''Big Barn Farm'' is a British live-action and animated children's comedy television series following the lives of four young animals on a farm which uses a combination of live-action and animation. It was produced by The Foundation and commissioned by Michael Carrington for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

children's channel

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older childr ...

. It was narrated by Ben Fairman in the first series and

Dave Lamb David Alexander Lamb (born 17 January 1969) is an English actor, comedian, narrator and presenter. He is best known for his narration work on '' Come Dine with Me'' as well as appearances in British television and radio programmes, especially co ...

in the second series.

Setting

The programme is set on a

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

and follows the adventures of four young animals: Petal the piglet, Gobo the

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

, Dash the

donkey The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...

and Digger the

puppy A puppy is a juvenile dog. Some puppies can 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 Yorksh ...

, who are called the Farmyard Bunch. The storylines are told from the young animals' point of view and revolve around their emotions and the situations they find themselves in. In each adventure the Farmyard Bunch explore their friendships whilst discovering their roles on the farm with help from the other farm animals. 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 A narrative thread, or plot thread (or, more ambiguously, a storyline), 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" sor ...

to the episodes, each standing on its own without the need for prior understanding or any loose ends at the end. The series aims to help children understand the importance of friendship, develop knowledge of the world around them and help develop problem solving skills. Before the show airs, the CBeebies presenter may encourage the young viewers to sing along with the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

, which is generally 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.

Characters

The Farmyard Bunch

* Dash (voiced by Ben Fairman) is a young male

. Dash is thoughtful, cautious and extremely kind but occasionally a bit stubborn (like most donkeys in real life). Dash 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, Dash can see over the top of things which can be very useful. His catchphrase is, "Calm down, calm down.' * Gobo (voiced by Elly Fairman) is a young goat or kid. Gobo is clever, very bouncy and eats a lot. Often too quickly which means Gobo 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 Gobo 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! His catchphrase is "Go, go, Gobo!' *

Petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

(voiced by Gemma Harvey) 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 into trouble and at other times Petal sounds braver than Petal really feels. Petal's personality isn't girly so Petal’s just happy splashing in the mud. Her catchphrase is "Piglet Power!" * Digger (voiced by

Shelley Longworth Shelley Nicola Longworth (born 22 March 1976) is a British actress. She is best known for playing the role of Sam Wood in ''Benidorm'', from 2011 to 2012 and from 2017 to 2018. Career In 2010, she joined the cast of ''Benidorm'' for the fourth ...

) is a male Labrador Retriever puppy. He is the youngest of the four friends and always eager to prove himself. Digger is very cute, naive and willing to please. The puppy has boundless energy and will always be the first to volunteer for any new adventure, however, 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 he is always eager to please and is never happier when playing with his friends. His catchphrase is "I can do that! I can do that!".

Minor characters

The main characters around the farm include: * Mack the Horse (voiced by Mike Winsor), who’s the tallest on the farm and is friends with The Farmyard Bunch and Wizard the Owl (voiced by Mike Winsor). * Madame the Cow (voiced by

Kate O'Sullivan Kate O'Sullivan is a British actress, singer, voiceover artist and impressionist. A graduate of Drama Centre London now Central Saint Martins, she was taught by Yat Malmgren and Christopher Fettes. Theatre Her first job after leaving Drama Centr ...

), who’s the most helpful to the Farmyard Bunch and loves French so much. * Mrs. Snuffles the Pig (voiced by Kate O'Sullivan), who’s Petal’s caring mother and would do anything to keep her daughter, her sons and her potato peelings. * The Mrs. Chickens (voiced by Kate O'Sullivan), who’re the one’s who gossip all day it can just get the farm very annoyed but at same time they’re very busy with their chicks they give their feathers a real ache. * Mrs. Paws the Cat (voiced by Carla Mendoncathe),who’s the silent night walker of the farm who cares for her litter of kittens. * The

Duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

Girls (voiced by Kate O'Sullivan), are several female ducks who live at the farm pond. They are very vain and always fuss about their

feathers Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier e ...

. * Old Pop is a Shepherd male

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

whose job is to keep everyone on the farm safe. Voiced by Mike Winsor and

Keith Wickham Keith Wickham is a British voice actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is known for providing the voices of various characters in the children's television series ''Thomas & Friends'', and Polluto in '' Tommy Zoom''. Career Wickham voiced Chang ...

in the episode Old Pop's got to go only. * Ewenice, (voiced by

), is a female sheep. * Lester, is a very serious male

rooster The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

who

crow A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifical ...

s at

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...

every day of the year. Voiced by

. * Narrator, is the one who can see all of Big Barn Farm but the animals can’t even hear him. In season 1 he’s played by Ben Fairman, and in season 2 they change the actor to Dave Lamb. There are also several human characters who feature in the programme, but do not speak, the farmer (played by Chris Noel), the farmer's wife (played by Laura Wyles), the farmer's son (played by Reef Matthews), and the farmer's daughter (played by Katie Parks).

Production

Big Barn Farm was created and produced by The Foundation, which is part of the

RDF Media Banijay (formerly Banijay Entertainment and later Banijay Group) is a French television production and distribution company which is the world's largest international content producer and distributor with over 120 production companies across 22 ...

group, the programme combines footage of real animals with

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

. The visual effects were created by Ian Carley, at iCarley Media, and James Kearsley, at JK Studios, using 450 individual shots of talking animals. The Executive Producer for Cbeebies was Sarah Colclough. The set was created around a flint stable block and a barn which were not part of a real working farm. The animals lived on set or nearby during filming. The production filmed at Stede Court Estate near

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. A

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

of Big Barn Farm, titled "Welcome to Big Barn Farm" was released on 17 November 2008.

Episodes

Academic analysis

Professor Steven Fielding of the University of Nottingham analyses the political themes of the episode 'Lester the Leader' in his 2014 work 'A State of Play' which examines how people's views on politics are constructed by fictional representations of politics.See Fielding, S. (2014) 'A State of Play', London: Bloomsbury, p1-3

References

External links

* {{BBC programme * http://www.bigbarnfarm.com/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20080611095807/http://www.foundationtv.co.uk/images/bigbarnfarmhold.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20081210232204/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/bigbarnfarm/ * http://www.bbcshop.com/Children's/Welcome-To-Big-Barn-Farm-DVD/invt/2edvd0313 2000s British children's television series 2010s British children's television series 2008 British television series debuts 2010 British television series endings BBC children's television shows British preschool education television series Fictional farms British television series with live action and animation Television series about mammals Television shows set in England English-language television shows CBeebies