Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom

Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom
Genre	Fantasy Supernatural
Created by	Mark Baker & Neville Astley
Directed by	Mark Baker Neville Astley Phillip Hall (2012) Joris van Hulzen (2012)
Composer	Julian Nott
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	104 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer	Phil Davies
Running time	52 x 11 minutes / Movie: 109 minutes
Production companies	Astley Baker Davies The Elf Factory Rubber Duck Entertainment (2009) E1 Kids (2009–10) Entertainment One Family (2010–12)
Original release
Network	Channel 5 Nick Jr.
Release	6 April 2009 (2009-04-06) – 16 December 2014 (2014-12-16)

Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom is a British animated preschool television series aimed at pre-school children originally broadcast on Nickelodeon UK.

It is broadcast across Nickelodeon's channels throughout Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and North America.

The show is created by Neville Astley and Mark Baker, and produced by Astley Baker Davies and Entertainment One (the companies responsible for Peppa Pig). Many of the actors who lend their vocal skills to characters in Peppa Pig also work on Little Kingdom. These include John Sparkes, Sarah Ann Kennedy, David Rintoul and David Graham. The music is produced by Julian Nott, who is noted for his Wallace and Gromit and Peppa Pig scores.

Plot

The show is set in the Little Kingdom which is hidden among thorny brambles. The Little Kingdom is ruled by King and Queen Thistle mainly from the Little Castle, where they live with their 3 daughters Holly and younger twins Daisy and Poppy. Elves live at the Great Elf Tree, which acts as a school, library, apartment block and factory for toys and wands. Elves hold the belief that they should never arrive late to anything. Civil fairies live in the Fairy Village, which consists of toadstools which have doors and windows.

Fairies use magic and most of the fairies are named after flowers and plants. Elves have their own catchphrase, "...and I'm an Elf" (or "We're Elves"), and fairies also have their own catchphrase, commonly "I'm a fairy". Elves tell the time with wrist watches and/or clocks, while fairies tell the time in very unconventional ways. The Elves operate Elf Rescue, the Elf Farm and the Elf Windmill. King Thistle likes to play golf and crazy golf at the Royal Course. Ben and Holly have a ladybird friend called Gaston. Nanny Plum and the Wise Old Elf are characters too, and they have important jobs to do in the context of the show. Mr and Mrs Elf are Ben's parents. The Wise Old Elf is not married anymore but has three sons.

Characters

Main article: List of Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom characters

• Ben Elf is one of the main characters alongside Princess Holly. He lives with his parents, Mr. & Mrs. Elf. He lives in the Great Elf Tree, number 4. He can be quite tentative when it comes to using magic, as Ben is a young elf. He does not have any siblings, but has many friends, and his best friend is Princess Holly. Ben is voiced by Preston Nyman.
• Holly Thistle is a fairy and one of the main characters alongside Ben Elf. She lives with her parents, King and Queen Thistle, and with her little sisters, Daisy & Poppy. She likes to use magic despite the risk of things going wrong. Her best friend is Ben Elf. Holly is voiced by Sian Taylor.
• Lucy is a human girl (one of the 'big people' to the citizens of the Little Kingdom) and one of Ben and Holly's friends. She wears an orange dress and has pale skin and brown hair. She lives with her parents. She befriends Ben and Holly when they accompany Nanny Plum while she is on the job as the tooth fairy and was woken up by them, but keeps their existence a secret. Lucy is voiced by Abigail Daniels.
• King Thistle rules over the Little Kingdom. He is the husband of Queen Thistle and Princess Holly, Daisy, and Poppy's father. He is often hungry and grumpy, and sometimes hates having a bath. He dislikes celebrating his birthday because it reminds him he is getting older. When he was Holly's age, he was known as Prince Thistle. King Thistle is voiced by Ian Puleston-Davies.
• Queen Thistle is the Queen in the Little Kingdom and the wife of King Thistle. She is Princess Holly, Daisy, and Poppy's mother. Queen Thistle is Queen Marigold's younger sister. She is one of the few people who can handle looking after Daisy and Poppy, though at times even she can be overwhelmed by the trouble they cause with their magic. Queen Thistle is voiced by Sian Taylor.
• Daisy and Poppy are Holly's little twin sisters. They are not very good at magic as they are only babies, but this does not stop them from trying. They are quite cheeky and usually end up causing trouble with magic. As Daisy and Poppy can be very naughty, Holly sometimes dislikes her sisters. Due to the trouble they cause with their magic, most of the adult characters are wary of them, though Queen Thistle seems to be able to deal with them for the most part. Daisy and Poppy are voiced by Zoe Baker.
• Nanny Plum is Holly, Daisy, and Poppy's nanny, and a general housekeeper for the King and Queen. She is very good at magic and capable of speaking many animal languages (including ones which she claims to be a bit difficult such as Mole, Aardvark, Ant, Centipede and Alien). She often ends up in all kinds of trouble when trying to help Holly and friends. She is also a tooth fairy. Although being quite bossy and savage, she is very good at cleaning with magic. She rivals the Wise Old Elf mainly due to their differing opinions over the use of magic. She is a teacher at the Fairy School and also works as a maid. Nanny Plum is voiced by Sarah Ann Kennedy.
• The Wise Old Elf lives in the same tree as Ben at the top in room 98. He also is the Wise Old Tailor, the elf doctor and the librarian. He also runs the Elf School and The Elf factory. He rivals Nanny Plum and strongly disapproves of magic, but used to admire magic and enjoyed himself when he was briefly given the ability to use magic. He also secretly used magic to fuel the Elf Engine that runs the Elf Factory, as it is clean energy ("a very small Carbon Footprint") and never runs out except on No Magic Day that occurs every blue moon. He had three sons, two of which are pirates, Redbeard the Elf Pirate and Captain Squid, and a sensible son who later decided to be a Viking, as shown in the episode 'Fathers Day'. The Wise Old Elf's real name is Cedric. He went to college with Granny and Granpapa Thistle. He has a twin brother, an Arctic Elf named The Wiser Older Elf. The Wise Old Elf is voiced by David Graham.

