Baldmoney, Sneezewort, Dodder and Cloudberry

1 9 7 5 (UK)
10 x 15 minute episodes

This children’s show from Anglia Television was narrated (and produced) by Paul Honeyman with illustrations by John Worsley and told the tales of the last four gnomes left in England – Baldmoney, Sneezewort, Dodder and Cloudberry.

When Baldmoney, Sneezewort and Dodder wake up under the old oak tree on the banks of the Folly Brook after their long winter sleep, they discover that Cloudberry is missing.

They decide to venture off on an expedition to find him, but old Dodder opposes the idea.

Undaunted, the other two set off in a little boat called Dragonfly, leaving a tearful Dodder behind.

Dodder eventually decides to join his brothers and hitches a lift from a Heron. But at Moss Mill, he discovers the wreckage of the Dragonfly and fears the worst.

Meanwhile, Baldmoney and Sneezewort – who survived their ordeal with the giant wheel and rushing water at Moss Mill – fight a desperate running battle with their most dreaded enemy, Stoat, who pursues them down the stream.

The three are eventually reunited in Crow Wood and continue upstream to a great lake. Then a storm breaks, and they fear for their lives.

But the gnomes escape and head for home – but the journey is fraught with danger.

The characters of Baldmoney, Sneezewort, Dodder and Cloudberry were originally created in 1948 by a middle-aged schoolmaster at Rugby school called D J Watkins-Pitchford, who was an art teacher for 16 years before becoming a full-time writer and illustrator.

Episodes

The Coming of Spring | Giant Grum! | The Start of the Journey | Moss Mill | Dodder Takes to the Skies | A Narrow Escape | Crow Wood | The Reckoning | Shipwrecked | The Homecoming