Les animaux du bois des Quat'Sous

"The Animals Of Farthing Wood" is a real classic and wont be forgotten. It's animation is unique and people of all ages can relate to the characters. The program was watched by thousands of youngsters all over the country and everyone of my generation will remember it forever.

I remembered loving (and being disturbed as well) "The Animals of Farthing Wood" as a kid. At 17, I still love it, it is truly a great show for kids and adults that teaches very good life lessons without preaching. I for one liked the animation style, the look of it reminded me of "Watership Down" which is one of my favourite films. The backgrounds are nice and evergreen, the colours are beautiful and the character features were excellent. The music was amazing, I have always loved the main theme. The characters are endearing and all had unique personalities, particularly Fox, Weasel, Toad and Adder, and the story lines are gripping, intelligent and well done. The voice acting is impressive too, Rupert Farley, Susan Jefferson and Ron Moody all do a stellar job. Is there a drawback? Maybe a small one, the third series wasn't as compelling as the first two series, but it was watchable and ended more than decently. All in all, this is a great show, maybe with one or two minor discrepancies but it is definitely worth the look and I recommend it strongly. 10/10 Bethany Cox

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*

I watched the Animals of Farthing Wood a lot when I was growing up, and while admittedly I've forgotten a lot of the story lines and such, much of it has stuck with me.

One of things I enjoyed most about the show were the characters. There was a huge range of woodland creatures, all of which had their own personality, little background stories and theire own relationships with certain other characters in the group. The smaller animals were always very timid and would always try and protect their families. Adder (who had a darkside to her, always ready to eat the rodents) had a grudging, but quite close friendship with Owl, and Badger played as adviser to the lead role, Fox. And of course there was the close bond between Badger and Mole.

The other thing that strikes you about the show however, is the way the characters develop, sometimes get killed and eventually grow old and die, something which you don't see a lot in children's TV. I remember being pretty traumatised when Moley died as it was totally unexpected. And after that, you could see his close friend Badger slowly delapidate and die of old age, another truly sad moment. But then there were also the fantastic moments, like when the group at last reach White Deer Park and it seems as if they have come to a happy ending and when Fox and Vixen finally have their litter of fox cubs, who we in turn watch grow into adolescent foxes.

It is a truly great show and is reminiscent of Watership Down. The varying story lines, character development and relationships and decent animation make this more than just a kids cartoon.

I grew up with the animals of farthing wood I don't know how i would have turned out if i hadn't had the ultimate joy of experiencing it.

I have all 3 series on video as well all the original books and all the magazines too.

I still watch them now and again and they still have that same wonderful effect on me. I love the characters so much. There's so much you can relate to in the story; you have the fear of something, courage to stand up, forbidden love, rebelling against your parents and most especially friendship and looking after others.

I thing i didn't like about the series is that in series 2 and more noticeably in series 3 the animals movement became more cartoon like and less animal like, so you have fox giving a big over dramatic yawn, then noticing that owls there suddenly sits up with big shocked eyes, it's just very unanimal-like. I think that because of this some of the animals like mosey lost their adroability when they became more cartoon like.

Either way though it was a fantastic show and i want the complete set to come out on DVD - it would be soooooo much handier than video.

I know many Brits grew up with this show, so it's a fond childhood memory for them, and if that's the case for you then by all means take a trip down memory lane.

If (like me) you read the books first and then found this series, I'd recommend skipping it.

My 5 star rating is generous, and based on the first season alone. Season 1 covers the book 'The Animals Of Farthing Wood', and with the exception of a few gender swaps (which I understand would've been to attract more female viewers) it is a fairly accurate representation and decent viewing.

Season 2 is based on the books 'In The Grip of Winter', 'Fox's Feud' and 'Fox Cub Bold', and here's where things start to fall apart. Characters that survive the entire book series are killed off while characters that are killed off in the books survive the whole series.

Season 3 is based on the books 'In The Path of the Storm' and 'Battle For The Park' (with a tiny hint of 'The Siege of White Deer Park') and it's pure rubbish.

Weasel (with her insanely annoying voice) is promoted to main character for some reason. The plot BARELY resembles the source material, and begins to contradict itself. Characters go missing for no reason. I could go on...

Bottom line, if you want to read a wonderful series I couldn't recommend the books by Colin Dann more than I already do...just make sure not to watch this series directly afterwards.