"The Herbs" (the original series) 12 x 15 minute episodes.
First episode broadcast on BBC 1,February 1968,in the lunchtime "Watch With Mother" slot.
"The Adventures of Parsley" (the sequel) 32 x 5 minute episodes.
First episode broadcast on BBC1,April 1970,in the slot vacated by The Magic Roundabout just before
the early evening news.
* Commissioned by the BBC,both were devised & written by "Paddington Bear" author Michael Bond.
* Both were shot by the Filmfair production company under the auspices of legendary animator Ivor Woods.And both used stop motion animation,with actual 3D models and sets.
* Both series are set in the same,ostensibly normal,Victorian walled garden.But it's a surreal world co-inhabited by some classic British human caricatures and some animals with distinctly human characteristics.And all named after garden herbs,whose traits they were supposed to share.Although,names aside,the botanical connection was always somewhat tenuous and had disappered completely by the time of the sequel -amongst other changes that are all outlined on the characters page.
* The series were contemporaries of other BBC animated kids classics like The Clangers,Camberwick Green,Trumpton, The Pogles,and Mary Mungo & Midge.But despite being just as popular at the time they struggle for similar recognition now -except here.
* Most widely remembered bit ? Probably the "Herbidacious" catchphrase -the magic word used by the narrator at the start of every Herbs episode to open the garden gate.And a word used very sparingly throughout this site as a result !
* Current exposure ?
Abbey Home Media secured the rights to bring out the entire Filmfair back-catalogue on dvd (from main rights holder Cookie Jar Entertainment) And various piecemeal releases have now been capped off with a full boxset. See dvd page
UK TV exposure is currently courtesy of NickleOdeon.Details at nickjr.co.uk under "classics"