The Animals of Farthing Wood



The Animals of Farthing Wood was an Animated Series on The BBC, based on a series of seven books by Colin Dann, who later added a prequel to the list. The series lasted from January, 1992 to December, 1995. A total of 39 episodes in three seasons.

It followed a collection of animals from Farthing Wood, which was being destroyed by humans to build houses. The animals fled the wood as a group, led by Fox, in order to reach the sanctuary of White Deer Park, a nature reserve where they would be safe from humans. They swore the Oath of Mutual Protection, where they promised not to eat, bully or harm each other along the way. The journey was full of danger, and many animals lost their lives.

The second and third series followed the adventures after journey's end, as the animals settled into White Deer Park. Naturally of course the adventures did not end there, and many White Deer Park animals joined the cast at this point.

The series is sometimes better remembered as Farthing Wood Friends due to the popular tie-in magazine that came out during the run of the show.

Unusually, the Series was produced in collaboration with the European Broadcast Union (who are more famous for the annual Eurovision Song Contest), and dubbed into a multitude of other languages.

There were also a PC game based on the series and a set of audio tapes where a few of the main cast (Fox, Badger, Toad, Owl and Weasel) told the story of their journey to Fox's young cubs while Vixen was out hunting. Neither of these are easy to find anymore.

As of May 27, 2011, the DVD's of season 1 and 2 have been released in Germany.

"Plucky: Great landing! You almost missed me!"
 * Achilles in His Tent: The fact that both Owl and Weasel left White Deer Park was specifically what gave, mainly because they were the swiftest and most effective hunters of small mammals.
 * Acrophobic Bird: Whistler. It's not that he is afraid of heights, but in season one,
 * It's because he was once shot in the wing while he was flying. The bullet made a hole in the wing feathers, so a whistling sound is made when the air passes through it as he flies, hence the name "Whistler".
 * Action Girl: Vixen and Whisper.
 * In the books,
 * Also, Adder, in a sneaky sort of way.
 * Adaptation Distillation: The series is very true to the original books, with the small matter that Adder, Weasel, Owl and Kestrel were originally male, and that Weasel in the books was a straight-arrow helpful ally, rather than the Spoony Bard most know her as in the show.
 * Season 3 generally took more liberties with the source material, including sparing a few characters who died in the books, and skipping out one installment (The Siege of White Deer Park) altogether. At this point the censors were beginning to get stricter over what they would allow children to see, so the especially violent content in The Siege of White Deer Park would have no longer been considered acceptable. Also explains the Lighter and Softer nature of the 3rd season.
 * Adaptation Dye Job: A curious case with the foxes of White Deer Park. They were ordinary red foxes in the book but made into blue foxes in the cartoon (presumably to distinguish them from the Farthing Wood foxes).
 * Animals Are Bastards: While the humans' portrayal is less then flattering, the animals in the story are more capable of racism, vengeance and hatred than the humans.
 * Animal Stereotypes
 * Animal Talk
 * Animated Adaptation
 * Annoying Laugh: Weasel
 * Anthropomorphic Shift: Subtle, but compare Weasel's actions and movements between Seasons 1 and 2, and eventually more of them in Season 3 where the animation turned a teeny bit sloppy.
 * Anyone Can Die: Quite a lot of the main cast were killed off as the series went on.
 * Including at least one character that didn't die in the books.
 * Ascended Extra: Scarface's mate was just a minor character in the book but is given a much more prominent role in the TV series as well as getting a name (Lady Blue).
 * Asskicking Equals Authority: Fox. In season one,  In season 2,
 * Fox was also made the leader of the Farthing Wood animals because he's the most cunning and one of the most physically capable of them.
 * A Storm Is Coming: The hurricane in season 3
 * Badass Mustache: Sinuous takes the cake with this one, emulating a Clark Gable style with his nasal markings.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Badger is usually the nicest animal of the Farthing Wood group, but if you try to hurt or kidnap his friends, the results would get ugly.
 * Big Friendly Dog: Rollo
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Brother Chuck: Kestrel was dropped between Seasons 2 and 3, without so much as a mention. (In fairness, the same thing happened around this point in the books.)
 * Friendly appeared in the second episode of Season 3, only to be completely absent for the remainder of the series.
 * By Season 3, most of the entire blue fox clan (except Ranger and occasional other background extras) seemed to have disappeared.
 * This was the fate awaiting a lot of the more minor characters who were not "officially" killed off. Mr. Fieldmouse simply disappeared midway through the second season, while Mr. Hare and Mr. Rabbit were both gone by Season 3, to be replaced by their descendants.
 * Captain Crash: Whistler. He even lands so badly, everyone takes cover when he's going to land - not that it helps. He almost always falls on top of someone. Fox even mentions: 'When you and Speedy get cubs... please let her teach them how to fly.'
 * Captain Crash: Whistler. He even lands so badly, everyone takes cover when he's going to land - not that it helps. He almost always falls on top of someone. Fox even mentions: 'When you and Speedy get cubs... please let her teach them how to fly.'

