The Poddington Peas

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3 Episodes of The Poddington Peas on video. Episodes: "Dough-Pea gets lost" - "Well done Dump-Pea" and "Creep-Pea gets carried away"

Two paper back book of the Poddington Peas stories "Grump-Pea" has a surprise" and "Zip-Peas shadow"

The Poddington Peas was a children's cartoon series made for British television in 1986, by Colin Wyatt. The series had 13 episodes and was aired on the BBC.

The Peas were loosely based on David Heenan, who also sang the theme tune. The theme tune describes the peas as being "Down at the bottom of the garden". Human size garden objects, giant in size to them, are seen such as up turned flower pots serving as most of their buildings. Humans themselves are never seen or mentioned.

In 1992, writer Phil Gardner was employed by Poddington plc to help write some new episodes - including one meant to pilot the series in the USA, and featuring a new group of characters, the Bugz.

There were also paper back books by Paul Needs, illustrated by Colin Wyatt and published by Box Tree / Award Publications.

[edit] Characters

The cartoon features a cast of anthropomorphic peas, most of them are named after their main trait similar to the Mr. Men, and some are plays on the word "pea" sounding like "-py" such as "Creep-Pea" sounding like "Creepy". There are a number of extra peas seen in the background that remain un-named and non-talking, and don't have any role in the episodes' stories.

The Poddington Peas include:

(Most of the peas are male. Below, the females are stated, the others are male.)

Black Eyed-Pea: mischievous pea with a black eye patch.
Bump-Pea: Clumsy pea covered in bumps, wears a big plaster.
Captain Hop-Pea: Nautical captain pea with a wooden leg. Sometimes appears to be in charge.
Chip-Pea: The lady who sells fish and chips.
Creep-Pea: Creepy looking mischievous pea, with a long pointy nose.
Dough-Pea: Dopey simple pea and also a cook who wears a big white cooks hat.
Dump-Pea: Fat greedy dumpy pea, always eating.
Gro-Pea: A very large pea who acts as a teacher and mentor to younger peas.
Grump-Pea: A very grumpy looking pea who likes to moan.
Hap-Pea: The happy good natured pea often the main character. Wears a red baseball cap.
Hip-Pea: Musical hippie pea has long blonde hair and a guitar.
Jump-Pea: Pea with spring like legs who uses them to jump high.
P.C. Pod: The policeman pea.
Penelo-Pea: Female pea who pushes her baby pea around in a push chair.
Pop-Pea: Old man pea, has glasses, walking stick and white hair, although he is mostly bald.
Pup-Pea: The dog with full of mischief.
Skip-Pea:The girl who loves to hop, skip and jump with her skipping rope.
Sleep-Pea: Pea that wears a night cap and sleeps too much.
Snap-Pea: The Poddington Press photographer.
Soap-Pea: Has hair like soapy bubbles, he often blows bubbles.
Sweet Pea: Blonde sweet female pea.
Weep-Pea: The pea who cries all the time.
Zip-Pea: Fast pea, always running around quickly.

Creep-Pea and Black Eyed-Pea are a darker shade of green than the other peas and are often the villains of the episode playing tricks on the others.