Astro Farm

Astro Farm
Created by	Andy Ellis David Yates
Voices of	Tina Heath Jonathan Kydd Richard Tate
Opening theme	Dave Cooke Paul Field
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	53
Production
Executive producer	David Yates
Producer	Kath Swain
Editor	Simon Cox
Running time	10 minutes
Production company	FilmFair for Central Independent Television
Original release
Network	CITV (ITV)
Release	11 September 1992 (1992-09-11) – 4 December 1996 (1996-12-04)

Astro Farm is a British children's television series animated in stop motion. It featured the adventures of the Foxwoods, a small family who work on an asteroid, which is covered in farmland. Astro Farm was produced by FilmFair for Central Independent Television, and was first broadcast on CITV in 1992, The Children's Channel from 1995; Nick Jr. later repeated it from 2000.

Synopsis

The main action takes place on an asteroid dedicated to farming. The Foxwoods live in a small cottage with a barn nearby. Daisy, the cow lives in a separate farm. The atmosphere is artificial and is controlled by the weather machine in the cottage. The Gorps live on a nearby asteroid known as 'Gorpdale' which is dark and wet.

The principal characters are Lizzie; Lizzie's husband Sam; their son, Tom; Dinko, a dog; Daisy, the cow and blue chickens called Clucks; featuring the Gorps, Splodger and Biff, two miscreants who steal food and cause trouble at the farm.

Episodes

Series 1 (1992)

1. Wacky weather (11 September 1992)
2. Flying Dinko (18 September 1992)
3. The well (25 September 1992)
4. Moo flu (2 October 1992)
5. Astro dragon (9 October 1992)
6. Butterfly (16 October 1992)
7. Disappearing bubbles (23 October 1992)
8. The big sneeze (30 October 1992)
9. The tomato competition (6 November 1992)
10. Barn dance (13 November 1992)
11. The black hole mole (20 November 1992)
12. Training Dinko (27 November 1992)
13. The surprise (4 December 1992)

Series 2 (1993)

1. Biff builds a rocket! (15 October 1993)
2. Cluck soup (22 October 1993)
3. Holiday (29 October 1993)
4. King Splodger (5 November 1993)
5. Lizzie's quiet day (12 November 1993)
6. Pumpkin (19 November 1993)
7. Seeing double (26 November 1993)
8. Shrinking machine (26 November 1993)
9. Solar wind (3 December 1993)
10. Wild martian tiger (10 December 1993)
11. Wishing well (17 December 1993)

Series 3 (1994)

1. All aboard! (13 October 1994)
2. Astrodale Farm (20 October 1994)
3. Bathtime (27 October 1994)
4. Biff's baby (3 November 1994)
5. Crow twins (10 November 1994)
6. Dial G for Gorpdale (17 November 1994)
7. Magic onions (24 November 1994)
8. Spooked! (1 December 1994)
9. Super Tom (8 December 1994)

Series 4 (1995)

1. 1, 2, 3, pull! (28 September 1995)
2. A mole in one (5 October 1995)
3. Biff, do your best! (12 October 1995)
4. Cowboy Tom (19 October 1995)
5. Dragon moon (26 October 1995)
6. Futile attraction (2 November 1995)
7. Pied Piper of Gorpdale (9 November 1995)
8. Slimcurd, Slimcurd, everywhere! (16 November 1995)
9. Splodger, the spider (23 November 1995)
10. That takes the biscuit! (30 November 1995)

Series 5 (1996)

1. Lucky dip (2 October 1996)
2. Mousequake (9 October 1996)
3. Pigs might fly (16 October 1996)
4. Poultry in motion (23 October 1996)
5. Spaced out Splodger (30 October 1996)
6. Sparks fly! (6 November 1996)
7. Splodger's about! (13 November 1996)
8. Surprise!, surprise! (20 November 1996)
9. To catch a thief (27 November 1996)
10. Tom and the beanstalk (4 December 1996)

Credits

(Series one only)

• Devised by: Andy Ellis & David Yates
• Written by: John Sayle
• Music by: Dave Cooke
• Directed by: Paul Field & David Johnson
• The voices of: Tina Heath, Jonathan Kydd & Richard Tate
• Stories and original design: Andy Ellis
• Song lyrics: Paul Field
• Animation: Mark Waring
• Camera: Simon Paul
• Studio assistant: John Ellis
• Sets: Alan Murphy
• Model makers: Colin Armitage & Heather Boucher
• Puppet makers: Maxine Guest, Sam Holland & Simon Quinn
• Costumes: Margaret Haden
• Editor: Simon Cox
• Senior editor: Andi Sloss
• Production supervisor: Robert Dunbar
• Producer: Kath Swain
• Executive producer: David Yates

Home media

In the United Kingdom, the entire TV series was first published on VHS tapes on 1992, released by Pickwick and distributed by Carlton Home Entertainment in 1995.

External links

• Astro Farm at Toonhound.
• Astro Farm at IMDb.