Big Barn Farm
Encyclopedia
Big Barn Farm is a live-action television series commissioned by Michael Carrington at the BBC, narrated by Ben Fairman in series 1 and Dave Lamb
in series 2. The programmes are about four young animals, the Farmyard Bunch - Petal the piglet, Gobo the ‘kid’ goat
, Dash the young donkey
and Digger the puppy
- and their view of life on Big Barn Farm. Their adventures on the farm revolve around their emotions and the situations they find themselves in. As the Farmyard Bunch explore the day to day routine of life on a farm
, so they play, discover and have fun.
As the storylines are from the young animals’ point of view there is as much importance placed on whether the farmer has forgotten feeding time as where’s the best place to hide in a game of hide and seek
.
In each adventure the Farmyard Bunch explore their friendship
s and role on the farm. They can be cheeky, often get up to mischief and find themselves in tricky situations. But as a foursome they always find a solution and learn something along the way.
And the Farmyard Bunch aren’t alone on the farm. There are the duck
girls who live noisily on the pond; the gossipy Mrs Chicken
s; a very tall horse
called Mack; a flock of wilful sheep and the purr-fectly charming Mrs Paws the cat
.
Big Barn Farm is Executive Produced by Sarah Colclough at BBC Children's television for CBeebies, the BBC's children channel aimed at children under 6 years of age.
Created and produced by The Foundation, which is part of the RDF Media
group, the programme combines footage of real animals with animation
to create the world of Gobo the baby goat, Petal the piglet, a puppy called Digger and Dash the donkey foal. In addition, there are many other characters; many of them older animals as well as the farmer and his family.
Each episode constitutes an individual story, usually involving the main characters getting into some minor difficulty and pulling together to get out of that difficulty. There is no narrative thread
to the episodes, each standing on its own without the need for prior understanding or any loose ends at the end. Big Barn Farm is told from the animal's point of view and provides a unique insight into their world.
Before the show airs, the CBeebies presenter may encourage the young viewers to sing along with the theme song, which is sung very fast and provides some basic information about each of the main characters. The closing song is similar, but longer and details all of the animal characters, including the minor ones.
Visual Effects for the series were created by Ian Carley, Mark Holman-Harris and James Kearsley.
A DVD
of Big Barn Farm, titled "Welcome to Big Barn Farm" was released on 17 November 2008.
is a young donkey voiced by Ben Fairman. He also fostered is thoughtful, cautious and extremely kind but occasionally a bit stubborn. He is often wary of any new adventure and would prefer watching the others being brave rather than take part himself. But because of his kind nature, Dash will always end up joining in. Dash isn’t as excitable as the others and always likes to think carefully about any new situation. As the tallest of the Farmyard Bunch he can see over the top of things which can be very useful.
a catchphrase, 'calm down, calm down.'
Gobo the Goat
is a kid voiced by Elly Fairman. Gobo's is clever, very bouncy and eats a lot. Often too quickly which means he burps a lot too! In fact, Gobo thinks about food most of the time and is always happy to nibble on anything! Gobo can be noisy and barges into situations when really he should stop and think first. But if there’s a hay bale that needs climbing or a picnic to be investigated, Gobo will be first in line to give it a go!
catchphrase is 'go go Gobo!'
Petal the Piglet
is a female piglet. is a cheeky and daring young piglet who likes to think of herself as leader of the four friends. Petal is adventurous and brave and usually the first to go and investigate something new. Sometimes this gets her in to trouble and at other times she sounds braver than she really feels. Petal doesn’t like to be thought of as girly so she’s just as happy splashing in the mud and jumping over hay bales as the others. Her catchphrase is 'piglet power.'
Digger the Puppy
is a labrador retriever
voiced by Shelley Longworth. the youngest of the four friends and always eager to prove himself. He is very cute, naïve and willing to please. Digger has boundless energy and will always be the first to volunteer for any new adventure. He isn’t very bright and so doesn’t come up with as many ideas as the others and sometimes takes a while to catch on to what’s happening. But Digger is always eager to please and is never happier than when playing with his very best friends Petal, Gobo and Dash. His catchphrase is 'I can do that! I can do that!'