"Hurkel: "I'm kind." Bully: "Who am I?" Weasel: Her annoying laugh, and "Measly twerp!" when she's talking to Measly. Rollo: "I'm useless!" Mrs Rabbit: "Don't panic!" At which point the rabbits usually start panicking. Mr Hedgehog: "I'll second that!" Mr Hare: "Excuse me!" Crow: "Thank your lucky stars!""
 * Carnivore Confusion: Averted by the Oath of Mutual Protection the animals take and, even after the need for it has gone, uphold out of the fact they've known each other far too long as allies.
 * Although once they reach White Deer Park, the carnivorous animals have the full right to eat non-Farthing Wood animals, which Adder in particular was happy to take advantage of (even over Toad's protests when she started eating some of the frogs he had befriended).
 * Cartoony Tail: the foxes have beautifal red/blue tails, but you don't see any gray parts in it, which is common with real life foxes.
 * Catch Phrase:

"Fox: "But I promise you one thing. I will defend you to the last.""
 * Cats Are Mean: The Warden's Cat
 * The warden's cat had shades of grey...appropriately enough, since he's a grey-coloured kitty.
 * Somewhat subverted with Tom, a cat in Season 1 who is friendly to Fox when he requests "sanctuary", but who does nonetheless seem happy to later see the back of him.
 * Combat by Champion: Fox vs. Scarface.
 * This is also a fine case of This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself.
 * Conspicuously Light Patch: Averted by having certain objects painted on the animation cels so that they were used without being conspicuous beforehand.
 * Cunning Like a Fox: Take a wild guess.
 * Cute but Cacophonic: Weasel
 * Darker and Edgier: Subverted. Though the books Siege of White Deer Park, In the Path of the Storm and Battle for the Park are written as darker than the others, Season 3 (which was adapted from the mentioned books) was toned down considerably, and it and left out the Siege of White Deer Park storyline entirely.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Ranger, and ultimately Adder.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Adder. Also Measly and the rabbits.
 * Death by Adaptation:.
 * Death Is Dramatic: So, so true. Biggest examples are
 * Determinator: Most of the Farthing Wood animals have had their faltering moments, except Fox. In every dangerous situation in the series, he usually leaps in to rescue one of his friends  at the risk of his very life, even a duel to the death with Scarface.