A running gag is that Elf Rescue is a parody of International Rescue in the 1960s television series Thunderbirds, with comparable rocket-powered rescue vehicles and similar strident accompanying music. David Graham, who voices the Wise Old Elf, also voiced Parker the chauffeur in Thurderbirds.

• Gaston Ladybird is a male ladybird who lives in a small cave. He likes his house being messy as well as food that is "smelly and foul". He does not mind giving Ben rides when Ben needs to fly. Nanny Plum, who understands Ladybird language, translates for him quite often. He acts quite similarly to a dog, making a barking sound when he "speaks", and fetching sticks. Gaston has a brother, Tony, a sister-in-law, Pam, two nieces, Amber and Emerald, and a nephew, Keith. Gaston is voiced by Taig McNab, who is also credited as Editor for Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom.
• Redbeard the Elf Pirate (Nigel) is the pirate uncle of Barnaby Elf, and brother of Fred Elf. He is introduced in series 1, episode 31, where it is also revealed that his real name is Nigel. He sails the oceans in a pirate ship named Pedro, though his size prevents him from engaging in acts of actual piracy, and he is more of a treasure hunter and explorer. He is quite smitten with Nanny Plum whom he considers to be his sweetheart, although Nanny seems to have little interest in him romantically. He has a pet parrot, Polly, although she is normal sized and barely fits inside Redbeard's ship. Redbeard is voiced by David Rintoul.
• Sally (Credited as "Lucy's Mum") is Lucy's mother, who lives near the little kingdom with Lucy and her husband. Unlike her husband, Sally is aware of the existence of elves and fairies as she has been friends with Nanny Plum, Prince Thistle (subsequently King Thistle), and the Wise Old Elf, since she was a little girl, and like her daughter, keeps their existence a secret.
• Lucy's Father lives near the little kingdom with Lucy and his wife. Whilst initially unaware of the existence of the little kingdom, he discovered their existence as a result of the attempts of the citizens of the little kingdom to prevent him building a place for his cows in the meadow where the little kingdom is located. He keeps their existence a secret, though he does so as he seems to think that other people would think he was crazy if he told them.
• Mrs. Fig is the teacher of the Magic School. Nanny Plum used to go there and Holly and her friends went there when they were old enough. Despite being a fairy, she detests magic and says the most important rules of magic are "Don't use magic" and "Magic should only be used for serious things". As a result, the Wise Old Elf likes her as they have similar views on magic. Mrs. Fig loathes Nanny Plum, who is implied to have been her worst student as she does not adhere to Mrs. Fig's ideas on magic. Mrs. Fig is voiced by Morwenna Banks.
• Mrs. Fotheringill is Daisy and Poppy's playgroup teacher. She was at one point sent back in time to the age of the dinosaurs by Daisy, Poppy, and the other fairy children in her playgroup.
• Fairy Mayor is a character based on Boris Johnson, the former Mayor of London. He is Strawberry's dad and the vet's husband. He does not like "big people" because they always step on fairies and elves. Fairy Mayor is voiced by Alexander Armstrong.

Cast

• Preston Nyman as Ben Elf
• Sian Taylor as Queen Thistle & Holly Thistle
• Sara Crowe as Mrs Witch
• Ian Puleston-Davies as King Thistle
• Sarah Ann Kennedy as Nanny Plum
• David Graham as Wise Old Elf & Mr Gnome
• John Sparkes as Mr Elf & King Marigold
• Bram Karek as Zyros
• Judy Flynn as Mrs Elf & Gloria Gnome
• Jen Pringle as Wendy Witch
• Richard Ridings as Big Bad Barry
• Taig McNab as Gaston
• Stanley Nickless as Barnaby Elf
• Alexander Armstrong as Lucy’s Dad & Fairy Mayor
• Lucy Moss as Violet
• Cecily Bloom as Lizzy Elf
• Jonny Butler as Jake Elf & Tarquin
• Zoe Baker as Daisy and Poppy
• Zara Siddiqi as Strawberry
• Abigail Daniels as Lucy
• Naomi Wilkinson as Miss Cookie & Strawberry’s Mum
• Andy Hamilton as Captain Squid
• Morwenna Banks as Queen Marigold, Mrs Fig, Granny Thistle & Mrs Fotheringill
• Alice May as Fleur
• Kate Robbins as Miss Jolly
• Yasmin Shaboo as Yasmin
• Zoe Baker as Katy

Episodes

Main article: List of Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom episodes

Broadcast

In the United States the show is broadcast on Nick Jr. in the United Kingdom and Ireland the show is broadcast on Channel 5 kids programming block. Milkshake, Nick Jr. UK and Ireland and Nick Jr Too. In Canada the show is broadcast on Treehouse TV.

External links

• Official Website of Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom
• Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom on Nick Jr. UK
• Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom at IMDb