In The Night Garden - a guide (part 1)
In The Night Garden is a series first broadcast in 2007 on CBeebies, aimed at those jaded, old-before-their-time babies whose televisual palates have grown weary with traditional conventions of plot, narrative dynamics, physics and consistent scale.
The programme stars an unemployed matador, Igglepiggle -
- who lives in a wood, like a bear or a tramp.
Why did Igglepiggle lose his job? In The Night Garden isn't big on backstory, but we can guess it has something to do with his terrible brain condition. Note his characteristic 'bean-shaped' head:
The damage is clear on this MRI image:
We can see how both the frontal and temporal lobes on the right-hand side of the brain are 'squished' inwards, putting enormous pressure on the amygdala. Igglepiggle is a textbook case of 'Stoved-in Syndrome', and exhibits typical symptoms: cheerfulness, forgetfulness, repetitive behaviour, arithmomania, and auditory hallucinations of the voice of Derek Jacobi questioning his every action. None of these qualities are welcome in the demanding workplace of the modern bullring.
In The Night Garden is produced by Ragdoll Productions and written by the ghost of Dennis Potter.
Read part 2 - Makka Pakka and Upsy Daisy
Read part 3 - the Tombliboos
Read part 4 - the Ninky Nonk and the Pinky Ponk
Read part 5 - Derek Jacobi
Read part 6 - the Pontipines and the Wottingers
Read part 7 - Shunka Warak'in
The programme stars an unemployed matador, Igglepiggle -
- who lives in a wood, like a bear or a tramp.
Why did Igglepiggle lose his job? In The Night Garden isn't big on backstory, but we can guess it has something to do with his terrible brain condition. Note his characteristic 'bean-shaped' head:
The damage is clear on this MRI image:
We can see how both the frontal and temporal lobes on the right-hand side of the brain are 'squished' inwards, putting enormous pressure on the amygdala. Igglepiggle is a textbook case of 'Stoved-in Syndrome', and exhibits typical symptoms: cheerfulness, forgetfulness, repetitive behaviour, arithmomania, and auditory hallucinations of the voice of Derek Jacobi questioning his every action. None of these qualities are welcome in the demanding workplace of the modern bullring.
In The Night Garden is produced by Ragdoll Productions and written by the ghost of Dennis Potter.
Read part 2 - Makka Pakka and Upsy Daisy
Read part 3 - the Tombliboos
Read part 4 - the Ninky Nonk and the Pinky Ponk
Read part 5 - Derek Jacobi
Read part 6 - the Pontipines and the Wottingers
Read part 7 - Shunka Warak'in