"Vixen: "You sound just like Scarface.""
 * Dirty Coward: The rabbits almost drown Fox by overweighing him to cross through a river.
 * Disneyfication: especially season 3.
 * Driven to Suicide: The  towards the end of season 1,
 * Dogs Are Dumb: The farmer's dog.
 * A Dog Named "Dog": Nice: Fox, Badger, Weasel, Kestrel, Owl, Fieldmice, Hare, Rabbit, Adder and more...
 * Practically every member of the original group is named this way, sometimes with a Mr or Mrs tacked on.
 * Drama-Preserving Handicap: Bold gets shot in the ass, literally.
 * Dumb Muscle:
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: Crowning example. Except for Season 3.
 * Since Season 3 is the grand finale for the series as a whole and seemingly ends on a more uplifting note than the previous two (or at least before anything else bad occurs to taint it) it may still count.
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite the face that Scarface
 * Everything Trying to Kill You: The animals endure many hazards during their journey from drought, crossing roads, fire, angry farmers, crossing a river, the butcher bird, hunters and more humans.
 * Even White Deer Park is not safe in Seasons 2 and 3. They also endure a harsh winter, deer hunters, Scarface, a horde of rats, a poisoned stream and a hurricane.
 * For Bold, nothing is safe outside White Deer Park.
 * Evil Albino: Bully
 * Evil Poacher
 * Extreme Melee Revenge:
 * Eye Scream: Bold is seemingly blinded in one eye when he frees Shadow from a gamekeeper's trap by biting through the wires which then hits him in the face. He is left with a permenant scar across his eyelid afterwards.
 * The Faceless: Surpringly averted. In the common low-quality version of Farthing Wood that has spread throughout the internet, (including Youtube and a torrent) many people thought that humans didn't have faces. However, the DVDs, which are much higher quality, clearly show faces -
 * Famed in Story: The Farthing Wood animals. By the time they arrive at White Deer Park, the Great White Stag already knows who they are, and Bold later went to a lot of effort to escape his father's rather large shadow.
 * Family-Unfriendly Violence: PLENTY, a crowning example even. For a show during primetime viewing for children, there's a lot of animals being shot, impaled, crushed, run over, mauled, necksnapped, caught in traps, and several other unpleasantly realistic moments.
 * However, some of the deaths ARE given Gory Discretion Shots, such as . Regardless, the show leaves VERY little to the imagination.
 * Fast Tunnelling: Of all the animals, Mole is the best tunneller.
 * Fantastic Racism: The blue foxes towards the red foxes and, even more blatantly, Fox's own reaction upon learning of Charmer and Ranger's relationship, which even Vixen notes:

"Rollo:"
 * Fan Sequel: Fan sequels based on Farthing Wood can be found on several websites.
 * One of them is a psychological action thriller based on Ao FW.
 * Another one tells the story that Scarface kidnaps Charmer.
 * etc, etc...
 * Fear Is the Appropriate Response: Even though he's the bravest of all the animals, and without a doubt the heroic leader, Fox has fled in absolute terror from only two things - fire and fox hunters.
 * Thankfully he fights BOTH fears quite quickly for the sake of his friends. He runs straight towards the marshfire to save Toad from burning alive, as well as even.
 * Feuding Families: The red foxes and blue foxes.
 * The Film of the Book: TV-series, actually.
 * Frothy Mugs of Water: Surprisingly averted. In Season 1 when Badger and Weasel are hiding in a cellar, Weasel gets heavily drunk on wine, even suffering a hangover after sleeping it off.
 * Furries Are Easier to Draw: Humans appear just a few times in the series, and when they do, you mostly only see their legs. When we do see their faces, it's in an extremely low quality.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: Scarface. Bold also gets his own (collection of) scars.
 * Gender Flip: Adder, Owl, Weasel and presumably Kestrel were all originally male in the stories. In lieu of Adder's gender flip, Sinuous was originally female. Owl's mate Holly from the books was also gender flipped, becoming Hollow.
 * Interestingly, though Kestrel is female in the show, she sports the more colourful plumage of a male Kestrel.
 * Gone Horribly Wrong: In season 2, Fox
 * In the books,
 * Happy Ending Override: The animals went to the park to be safe,
 * Harmless Villain:
 * Averted in the books, the were less cartoony and much more sinister in Battle for the Park. They killed  The cartoon writers had to tone down the deaths by sparing  in season 3 because they felt that the kids would be traumatised over killing off the.
 * Heel Face Turn: Spike, in Season 3. Originally The Mole, until he decides that he prefers Toad's friendship to Bully's intimidation.
 * The Hero Dies:
 * Hero-Killer: Both the blue foxes in season 2 and the rats in season 3.
 * Heroes Want Redheads: A peculiar animal kingdom example with Ranger. He opts for Charmer (a red fox) instead of a female blue fox.
 * Heroic Albino: The Great White Stag.
 * Heroic Dog: Averted. Rollo is just dumb, and when he tries to be heroic, he gets scared within 2 seconds.
 * Heroic Dog: Averted. Rollo is just dumb, and when he tries to be heroic, he gets scared within 2 seconds.

