In the Night Garden...

The programme features a large cast of colourful characters with unusual names who live in a magical forest scattered with large daisies and brightly coloured flowers. The characters mostly speak short phrases, and each has their own special song and dance. The garden is a sunny, colourful environment and the music is jaunty and music box-like. Producer Anne Wood said:

"We wanted to explore the difference between being asleep and being awake from a child's point of view: the difference between closing your eyes and pretending to be asleep and closing your eyes and sleeping."[7]

Each episode starts with a different child in bed, while the narrator introduces the episode. The scene cuts to Igglepiggle, in his boat, travelling to the Night Garden. Then the camera pans up to the sky and zooms in, followed by flowers. After the title appears under a hedge, either the Ninky Nonk or the Pinky Ponk appears. The episodes end with one character receiving a bedtime story, which is generated by the magical gazebo that sits at the centre of the Night Garden. This story is a summary of the plot of the episode. Sometimes the characters all dance together under the Gazebo.

Igglepiggle does not go to sleep, and his goodbye sequence ("Igglepiggle's not in bed!" "Squeak!" "Don't worry, Igglepiggle! It's time to go") rounds off the programme. The Night Garden turns into the night sky and Igglepiggle is seen asleep on his boat as the end credits roll.

In the Night Garden... is intended to help children relax and achieve calming relationships with parents. Wood states: "We became very aware of the anxiety surrounding the care of young children which manifested itself in all kind of directions; but the one big subject that came up again and again was bedtime. It's the classic time for tension between children who want to stay up and parents who want them to go to bed. so this is a programme about calming things down whereas most children's TV is about getting everything up."[7]

In 2007[8] and 2008,[9] the show won the Children's BAFTA for "Pre-school live action," as well as being nominated in 2009.[10]

• Derek Jacobi as Narrator
• Nick Kellington as Iggle Piggle
• Rebecca Hyland as Upsy Daisy
• Justyn Towler as Makka Pakka
• Andy Wareham as Tombliboo Unn
• Isaac Blake (Series 1)/Holly Denoon (Series 2) as Tombliboo Ooo
• Elisa Laghi as Tombliboo Eee

The Stepping Stone Path is a path where only Igglepiggle goes, for a session in the Night Garden. It leads to the Gazebo at the beginning and end of an episode.[11] It was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces".

The Daisy Patch is where Upsy Daisy lives. It is a field full of daisies. Upsy Daisy is usually the only character that can be seen in the patch.[12] It was first featured in the episode "The Pontipines in Upsy Daisy's Bed".

Makka Pakka's Cave is where Makka Pakka lives. His three-wheeled cart, knows as his Og-Pog, is kept outside behind a boulder. The cave was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces".

The Tombliboo Bush is where the Tombliboos live. It is the largest house in the garden with a variety of activities to do. These activities include playing music, playing with blocks and brushing teeth. Like the Pinky Ponk and the Ninky Nonk it is bigger on the inside. It was first featured on the outside in "Makka Pakka Washes Faces" and on the inside in the episode "Too Loud Tombliboos!! Nice and Quiet!!"

The Pontipines/Wottingers' House is a small house at the foot of a tree where the Pontipines and Wottingers live. It, along with the Stepping Stone Path and Makka Pakka's Cave was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces".

The Tune Bridge is a musical bridge near Makka Pakka's cave. Whenever someone walks on the bridge, it plays a musical tune. It, and the Stepping Stone Path, Makka Pakka's Cave and the Pontipines/Wottingers' House, were first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces". Makka Pakka and the Tombliboos as re never seen walking on the bridge.

The Gazebo is where the characters meet to dance at the end of some episodes.[13] It has a picture of all the characters including the Ball, Upsy Daisy, The Pontipines and Wottingers, The Pinky Ponk, The Haahoos, Upsy Daisy's Megaphone (but except the Tittifers, Mr Pontipine's Moustache, one of the Trubliphones, The Little Round Bush, the Tiddle, Igglepiggle's Boat, some Pompom flowers and Upsy Daisy's Bed), the Tittifers' Tree (alternative only), a Daisy(alternative only), the Bridge, the Tombliboo Bush, the Tombliboo Instruments, Igglepiggle's Blanket(Alternative only), the Tombliboo Bricks and, of course, the Gazebo, itself. It has three pictures of Makka Pakka, one with his Og-Pog, one with him blowing his trumpet(alternative only), and one with him holding his uff uff, it has two pictures of tombliboo Eee, one with her and the other Tombliboos, the other of her alone, it has two pictures of the Ninky Nonk, one with its doors shut, the other with its doors open (alternative only), and it has two pictures of Igglepiggle, one of him skipping, the other of him waving (alternative only),the gazebo has an alternate version of itself. The first dance was featured in the episode "The Tombliboos' Waving Game" and it first gave a clue in "Igglepiggle's Blanket in Makka Pakka's Ditch". In episodes 60, 87, and 99. The alternative dance plays after upsy daisy does her little dance., it, along with the tombliboos Bush, the stepping stone path, the bridge and the cave, was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka Washes Faces"

The Tittifers' Tree is where the Tittifers sing in a certain section and together and at the end, it was first featured in the episode "Igglepiggle's Blanket in Makka Pakka's Ditch".

