''The Slow Norris'' is a British children's television programme that aired on

CITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

from 4 September 1995 to 23 December 1999. The programme portrayed

moral A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. A ...

tales and

fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular mo ...

s through various

anthropomorphized Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

creatures. The show was produced by HTV and

Hat Trick Productions Hat Trick Productions is an independent British production company that produces television and radio programmes, mainly specialising in comedy, based in London. History Hat Trick Productions was founded in 1986 by Rory McGrath, Jimmy Mulville ...

for CITV. There was also a version produced for American television by Hollywood Ventures which ran on PBS in the fall of 1997.

Main characters

* The Slow Norris (voiced by

Nick Ryan Nick Ryan is a film director and producer from Dublin, Ireland. Ryan directed ''A Lonely Sky'' (2006), ''The German'' (2008), ''Electric Picnic: The Documentary'' (2008), and the award-winning documentary The Summit (2012 film), ''The Summit' ' ...

) - The lead character is a large, hairy

Slow loris Slow lorises are a group of several species of nocturnal strepsirrhine primates that make up the genus ''Nycticebus''. Found in Southeast Asia and bordering areas, they range from Bangladesh and Northeast India in the west to the Sulu Archipe ...

-like creature who - although not very clever (and somewhat naive) - is willing to learn and participate in stories and activities. The Slow Norris lives in a

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

-like dwelling within a

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

. * Allie (voiced by Buddie Maddicott) - As the only human character, Allie is the group's natural leader. She travels through the woods on her

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

to visit the Slow Norris. Allie has a magic book which shows Slow Norris what things are or an animated story featuring Jane the Fairy and her frog Ferdy. Allie is voiced by Buddie Maddicott, a relation of the show's producer Dan Maddicott * Ben Beetle (voiced by Gary Martin) - Ben Beetle is a wise

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

who spends much of his time sat on a

toadstool A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is th ...

with his

walking stick A walking stick or walking cane is a device used primarily to aid walking, provide postural stability or support, or assist in maintaining a good posture. Some designs also serve as a fashion accessory, or are used for self-defense. Walking sti ...

. * Walter the

Worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wor ...

- Walter the Worm lives in a house made of mud and talks with a slight

stutter Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the ...

. * Jane the Fairy - An animated

fairy A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...

who only appears in Allie's magic book. She wears a

lilac ''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering plant, flowering woody plants in the olive family or Oleaceae called lilacs. These lilacs are native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and wid ...

dress and a leaf hat. * Ferdy the Frog - He is Jane's froggy companion. He's very sensitive and bit naughty sometimes. * Hodgehug - A baby

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introducti ...

. * Stork - A white

stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons an ...

. She appears in "Things That Fly" and is only seen throughout the 1996 series.

Episodes

Episodes include one where Allie shows the Slow Norris a story of someone baking a

cake Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, ...

, in her magic book. In another, the Slow Norris is putting off tidying the

where he lives. Allie shows him a story involving a

named Jane whose house has a leak due to a hole in the roof. Jane's friend, a

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

named Ferdy is supposed to fix the roof, however doesn't. The pair go out on a

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

journey to have a

picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...

with Jane's gran; they return home to find it has rained and Jane's house is now flooded. This persuades the Slow Norris to tidy his

. In one episode, Walter the Worm loses his tail cosy, only to find later on that the Slow Norris has it. In a later series, the opening music gained lyrics sung by Allie.

Series 1 (1995)

01 Making Friends - 4 September 1995 02 Colours - 11 September 1995 03 Things With Wheels - 18 September 1995 04 Being Yourself - 25 September 1995 05 Food 2 October - 1995 06 Birthdays 9 October - 1995 07 Feeling Poorly 16 October - 1995 08 Schools 23 October - 1995 09 Where We Live 30 October - 1995 10 Being Kind 07 November - 1995 11 Games 14 November - 1995 12 Big And Small 21 November - 1995 13 Being Teased 28 November - 1995 14 2 Legs 4 Legs 6 Legs And No Legs 4 December - 1995 15 The Slow Norris’s Party 11 December - 1995

Series 2 (1996)

01 Things That Fly 9 September 1996 02 Day And Night 16 September - 1996 03 Keeping Fit 23 September - 1996 04 Being Worried 30 September - 1996 05 Penfriends 7 October - 1996 06 Things That We Wear 14 October - 1996 07 Making Music 21 October - 1996 08 Things That Grow 28 October - 1996 09 Bones 4 November - 1996 10 Things That Swim 11 November - 1996 11 Friends And Relations 18 November - 1996 12 The Shape Of Things 25 November - 1996 13 Putting 2 December - 1996 14 Putting Things Off 9 December - 1996 15 The Four Seasons 16 December - 1996

Series 3 (1997)

01 Pictures And Stories 1 September - 1997 02 Holidays 8 September - 1997 03 Babies 15 September - 1997 04 Harvest Time 22 September - 1997 05 Dreams 29 September - 1997 06 Being Different 6 October - 1997 07 Water 13 October - 1997 08 Decorating 20 October - 1997 09 Keeping Secrets 27 October - 1997 10 Money 3 November - 1997 11 Episode 11 10 November - 1997 12 Episode 12 17 November - 1997 13 Episode 13 24 November - 1997 14 Episodes 14 1 December - 1997 15 Episode 15 8 December - 1997 16 Sizes 15 December - 1997

Puppeteers

* David Barclay - *

Mike Quinn Michael Patrick Quinn (born April 15, 1974) is a former professional American football quarterback in the National Football League for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans and Denver Broncos. ...

- *

Karen Prell Karen Leigh Prell (born July 26, 1959) is an American puppeteer and animator. She is the performer of Red Fraggle in ''Fraggle Rock''. Early life and career Prell was born on July 26, 1959 in Florida but grew up in Seattle, Washington. She als ...

- Slow Norris (facial puppeteer), Walter the Worm * Helena Smee * Katherine Smee - * Michael Bayliss - Allie * Rebecca Nagan * Jeremy Stockwell * Simon Buckley * Alison McGowen * Rebecca Clow * Margaret O’Flaherty

Voices

* Buddie Maddicott - Allie * Gary Martin - Ben Beetle *

- Slow Norris

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slow Norris, The 1990s British children's television series 1995 British television series debuts 1999 British television series endings British children's fantasy television series British television series with live action and animation British television shows featuring puppetry English-language television shows ITV children's television shows Television series by Hat Trick Productions Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Harlech Television (HTV)