"Bold: Whisper:"
 * He fights alongside the animals against the rats in season 3, if that counts.
 * Heroic Sociopath: Adder.
 * Hopeless War: Many animals lose hope fighting the rats in season 3.
 * Humiliation Conga: Scarface.
 * Bully didn't die in the animated series, but
 * Humanity Is Superior: ...and Humans Are the Real Monsters. This is a big problem.
 * Humans Are the Real Monsters: For the most part, except for the Warden and the Firefighters. Fox also notes how humans can be both bastards AND kindhearted when he tells how fox hunters go home to look after their horses and dogs after a day out trying to murder his kind.
 * The chicken farmer who opted to leave Bold be when he noticed he was crippled was, by the standards of the show, pretty merciful.
 * Humans Are Cthulhu: Big time.
 * I Am What I Am: Bold tries to get away from his 'proud heroic father', as he doesn't like being the big badass' son and wants to be his own fox.

"Vixen:"
 * If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him: This is why Fox

""How about we do us all a favor and give him the slip? Mole is slow, stupid and tasteless.''"
 * I Just Want to Be Normal:
 * In the beginning of season 2,
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: The rats. Definitely.
 * Infant Immortality: Averted, VERY MUCH SO. Cubs and other baby animals are never safe.
 * It's All About Me: The male pheasant grieves over for roughly two seconds before immediately despairing over how he'll be able to live without her constant servitude to him.
 * Jerkass: Mr. Pheasant, big time. Also, Trey the new royal stag from season 3,
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Adder is vicious, callous and unsympathetic, yet her later actions show that deep down she really is good-hearted. Over time her negative qualities subside a bit and she becomes more outwardly sentimental.
 * Instant Death Bullet: Every bullet that hit an animal
 * Karmic Death: Towards the end of season 2,
 * Keep Circulating the Tapes: The only way to watch the English version is to watch it on Youtube or download the torrent - it's in a real bad shape, as it was ripped from a damaged videotape.
 * The German version has been released on DVD, as was the French first season.
 * The Dutch version is considered to be lost, or being kept by the NOS (Netherlands Broadcasting Station), who were the ones that showed the series in the Netherlands.
 * It is no longer necessary, as the series has been released on 27 May 2011 in a German+English set (season 1 and 2), which is now available on amazon.de
 * Killed Off for Real: Many, many examples.
 * Large Ham: Loads. Owl, Weasel, Rabbit, to name a few. Though the largest ham of all has got to be Bully, to the point that it's rather bizarre.
 * Leitmotif
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: Let's be completists here. There was Fox, Badger, Mole, Owl, Kestrel, Toad, the Rabbits, the Hares, the Squirrels, the Fieldmice, the Voles, the Shrews, Adder, Sinuous, Weasel, the Pheasants, the Hedgehogs, the Newts, Vixen, Whistler, Speedy, Measley, Edible Frogs, Paddock, Mateless, White Stag, Trey, Scarface, Lady Blue, Bounder, Ranger, Charmer, Dreamer, Friendly, Bold, Whisper...and that's just the main characters.
 * Love Martyr: Measly the male weasel, he would do anything to get Weasel to love him back even if it means getting themselves into trouble.
 * Maternally Challenged: Weasel does not make a good mother to her kids in season 3. Whenever her playful kids get into trouble, she always put her blame on Measly.
 * Meaningful Name: All of the character have meaningful names. Fox, Adder, Badger and all other animals, that have been named after their own species is of course meaningful. Other characters have names related to their personality: Bold was a bold person, Friendly was (usually) friendly, Whisper got her name from the fact that she could hunt very quietly, Whistler makes a whistling noise when he flies, and so forth.
 * Mickey Mousing: By the bucketloads. EVERY character had their own walking theme. Weasel's was a cheerily annoying flute, Adder's was a low xylophone, the rodents were a high xylophone, Toad's was some sort of bass brass, Mole was tinkly and like a triangle, and Whistler was of course whistling
 * A Million Is a Statistic: No one cares about the hundreds, if not thousands of dead rats, right?
 * Misplaced Wildlife: The blue foxes, not usually found in Europe. Then there's the Wild Boar.
 * The blue foxes were more a case of Color-Coded for Your Convenience given that, in the original books, they were ordinary red foxes.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: Pheasant's feelings in general when his wife is shot and roasted for dinner by the farmer, because she took up the sentry duty he lazily neglected.
 * Also Kestrel at the beginning of Season 2, when she kills a fieldmouse that turns out to have been one of her own travelling party.
 * And a little later on, when she injures the Warden's Cat as a result of a complete misunderstanding.
