''Windfalls'' is a British

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

-animated

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

created, written, and directed by Jenny Kenna. The ''Windfalls'' stories teach children about reading signs in nature, herbal medicine, and the plants of the British countryside. All of the animated characters are real leaves, grasses, and

pressed flowers is the art of using pressed flowers and other botanical materials to create an entire picture from these natural elements. Such pressed flower art consists of drying flower petals and leaves in a flower press to flatten them, exclude light an ...

. The stories follow three friends: Berry, Butterbur, and Rosebay. They are Windfalls, and they live in Windfall Land. They meet many other Windfalls on their adventures. The programme features a cast of 21 supporting characters, each designed from a different plant: Daisy, Evening Primrose, Pampas, Fern Polypody, Thistle, Cowslip, Delphinium, Uncle Onion, Cornflower, Lucky Four Leaf Clover, Vi, Ola, Pansy, Bella Donna, Twitch Grass, Couch Grass, Holly, Ivy, Nettle, Dock, and Daffodil. ''Windfalls'' was produced by

FilmFair FilmFair was a British production company and animation studio that produced children's television series, animated cartoons, educational films, and television advertisements. The company made numerous stop motion films using puppets, clay animat ...

and

Central Independent Television ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the rest ...

for ITV; it premiered on 14 April 1989, and ran for 26 episodes. Two episodes were transmitted back-to-back for each broadcast. When the series was syndicated on other networks, such as the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owne ...

in Australia,

Knowledge Network Knowledge Network, also branded as British Columbia's Knowledge Network, is a Canadian publicly funded educational cable television network serving the province of British Columbia. It is owned by the Knowledge Network Corporation, a Crown cor ...

and TVO in Canada, Channel 5 in Singapore and

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the ...

's Channel 2 in New Zealand, the episodes were broadcast singly. The series was also broadcast on the military channel

BFBS The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) provides radio and television programmes for His Majesty's Armed Forces, and their dependents worldwide. Editorial control is independent of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces themselv ...

in Germany as well as in several countries including Cyprus and Falkland Islands but with the series transmitted back to back with two episodes just like its original UK television airings. The programme was animated by Isabelle Perrichon, who later worked on the FilmFair

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have eith ...

'' Rod 'n' Emu'' (1991).

Episodes

*Fine Weather Friend *Bella Donna *An Evening with Primrose *Rosebay Needs a Home *The Wild Ones *Nettle and Dock *Pampas *Weather Signs *Springtime *Flying Flowers *Green with Envy *Creatures of the Night *Cowslip Needs Protection *The String *Light and Shade *Honey Day *Lucky Scarecrows *Country Cousins *The Oak Tree *Butterbur’s Marsh *Brumble Shrub *The Red Toadstool *Autumn Changes *The Invader *Winter in Windfall Land

Home releases

Little Croft Studios distributed 18 of the 26 episodes of the series on three VHS

videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videoca ...

s, sold separately. Each volume has six stories: ;''Learn to Love Nature with the Windfalls'' :"Light and Shade", "The Oak Tree", "The Red Toadstool", "Autumn in Windfall Land", "The Invaders", "Winter in Windfall Land" ;''Learn to Love the Countryside with the Windfalls'' :"Country Cousins", "Weather Signs", "Lucky", "Flying Flowers", "Bramble Shrub", "Nettle and Dock" ;''Learn to Love the Flowers and the Trees with the Windfalls'' :"Fine Weather Friend", "Bella Donna", "An Evening with Primrose", "Butterbur's Marsh", "Cowslip Needs Protection", "Honey Day"

Notes

References

''Windfalls''
at the

BFI Film & TV Database The BFI Film & TV Database (ftvdb) is an online database created by the British Film Institute containing information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual e ...

. Retrieved 4 January 2013. . Retrieved 4 January 2013. *. Retrieved 4 January 2013.

External links

''Windfalls''
an episode guide at Toonarific. Retrieved 6 January 2013. {{FilmFair 1989 British television series debuts 1989 British television series endings 1980s British children's television series British children's animated adventure television series ITV children's television shows British English-language television shows British stop-motion animated television series Television series by FilmFair Television series by DHX Media Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Central Independent Television 1980s British animated television series ITV animated television series