Percy the Park Keeper

Percy the Park Keeper
Genre	Children's Programme
Created by	Nick Butterworth
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
Production
Running time	10 minutes per episode [approx.]
Production company(s)	HIT Entertainment
Release
Original network	CITV [1996-1999]
Picture format	4:3
Original release	1 December 1996 – 12 December 1999

Percy the Park Keeper is an animated children's series based on the popular books by British author Nick Butterworth. It stars Percy, and many wild animals, such as the Badger, the Owl, the Fox, the Mice, the Mole, the Robin and so on.

Characters

• Percy the Park Keeper - Titular character. He maintains the park, and is able to find the time to have fun with the animals.
• Fox - A fun loving sort, who tends to make others laugh and can be quite sensitive.
• Badger - A wise and sensible sort, but he dislikes water.
• Rabbit - An excitable sort, who easily gets timid at anything remotely scary.
• Squirrel - An irritable sort, who often buries nuts and acorns and cannot always remember where they are.
• Hedgehog - A quiet type, who finds his spines very problematic indeed.
• Mice - Playful sorts who are always happy to join in various challenges.
• Ducks - They usually play by the duck pond, and migrate when Winter approaches.
• Owl - She doesn't hunt at night, like a real owl, but she is active during the day. She forgets things very easily.
• Robin - Spends most of his life flying around the park and perching on trees.
• Mole - He is always in a rush and has trouble finding his way under the ground.

Episodes

List of Percy the Park Keeper episodes

Season 1 (1996-1998)

#	Title	Air Date
1	"One Snowy Night"	1 December 1996
It is Winter. After his hard day's work, Percy the Park Keeper is preparing for his coldest night ahead. The night is a lot colder than the animals have expected and the snow is making it hard for them to find shelter. They all decide to spend the night inside Percy's hut, and finally Mole and Robin turn up. Also features exclsuive 15 minute programme "The Animals of Percy's Park".
2	"The Secret Path"	12 March 1997
It is Spring, and Percy the Park Keeper has a very big job to do. He has to trim all the ever-green hedges around the "terribly overgrown", maze. Squirrel comes with him after a couple of accidents with Hedgehog. When all the other animals come to play with Percy in the maze, they suddenly get stuck in the middle, but Hedgehog cleverly provides them a secret way out, using a red ball of wool, which unfortunately unravels from Percy the Park Keeper's jumper!. Also features exclusive 15 minute programme "The Seasons of Percy's Park".
3	"The Rescue Party"	20 July 1997
It is Summer, and Percy the Park Keeper is having a day off. He relaxes with his animal friends, lounges against an old tree trunk, and chews on a stem of grass while reading a book under his breath, with his anthropomorphized friends reclining in identical positions. Everything is fine until a jumping game gets out of hand and a young rabbit falls into an old well. Percy rushes to help, throwing her a huge rope and instructing her to tie it "nice and tight". Not understanding what she is supposed to do, she ties it to a wedged log, and then proceeds to find an alternative way out. Percy and his helpers strain and pull until finally out pops the log. The long line of befuddled animals then look round in amazement, revealing the little rabbit holding onto the other end of the rope. Also features exclusive 15 minute programme "The A to Z of Percy's Park".
4	"After the Storm"	1 January 1998
It is Autumn. Very heavy rain in the night causes an awful lot of chaos in the park, especially the animals' oak tree, leaving them all homeless. Percy helps the wild animals find a new home, by building a Tree House. Also features exclusive 15 minute programme "Counting and Colours in the Park".

Season 2 (1999)

#	Title	Air Date
1	"The Hedgehog's Balloon"	19 September 1999
Hedgehog is very upset. He loves balloons but he can never keep them, because the problem is, they only burst the instant they touch his spines. Then Percy comes up with a plan, and with the help of some corks from his garden shed, the problem is solved.
2	"The Fox's Hiccups"	26 September 1999
Fox gets the hiccups from drinking all of Percy's lemonade while laughing at a joke with Squirrel. After an accident bumping into Percy's washing and flower pots, and then turning into a ghost, [ghosts don't exist, please note] his hiccups are cured, until he laughs and drinks again, simultaneously!
3	"One Warm Fox"	3 October 1999
Fox cannot sleep due to cold drafts in his underground house. He borrows some of Percy's clothes, putting on more than he actually needs, but Percy finds the extra clothes ideal for his new friend, Scarecrow, leaving Fox with just a "pullover".
4	"The Rabbit Who Was Afraid of the Dark"	10 October 1999
The female rabbit is afraid of the dark, and the other animals don't know what is causing it, but Percy does - she hasn't been eating enough carrots! The female rabbit then eats some more carrots, and is then able to see in the dark, and discovers that she is not scared of the dark any more.
5	"Sledge Ride: Christmas Episode"	17 October 1999
Percy is taking the day off and decides that it is the perfect day for building a sledge. However, Fox and Squirrel borrow Percy's materials without asking in order to make their own sledge. Then they offer Percy a snowy, wild ride home.
6	"The Hedgehog's Wings"	24 October 1999
It is a very windy day, so Hedgehog sneaks into Percy's garden shed and borrows his paper and crayons to build himself something to fly with - wings. But he then soon discovers that flying unaided is very frightening indeed.
7	"The Owl's Lesson"	31 October 1999
Owl discovers a little bird who doesn't know how to fly, so she attempts to teach him. Then Percy comes along and explains he can't fly because he's only little, which Owl doesn't know.
8	"Badger's Bath"	7 November 1999
Badger spends a very long time digging, getting himself covered in mud. Percy tries to give Badger a bath, but he doesn't want one. Percy soon has a bath all to himself, but just at the last minute, Badger falls out of his hiding place and into the bath.
9	"Owl Takes Charge"	14 November 1999
When Percy feels ill, Owl offers to take over his daily chores. The jobs are: make a rake, plant a tree and paint the roundabout. But Owl isn't very good at remembering things, and she delibrately gets them all muddled up.
10	"A Very Useful Little Friend"	21 November 1999
As Badger and Fox help Percy tidy his shed, Mouse joins in the work, but her clumsiness isn't helping. But when the trio become trapped inside the shed, Mouse proves to be very useful to them.
11	"Treasure Island"	28 November 1999
Percy uncovers a treasure map and he and Squirrel go and find the island it was buried in. They do find it eventually, but Percy then remembers he left a fruitcake inside the oven, and goes back to his hut, leaving Squirrel not knowing where he is.
12	"The Cross Rabbit"	5 December 1999
Winter is approaching, and Old Rabbit wants to sleep for a while, but the mice are disturbing him with their fun and games. Percy persuades the mice to play elsewhere, but the peace doesn't last for long.
13	"The Lost Acorns"	12 December 1999
Percy plants some bulbs under the ground. Unfortunately, Squirrel has lost all her acorns and mistakes the planted bulbs for possible acorn storages. Mole finds her secret storage by accident and the squirrel replants the bulbs. Last in the series.

References

External links

• Percy the Park Keeper at the Internet Movie Database