The ''Munch Bunch'' is a series of children's books, created in the UK by Barrie and Elizabeth Henderson. The books were written under the pen name ''Giles Reed'' by Barrie Henderson, Elizabeth Henderson, and British author Denis Bond, and illustrated by Angela Mitson. They were published between 1979 and 1984 by Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. in the United Kingdom. United States publication rights were sold to Rourke Publications, Inc. The ''Munch Bunch'' are a group of unwanted

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...

s and

nuts Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Com ...

who were swept to the corner of a shop but ran away together and set up home in and around an old, forgotten garden shed.

Television series

There was also an early 1980s marionette/

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

-based television show, produced by long-time Gerry Anderson associates Mary Turner and John Read for

ITC Entertainment The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes. History Incorporated Television Programme Compan ...

, that featured the characters from the books. The stories for the television series were different from those contained in the books and were written mainly by Bond (this time under his real name), though other writers such as Rosemary Kingsland also contributed. The characters in the series were voiced by the veteran husband-and-wife team of Judy Bennett and Charles Collingwood, well best known for their work in

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural settin ...

. 52 ten-minute editions were produced, thus originally airing between September 1980 and May 1982. The show was also broadcast in Hong Kong on TVB Pearl and New Zealand on TV One. *Series 1: 12 editions, first shown from 24 September 1980 *Series 2: 13 editions, first shown from 25 March 1981 *Series 3: 21 editions, first shown from 30 September 1981 *Series 4: 6 editions, first shown from 7 April 1982

Deletion of the Munch Bunch

The books went out of print in the mid-to-late 1980s following a fire at a Studio Publications which destroyed all the original artwork.

Yoghurt

The Munch Bunch yoghurt brand was launched circa 1981 to coincide with the launch of the television series, with Mitson's characters as well as a few non-book characters such as Jenny Cherry and Charlie Chocolate but by the 1990s had struck out completely in their own right retaining only the logo and a few character names. The brand had a resurgence in the UK during the 1990s, largely as a result of a popular TV commercial for the ''Munch Bunch'' "pot shots" range (a petits-filous type yoghurt aimed at the young) set in a pool hall, which ran from May 1994 until February 1996. This popularity proved short-lived, and only three of the ''Munch Bunch'' characters were featured in the "pot shots" range. A completely different series of ''Munch Bunch'' books was published in 1998 by

Ladybird Books Ladybird Books is a London-based publishing company, trading as a stand-alone imprint within the Penguin Group of companies. The Ladybird imprint publishes mass-market children's books. It is an imprint of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of ...

in the UK to tie in with the yoghurts, following the resurgence brought about by the TV commercials of 1994–96. Denis Bond and Angela Mitson were not involved and the characters were different, although a few such as Sally Strawberry were similarly named. The ''Munch Bunch'' yoghurt brand name continues to this day under the

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

umbrella: however, the "fruit and veg" characters have been superseded by a "cow" mascot named Munch."Has Nestle Gone Too Far?"
''Forbes''. Retrieved 2016-07-02.

Original character series 1979-82

*Aubrey Aubergine *Adam Avocado *The Banana Bunch *Barnabus Beetroot *Billy Blackberry *Bounce (spring onion) *Button and Tiny (mushrooms) *Casper Carrot *Chunky Pineapple *Corky Coconut *Corny-on-the-Cob *Dick Turnip *Emma Apple *Lizzie Leek *Lucy Lemon *Merv Marrow *Nurse Plum *Olive *Olly Onion *Peanut *Pedro Orange *Pete Pepper *Penny Parsnip *Percy Prune *Pippa Pear *Professor Peabody *Rory Rhubarb *Rozzy Raspberry *Runner Bean *Sally Strawberry *Scruff Gooseberry *Spud (Potato) *Supercool (cucumber) *Suzie Celery *Tom Tomato *Wally Walnut

US character name differences

*Aubrey Aubergine - Eddie Eggplant *Barnabus Beetroot - Barnabus Beet *Merv Marrow - Zack Zucchini

1979 group 'Munch Bunch' book series

*Meet the Munch Bunch *The Munch Bunch at the Seaside *The Munch Bunch Have a Party *The Munch Bunch Go Camping *The Munch Bunch Welcomes New Friends (1982)

1983 series

*Pete Pepper's Trip to the Zoo *Casper Carrot's Big Mistake *Lucy Lemon and the Birthday Post *Aubrey Aubergine and the Grandfather Clock *Spud's Sports Day *Adam Avocado and the Picnic Basket *Barnabus Beetroot's Blue Umbrella *Penny Parsnip Starts a School *The Banana Bunch Have Half a Holiday *Button and Tiny Buy Bicycles *Nurse Plum's Busy Week *Peanut Goes to the Circus *Emma Apple's Jumble Sale (1985)

1984 series

*Spud and the Big Red Balloon *Sally Strawberry and the Painted Snake *Olly Onion's Fancy Dress Party *Casper Carrot's New Blue Jumper *Dick Turnip and the Crazy Clowns *Rozzy Raspberry's Wallpaper Machine *Billy Blackberry's Secret Tunnel *Corny-on-the-Cob's Not so Funny Day *Rory Rhubarb and the River Monster *Merv Marrow's New Police Car *Scruff Gooseberry and the Wishing Well *Emma Apple's Late Birthday Party

New Zealand character series 1985

*Charlie

Kumara Kumara may refer to: Places * Kumara (Mali), a province * Kumara, New Zealand, a town * Kumara (New Zealand electorate), a Parliamentary electorate Other uses * Kumara Illangasinghe, an Anglican bishop in Sri Lanka * Kumara (surname) * The Four ...

*Kiri

Kiwifruit Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi in North American, British and continental European English) or Chinese gooseberry is the edible berry of several species of woody vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' ...

*Patty

Passionfruit ''Passiflora edulis,'' commonly known as passion fruit, is a vine species of passion flower native to southern Brazil through Paraguay and northern Argentina. It is cultivated commercially in tropical and subtropical areas for its sweet, seedy f ...

*Ted Tamarillo

Yoghurt tie-in series 1998

*Andy Apricot *Barney Banana *Bertie Blackcurrant *Ollie Orange *Rozzy Raspberry (different character though identically named) *Sally Strawberry (different character though identically named)

References

External links

The Munch Bunch TV series at the IMDbThe Munch Bunch TV series intro for download
(TVARK)
The Munch Bunch TV series intro online
(YouTube)
The Munch Bunch TV series closing credits for download
(TVARK) {{italic title British picture books ITV children's television shows Television series by ITC Entertainment 1979 children's books 1980 British television series debuts 1982 British television series endings 1980s British children's television series British television shows based on children's books British television shows featuring puppetry British English-language television shows TVNZ 1 original programming Fruit and vegetable characters Series of children's books