of the viewers. He hated getting his tail wet. He could not be heard by the other Herbs.
• Sage the Owl – A bad-tempered owl who was almost always in a bad mood. He fell out of his nest a lot, and hated getting his feathers wet.
• Dill the Dog – Dill was a hyperactive dog who was always getting into scrapes, which provided Parsley with a rich source for his laconic comments. He was constantly chasing his tail, and a source of great annoyance to Constable Knapweed.
• Sir Basil – The "King of The Herbs"- wore a deerstalker and had a fondness for hunting, although he wasn't particularly good at it.
• Lady Rosemary – Sir Basil's prim and proper wife.
• Constable Knapweed – A policeman who was constantly writing Herbs' names and nonsensical crimes in his notebook for no real reason.
• Bayleaf the Gardener – Always hard at work in the garden. Worked for Sir Basil and Lady Rosemary.

Semi-regulars (appearing in some episodes)

• Aunt Mint – An old Auntie-like woman who was nearly always seen sitting in a rocking chair and knitting.
• Mr Onion – Father and schoolmaster of the Chives.
• Mrs Onion – His wife, who was always crying.
• The Chives – The Onions' children. There were ten chives. They were always referred to as "The Chives", and never given individual names. It was not even specified whether any of them were male / female.
• Tarragon the Dragon – A friendly but clumsy dragon. This was perhaps on account of the fact that everything he breathed fire at disappeared; he hatched from an egg that fell from the top of a tarragon plant in the sky.

Minor / One-off characters (appearing in only a few episodes)

• Pashana Bedhi – An Indian snake-charmer, who only appeared in a few episodes.
• Good King Henry – A minor character, who only appears briefly in the series.
• Miss Jessop – A very fussy middle-aged woman.
• Belladonna the Witch – The evil Belladonna was a one-off character. She turned several of the Herbs into weeds, but was finally thwarted by Dill, as this herb was used to ward off witches in real life. She left behind her broom, which Dill used to restore the transfigured Herbs to their original state, and which Parsley sometimes used in later episodes.
• Signor Solidago – Another one-off character, Signor Solidago is an opera singer from Italy who attempted to teach Sage (and very briefly, Parsley) to sing. He failed miserably on both counts, eventually storming out of his own classroom.

Episode list

There were 13 episodes of The Herbs and 32 of The Adventures of Parsley. The entire collection is available on DVD in a two-disc set.^[1]

VHS and DVD Releases

In 1989, Tempo Video released three videos of the Herbs, each with four episodes and omitting Strawberry Picking.

In October 1989, the Strawberry Picking episode of The Herbs appeared on the BBC video release of "Watch with Mother the Next Generation" (BBCV 4280) along with Tales of the Riverbank, Pogles' Wood, Mary, Mungo and Midge and Barnaby the Bear.

In the mid-1990's Castle Vision released three videos of The Herbs with exciting episodes on each one in a slightly different combination than the earlier Tempo tapes, including Strawberry Picking, but omitting Parsley's Birthday Party.

References

External links

• Official website
• The Herbs at Jedi's Paradise