Mack the Horse
is a male horse
Madam
is a cow
Mrs. Snuffles
is a mother pig
Mrs. Chickens
are female chickens
Mrs. Paw
is a female cat
Duck Girls
are female ducks
Old Pop
is an Australian shepherd
Ewenice
is a female sheep
Lester
is a male rooster
Dave Lamb
Dave Lamb is a British actor and voice-over artist best known for his work on Come Dine with Me as well as appearances in British television and radio programmes, especially comedy programmes. He also currently presents the CBBC game show Horrible Histories: Gory Games.- Early work :Lamb's first...
in series 2. The programmes are about four young animals, the Farmyard Bunch - Petal the piglet, Gobo the ‘kid’ goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
, Dash the young donkey
Donkey
The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...
and Digger the puppy
Puppy
A puppy is a juvenile dog. Some puppies may weigh , while larger ones can weigh up to . All healthy puppies grow quickly after birth. A puppy's coat color may change as the puppy grows older, as is commonly seen in breeds such as the Yorkshire Terrier...
- and their view of life on Big Barn Farm. Their adventures on the farm revolve around their emotions and the situations they find themselves in. As the Farmyard Bunch explore the day to day routine of life on a farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
, so they play, discover and have fun.
As the storylines are from the young animals’ point of view there is as much importance placed on whether the farmer has forgotten feeding time as where’s the best place to hide in a game of hide and seek
Hide and seek
Hide-and-seek or hide-and-go-seek is a variant of the game tag, in which a number of players conceal themselves in the environment, to be found by one or more seekers.-Variants:Numerous variants of the game can be found around the world...
.
In each adventure the Farmyard Bunch explore their friendship
Friendship
Friendship is a form of interpersonal relationship generally considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association are often thought of as spanning across the same continuum...
s and role on the farm. They can be cheeky, often get up to mischief and find themselves in tricky situations. But as a foursome they always find a solution and learn something along the way.
And the Farmyard Bunch aren’t alone on the farm. There are the duck
Duck
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
girls who live noisily on the pond; the gossipy Mrs Chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
s; a very tall horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
called Mack; a flock of wilful sheep and the purr-fectly charming Mrs Paws the cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
.
Big Barn Farm is Executive Produced by Sarah Colclough at BBC Children's television for CBeebies, the BBC's children channel aimed at children under 6 years of age.
Created and produced by The Foundation, which is part of the RDF Media
RDF Media
Zodiak Media is a Anglo-American television production company. It was formed in 2010 when RDF Media Group was acquired by, and merged with Zodiak Entertainment...
group, the programme combines footage of real animals with animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
to create the world of Gobo the baby goat, Petal the piglet, a puppy called Digger and Dash the donkey foal. In addition, there are many other characters; many of them older animals as well as the farmer and his family.
Each episode constitutes an individual story, usually involving the main characters getting into some minor difficulty and pulling together to get out of that difficulty. There is no narrative thread
Narrative thread
A narrative thread, or plot thread , refers to particular elements and techniques of writing to center the story in the action or experience of characters rather than to relate a matter in a dry 'All knowing' sort of narration...
to the episodes, each standing on its own without the need for prior understanding or any loose ends at the end. Big Barn Farm is told from the animal's point of view and provides a unique insight into their world.
Before the show airs, the CBeebies presenter may encourage the young viewers to sing along with the theme song, which is sung very fast and provides some basic information about each of the main characters. The closing song is similar, but longer and details all of the animal characters, including the minor ones.
Visual Effects for the series were created by Ian Carley, Mark Holman-Harris and James Kearsley.
A DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
of Big Barn Farm, titled "Welcome to Big Barn Farm" was released on 17 November 2008.
Characters
Dash the Donkeyis a young donkey voiced by Ben Fairman. He also fostered is thoughtful, cautious and extremely kind but occasionally a bit stubborn. He is often wary of any new adventure and would prefer watching the others being brave rather than take part himself. But because of his kind nature, Dash will always end up joining in. Dash isn’t as excitable as the others and always likes to think carefully about any new situation. As the tallest of the Farmyard Bunch he can see over the top of things which can be very useful.
a catchphrase, 'calm down, calm down.'
