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Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom

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Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom
GenreFantasy
Supernatural
Created byMark Baker & Neville Astley
Directed byMark Baker
Neville Astley
Phillip Hall (2012)
Joris van Hulzen (2012)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes104 (list of episodes)
Production
ProducerPhil Davies
Running time52 x 11 minutes
Original release
Network(United Kingdom) : Nickelodeon
ReleaseApril 2009 (2009-04) –
present

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

It is broadcast across Nickelodeon's 43 international channels throughout Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.

The show is created by Neville Astley and Mark Baker, and produced by Phil Davies at Astley Baker Davies (the company 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" scores.

Plot

The show is set in a Little Kingdom, which is ruled by King and Queen Thistle, who live in the Little Castle. The Little Kingdom has a population of Elves who live in The Great Elf Tree, an oak tree set with windows and laid out like an apartment block. The Elves run a factory under the Great Elf Tree where they make toys and wands in the wand factory and also run the Elf Farm and a windmill. The Kingdom also has a population of Fairy Princesses, who live in the fairy village in houses made out of toadstools. Others that live in the Kingdom are the Dwarves, Mrs. Witch and Mr. Gnome.

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. 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.
  • 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 that 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 Sara Crowe.
  • Daisy and Poppy are Holly's little twin sisters. They're not very good at magic, but this doesn't stop them from trying, They are quite cheeky and usually end up causing trouble with magic. As Daisy and Poppy are 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 'teacher', 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, 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 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.
  • 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 translates for him quite often. He acts quite similar to a dog, making a barking sound when he 'speaks', and fetching sticks. Gaston has 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 is Barnaby's pirate uncle. He claims to be a pirate, yet is good in nature. As his size prevents him from engaging in acts of piracy, he is more of a treasure hunter and explorer. He is quite smitten with Nanny Plum who he considers to be his sweetheart, though Nanny seems to have little interest in him romantically. He has a pet parrot, though it is normal sized and barely fits inside Redbeard's ship. Redbeard is voiced by David Rintoul.
  • Lucy is a human girl (considered a 'giant' to the citizens of the little kingdom) and one of Ben and Holly's friends. 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.
  • Sally is Lucy's mother who lives near the little kingdom with Lucy and her husband. Unlike her husband, Sally was aware of the existence of Elves and Fairies as she been friends with Nanny Plum, Prince Thistle (King Thistle when he was younger), and the Wise Old Elf, when 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 This character is based on Boris Johnson, the mayor of London.[1] He is Strawberry's dad and the vet's husband. He doesn't like "big people" because they always step on fairies and elves. Fairy Mayor is voiced by Alexander Armstrong.

Written language

Most of the text seen the episodes is in Lorem ipsum, a dummy text used in the printing industry and based on Latin. However, English text does occasionally appear. There are also some examples of a runic script (loosely based on Futhorc) that appear in the dwarf mine and in secret tunnels beneath the little castle.[2]

Voice cast

Character Voice Magic Gender
Ben Elf Preston Nyman Male Elf
Princess Holly Sian Taylor Female Fairy
Gaston the Ladybird Taig McNab Male Ladybird
Nanny Plum Sarah Ann Kennedy Female Fairy
King Thistle Ian Puleston-Davies Male Fairy
Queen Thistle Sara Crowe Female Fairy
Mrs Elf Judy Flynn Female Elf
Mr Elf John Sparkes Male Elf
Wise Old Elf David Graham Male Elf
Violet Lucy Moss Female Fairy
Strawberry Zara Siddiqi Female Fairy

Episodes

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

References

  1. ^ Buchanan, Kirsty (2 December 2012). "Boris Johnson has new role in Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom". www.express.co.uk. Northern and Shell Media Publications. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  2. ^ "Ben and Holly Journey to the Center of the Earth". YouTube. Retrieved 28 June 2016.

External links

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