 * Also in Season 2, Owl, when she mistakenly believes that some information she'd withheld about the poachers has led to the death of Fox.
 * Never Say "Die": Heavily averted—this was before the era where 'kill' was considered a dirty word. So in other words, it was used all the time. Same with words like 'blood', 'dead', 'death', and even outright death THREATS.
 * Fox even
 * No Fourth Wall: Adder occasionally makes comments to the audience as something of a very small Greek Chorus.
 * No One Gets Left Behind: In season 3,
 * Now You Tell Me: Weasel tells Fox what Scarface is up to...
 * To be fair, she did try to warn them beforehand, but nobody believed her because....it's Weasel.
 * The Owl-Knowing One
 * Passing the Torch: Fox makes Plucky the new leader in the finale.
 * Pass the Popcorn: In episode 8 of Season 1,
 * Peaceful in Death:
 * Pet the Dog: To some extent, Adder.
 * After spending 36 episodes being a twerp and abusing her mate, Weasel expresses capability of compassion and consideration when Big Snorter's wife dies.
 * Phrase Catcher: "Shut up, Weasel!"
 * Plot Tailored to the Party: A couple of examples.
 * Season 1:
 * Season 2:
 * Season 3:
 * Pyrrhic Victory: Season 2
 * Put on a Bus: The newts, who deliberately split from the rest of the group in Episode Three of Season 1. A subsequent Bus Crash is heavily implied.
 * "Previously On..."
 * Quirky Miniboss Squad: Bully appears to have the same idiots around him almost all of the time.
 * The Faceless: Do we actually know what the Warden looks like?
 * The Warden's face was only shown in 'Animals of Farthing Wood' Buzz Books series which are meant for younger readers.
 * Virtually all humans featured are like this. The sole exception in the first series is the priest at the wedding when he gets knocked down, which is the closest you ever get to seeing a human face.
 * The Renaissance Age of Animation: Farthing Wood wasn't the only popular animated TV series in the 90s.
 * Rain, Rain, Go Away: On two occasions, the animals were forced to seek shelter from heavy rain even though some of them (lookin' at you, Toad) were delighted by it - once in a barn, and once in a church. Both occasions ended badly, although the church less so.
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Subverted eventually by Adder, although it takes a lot of character development to reach that point.
 * Resigned to the Call: When Badger nominates Fox to lead everyone, he responds with "Thanks a bundle, Badger."
 * Resistance Is Futile: Harmless|Villains.
 * The Runaway: Bold
 * At the end of season 2, He's Back...
 * Sarcasm Mode: Fox's original English dub sounds like he talks in perpetual Sarcasm Mode.
 * Small Annoying Creature: Weasel.
 * The Smart Guy: Owl.
 * Sssssnaketalk: Adder and Sinuous.
 * Snow Means Death:
 * Somebody Else's Problem: In season 3,
 * And where the heck are the blue foxes?
 * Spared by the Adaptation:
 * Species Surname: Most of the original animals' names were simply their species; e.g., "Fox", "Badger" or "Weasel". Their descendants had original names, however. Naturally there were headaches caused when Colin Dann, the author of the series, wrote a prequel; the eventual explanation was that, as there were more animals about in the generation before that of the original book, they all had a Species Surname plus some sort of adjective, such as Lean Fox and Stout Fox.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: Charmer and Ranger, whose fathers are enemies.
 * Story Arc: Many, particularly in Season 3.
 * Surrounded by Idiots: Bully certainly is. A Dutch saying says it all: "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Hurkel of Season 3, who was essentially there to fill the gap left by Badger.
 * Talking to Himself: Many of the characters are voiced by a handful of people - for instance many of the characters' children share the same voice actors as their parents.
 * Take Your Time: Subverted in every event in the series. If they waited longer, it would result in their deaths.
 * Team Dad: Badger
 * Team Mom: Vixen at times.
 * Temporary Deafness: Owl becomes deaf after sitting near a church bell.
 * Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: The vixens (Vixen, Whisper, Charmer, Dreamer) have 'hair' that resemble human headdresses.
 * The Hyena: Weasel.
 * The Load: Mole, who spends several episodes in season 1 getting lost from his greediness for worms, is almost captured by humans and gets into enough trouble that Badger or some other animal has to rescue him.
 * And, of course, Adder, true to her Genre Savvy nature, Lampshades this in the very first episode!
 * The Load: Mole, who spends several episodes in season 1 getting lost from his greediness for worms, is almost captured by humans and gets into enough trouble that Badger or some other animal has to rescue him.
 * And, of course, Adder, true to her Genre Savvy nature, Lampshades this in the very first episode!