The Little Round Bush is a miniature version of the Tombliboos Bush, it has no windows or doors, the tombliboos like chasing each other around it, it is the tombliboos favourite place, it was first featured in the episode "Makka Pakka's Trumpet makes a funny noise"

Until 29 March 2008, the show aired on the CBeebies channel every day, including weekends, at 6:25 PM in the "Bedtime Hour" slot, in addition to earlier daytime showings on weekdays.[14] From 29 March until 29 August 2008, In The Night Garden... was removed from its 6:25 PM "Bedtime Hour" slot, which resulted in a petition asking for the programme to be re-instated to its normal slot.[15] One parent petitioner was quoted by The Daily Telegraph commenting that "My four-year-old refused to believe it was bedtime because In the Night Garden... hadn't been on and it was daylight outside."[15]

The show returned to the daily "Bedtime Hour" slot at 6:20 pm as of 30 August 2008, and began showing the second series (beginning with "Slow Down Everybody") on 1 September 2008.[16] From January 2009, the show was moved again, this time to 6:00 pm, on 9 February 2009 they began broadcasting twenty new episodes on CBeebies and BBC HD.[17] From September 2009 the show was moved back to 6:20 pm. Later in January 2010, on weekends the programme was shown at 1.20 PM[18] and on weekdays it was removed from its weekday 2:30pm afternoon slot.[19] In September 2010 it was removed from its 1:20 pm weekend slot, the Bedtime Hour 6.20 pm CBeebies and weekday 11:00am BBC Two airings remained though[20][21] Later in January 2013 the weekday 11:00am morning slot was removed on BBC Two, leaving it with the 6:20pm Bedtime Hour slot.[22]

As of February 2008, in Canada, the show airs daily at 5:30 AM on Treehouse TV, Mondays to Fridays at 7:30 PM, and Saturdays at 10:30 AM. And as of 11 April 2016 in Canada, as well the show airs daily at 2:00 pm on family jr during the Monday funday block of programming .

As of March 2016, in Australia, the show airs during the ABC 4 Kids block of programming on ABC2 every weekends at 11:30 AM. As of October 2008, in India, the show airs every day on the CBeebies channel, including weekends, at 9 AM, 12 PM and 3 PM.

As of 2008, in Norway, the show airs every weekday on the NRK Super channel, at 5:30 PM. As of 2009, the show airs on TV2 in Malaysia on weekday mornings at 8:30 AM. As of 2009, the show airs on Luli and Hop! in Israel. As of 2010, Series 1 of the Arabic dub of the show airs daily on Baraem on Nilesat and Arabsat covering the Middle East in Arabic at 7:30 PM. As of 2010, the show airs on Clan in Spain sometime around 8:30 AM on weekdays and around 7:50 AM on weekends. In Netherlands, it airs on Disney Junior and in Turkey, it airs on Canal D, and in Poland, it airs on CBeebies and on Fokus TV with original English dubbing.

As of 11 October 2010, the series was added on The Hub in the U.S. as part of the "HubBub" programming block. On 24 June 2012 it was removed on The Hub along with The Future Is Wild and Wilbur. However, the series returned on the Hub Network on 2 June 2013 and was removed again on 13 October 2013.

• BAFTA Children's Awards 2007

• Awarded Best Children's Live-Action Series[8]
• The website for the programme was nominated for Best Interactive Site[8]

• BAFTA Children's Awards 2008

• Awarded Best Pre-School Live Action Series[9]

• BAFTA Children's Awards 2009

• Nominated for Best Pre-School Live Action[10]

In the Night Garden... books, DVDs, toys and Magazines have been marketed since 2007.

In the Night Garden...Live! started a UK tour in July 2010. The show took place in an inflatable purpose-built show dome. The show premiered in Liverpool, and moved on to London, Glasgow and Birmingham. In the Night Garden Live has toured the UK every summer.[26][27]

• In the Night Garden... at BBC Programmes
• In the Night Garden on Cbeebies
• In the Night Garden official site
• In the Night Garden... at IMDb