Classic book to tv animation

I missed the lead up to this one. The BBC has made a Bottersnikes & Gumbles tv series. I read all of S.A. Wakefield’s books, and have a paperback copy of the first – “Bottersnikes and Gumbles”.

Bottersnikes and Gumbles are fictitious creatures in a series of children's books by Australian author S.A. Wakefield and illustrator Desmond Digby (who died in April this year, Wakefield died in 2009). Four books were published between 1967 and 1989. The series is a classic of Australian children's literature.

Deep in the bush live some very strange creatures ...

Bottersnikes live in rubbish heaps along dusty roadsides in the lonely Australian bush. They have green wrinkly skin, cheese grater noses and long, pointed ears that go red when they are angry. Which is most of the time.

Giggling Gumbles live in the bush, too. They are cheerful little creatures who can be squashed into all sorts of shapes, but cannot pop back into their proper shape unless helped. This makes the friendly Gumbles useful to the lazy Bottersnikes, who have some very nasty plans ...

The Bottersnikes may have some tricks up their sleeves, but so do the resourceful Gumbles.
The battle has begun!

The Bottersnike King & Gumble Tink

The animated tv series is by the BBC (yes British not Australian) and the Seven Network and has it’s own webpage with videos, the character bios, and an ‘About’ page which includes a ‘making of’ clip.

The major difference in the animated series from the books is that while the stories recounted conflicts between the lazy, destructive Bottersnikes and good-natured, hardworking Gumbles. The two species were intended to represent opposing attitudes towards the environment; those who destroy the bush, and those who clean it up, this is missing from the new stories. Inspiration for the original stories came from the emerging environmental movement in the 1970s.

Chank the sneaky 2-I-C to the King

Read the complete adventures of the Bottersnikes & Gumbles, and watch the premiere on 7Two on 22nd December at 7:30am.