 * Toad to a certain extent; though to be fair, he is small, needs water to keep himself fresh and has homing instincts from waking up in spring.
 * This Is Sparta:
 * Thoroughly Mistaken Identity: Badger and Mole/Mossy, played rather sweetly when Mossy pretends to be his father
 * Token Evil Teammate: Adder
 * Too Dumb to Live: Rollo and the rats.
 * Took a Level In Kindness: Adder, most definitely.
 * Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty: The rats.
 * Turn Out Like His Father: No matter how much Bold tries to distance himself from Fox's legacy, he eventually comes to accept that he shares a lot of traits with him. In fact, Bold and Fox occasionally share each others lines!
 * Unholy Matrimony: Scarface and Lady Blue.
 * Unusual Animal Alliance: We should make it the trope namer.
 * Violence Is the Only Option: In season 2, Fox doesn't want to fight Scarface... but he eventually has to.
 * Weasel Mascot: Not this one.
 * We Hardly Knew Ye: Numerous examples.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: Bold. When he finally does get his father's genuine love and respect...
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Bold.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Rats, with the eventual exception of Spike, are the villains of Season 3 (as well as the de facto choice of prey for the Farthing Wood predators in Seasons 1 and 2). The Shrike (or Butcher Bird) of Season 1 is depicted as a coarse and unpleasant character, in contrast with the nobler likes of similarly predatory birds Owl, Kestrel and Whistler (possibly due to his particular method of storing his prey - by impaling the carcasses on thorn bushes). Also, weasels here are comical and lovable, but to get rid of the slightly bigger stoat would, according to Fox, "be doing the park a favour."
 * Woodland Creatures: Duh! Just look at the title!
 * Worlds Smallest Violin: While it's not a tiny violin, Rabbit does pick up a stick and mock-play sad violin music when Mr. Pheasant starts to get a bit theatrical about "when one has faced death as often as me" before leaving back to the farm to help Adder find her way to the others. True enough, Mr. Pheasant just lost his wife to the farmer's gun, but the general opinion of his established character is that he's all too concerned in himself.
 * Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Lady Blue, after she gets wounded.
 * Xenofiction
 * You Dirty Rat