Gobo the Goat
is a kid voiced by Elly Fairman. Gobo's is clever, very bouncy and eats a lot. Often too quickly which means he burps a lot too! In fact, Gobo thinks about food most of the time and is always happy to nibble on anything! Gobo can be noisy and barges into situations when really he should stop and think first. But if there’s a hay bale that needs climbing or a picnic to be investigated, Gobo will be first in line to give it a go!
catchphrase is 'go go Gobo!'
Petal the Piglet
is a female piglet. is a cheeky and daring young piglet who likes to think of herself as leader of the four friends. Petal is adventurous and brave and usually the first to go and investigate something new. Sometimes this gets her in to trouble and at other times she sounds braver than she really feels. Petal doesn’t like to be thought of as girly so she’s just as happy splashing in the mud and jumping over hay bales as the others. Her catchphrase is 'piglet power.'
Digger the Puppy
is a labrador retriever
Labrador Retriever
The Labrador Retriever is one of several kinds of retriever, a type of gun dog. A breed characteristic is webbed paws for swimming, useful for the breed's original purpose of retrieving fishing nets. The Labrador is the most popular breed of dog by registered ownership in Canada, the United...
voiced by Shelley Longworth. the youngest of the four friends and always eager to prove himself. He is very cute, naïve and willing to please. Digger has boundless energy and will always be the first to volunteer for any new adventure. He isn’t very bright and so doesn’t come up with as many ideas as the others and sometimes takes a while to catch on to what’s happening. But Digger is always eager to please and is never happier than when playing with his very best friends Petal, Gobo and Dash. His catchphrase is 'I can do that! I can do that!'
Mack the Horse
is a male horse
Madam
is a cow
Mrs. Snuffles
is a mother pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
Mrs. Chickens
are female chickens
Mrs. Paw
is a female cat
Duck Girls
are female ducks
Old Pop
is an Australian shepherd
Australian Shepherd
The Australian shepherd is a breed of herding dog that was developed on ranches in the Western United States. Despite its name, the breed, commonly known as an Aussie, did not originate in Australia They acquired their name because some of the Australian sheepdogs arrived in the United States with...
Ewenice
is a female sheep
Lester
is a male rooster
Rooster
A rooster, also known as a cockerel, cock or chanticleer, is a male chicken with the female being called a hen. Immature male chickens of less than a year's age are called cockerels...
Episodes
| Premiere point | N/o | Episodes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series number | |||
| 06.04.2009 | 01 | You Can't Eat Dogs... | |
| 07.04.2009 | 02 | Lester Loses His Voice | |
| 08.04.2009 | 03 | The Grass Is Always Greener | |
| 09.04.2009 | 04 | Keeping Quiet | |
| 10.04.2009 | 05 | Petal and Gobo Fall Out | |
| 13.04.2009 | 06 | To Catch a Thief | |
| 14.04.2009 | 07 | The Important Visitors | |
| 15.04.2009 | 08 | Greedy Goat | |
| 16.04.2009 | 09 | Lester the Leader | |
| 17.04.2009 | 10 | Driving Miss Petal | |
| 20.04.2009 | 11 | Best in Show | |
| 21.04.2009 | 12 | 40 Winks | |
| 22.04.2009 | 13 | Hot and Sticky Day | |
| 23.04.2009 | 14 | He's Got to Go | |
| 15 | Recycling Proficiency Test | ||
| 16 | Hide & Seek | ||
| 17 | Going Camping | ||
| 18 | Touch the Sky | ||
| 19 | What's Up Ducks? | ||
| 20 | Who's Afraid of the Windy Wolf | ||
Sources
- http://www.bigbarnfarm.com/
- http://www.foundationtv.co.uk/images/bigbarnfarmhold.html
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/bigbarnfarm/
- http://www.bbcshop.com/Children's/Welcome-To-Big-Barn-Farm-DVD/invt/2edvd0313