In the Night Garden...

Like any caring family member, I'm concerned about what my niece watches and what lessons she is learning especially at such a young age. I outright refuse to allow my Sister (her mum) to put anything on I consider wasteful and generally trash (cough spongebob cough).

I'm going to out right admit that at first I hated the Idea of ITNG until I actually saw the effect the show has on my niece. She is literally Mesemerized by the show, and sitting with her watching it I can see why.

The whole point of this show is not to be witty, educational or have some deeper meaning to it; it's simply there so parent/child, family/child can watch the show together for half an hour of calming TV before bedtime. All in all I believe my niece loves it so much because its really the time she gets to relax and enjoy being a kid.

I'm sorry, but If you are forcing your child to watch educational shows or learn something every minute of the day, you are awful, awful parents. You can't cram knowledge into your kids and expect them to retain everything. Is that how you learnt as a child? Relentless, unforgiving absorption of knowledge? Like hell you did.

The calm, quiet breaks and relaxing nature of ITNG are the periods that lets kids process the information they have learnt without burdening them with more things to try learn and understand. Stop forcing your own social inadequacies on your kids, and just sit back and enjoy some good old magical adventure with some colourful and enjoyable characters to watch. It's fun, you can sing along and generally enjoy being with your family without having to think about anything. And played about an hour before bedtime makes the task so much easier. I'd much rather put my niece to bed after watching half an hour of this peaceful, calming, magical TV show than force another round of learning to count/read/dance/understand the importance of the race-class divide in modern America (aka Sesame Street).

I will concede the education aspects are lacking (hence 8 stars). So here's a solution: don't have it be the Only show your kids get to watch. But don't dismiss it either simply on face value, because I can tell you; you'd be missing out otherwise.

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand In the Night Garden. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Makka Pakka's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation - his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realize that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike In the Night Garden truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Lord Pakka's existencial catchphrase "Makka Pakka," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Andrew Davenport's genius unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools... how I pity them. 😂 And yes by the way, I DO have an In The Night Garden tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.

Our 2 year old niece recently started watching this program on BBC 2 and is loving every minute of it. There are not many children's programs that allow a child to sit and watch in complete silence for half an hour and be completely engrossed in it.

Derek Jacobi is a wonderful narrator and has a perfect gentle voice for a program like this.

The characters and the models are very well done and a lot of time and creativity has been put into thinking about creating unique characters and locations unlike any other children's program. The seamless transition of CG and real world sets are very well done and makes it a joy for even adults to watch and enjoy.

I can recommend this children's program for any child 1 to 3 years old and it is gentle and calm in every way a children's program should be.

Who said children need to be educated 100% of the time? This show is just 100% entertainment for children, which is fine. They love it, I love it, it's great. Kids don't need to be taught something every minute of every day. What's wrong with the wonder and fantasy that this brilliant show brings? Let the children be children and enjoy the adventures. On a different note, if there's one thing I don't like about the show, it's the repetition. Too much of the same thing too often (the Ponti-Pines for example). Still, apart from that, the fantasy setting works extremely well, making me wonder where it's shot: must be someplace very beautiful, that's for sure!

This is a very strange show from an adult perspective, but after watching the entire first series, you actually start to like the characters and see far more depth than at first glance. However if you are aged 1-3, you will love this programme from the opening credits. The nursery rhyme theme tune and beautiful animation makes you actually take notice from the get-go.

The programme deals with a magical garden, that can only be visited at night, once you are asleep. There are several characters, but Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy and Makka Pakka are the one you see most often. All of them have their own song that they sing when they appear on the screen, making them even more endearing to the younger viewer.

There is no real message or moral to each episode, just a lovely adventure for the viewer, young and old, to enjoy each time you visit the Night Garden.

I love this show and so does my 2 and a half year old daughter. I would recommend to anyone with tiny children.