The First Snow of Winter

Last updated

The First Snow of Winter
Written byGraham Ralph
Alan Gilbey
David Freedman
Directed byGraham Ralph
Starring Miriam Margolyes
Dermot Morgan
Kate Sachs
Sorcha Cusack
Neil McCaul
Theme music composer Tolga Kashif
The Music Sculptors
Mark Sayer-Wade
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducersJackie Edwards
Claire Derry (executive producer)
David Hamilton (executive producer)
Theresa Plummer-Andrews (executive producer)
Running time28 minutes
Production companiesHibbert Ralph Entertainment
Link Entertainment
Original release
Network BBC
Release25 December 1998 (1998-12-25)

The First Snow of Winter is a British animated television film produced by Hibbert Ralph Entertainment and Link Entertainment and first aired on the BBC on 25 December 1998. [1] The film features the voices of Miriam Margolyes, Dermot Morgan, Sorcha Cusack, Kate Sachs and Neil McCaul. It was released on video in 1998 by BBC Worldwide and 1999 by Columbia TriStar Home Video in the United States.

Contents

It was dedicated to Dermot Morgan, who died before the film was released.

Plot

The story takes place in Ireland. Winter is approaching and ducks are starting their migration south. A young and daring white duck named Sean McDuck decides to slide down a hill and cross over to the other side of a stream, despite warnings from his young puffin friend, Puffy. When Sean reaches the other side, Puffy tells him about a red fox, which Sean narrowly escapes. When Sean and his family migrate, he gets lost trying to chase some seagulls. Later, he is hit by an airplane and becomes stranded with a broken wing. His family thinks he has been killed by the fox when Sean's mother sees her with her kits playing with white feathers.

A kindly tympanic water vole named Voley is preparing for his winter hibernation but stops to help Sean get ready for the cold weather ahead. Voley also teaches Sean to play a simple blade of grass as a musical instrument and even does an Irish stepdance with Sean and a chorus line of sheep. Despite Sean's wishes for him to remain, Voley soon heads off to start his hibernation. After struggling through the first night of a snowy blizzard warning and having to take shelter in a wellington boot, Sean discovers that Puffy was also left behind.

For the rest of the winter the two friends keep each other company. When spring comes, Sean and Puffy eagerly look for their families. The two friends are then cornered by the fox and eventually end up on a boat, but are rescued by Voley while Sean manages to drive away the fox, regaining his ability to fly in the process. Shortly afterward, Sean and Puffy are happily reunited with their families as Sean stepdances with Voley.

Voice cast

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dermot Morgan</span> Irish comedian and actor (1952–1998)

Dermot John Morgan was an Irish comedian and actor, best known for his role as Father Ted Crilly on the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted.

<i>Blackadders Christmas Carol</i> 1988 Christmas special of Blackadder

Blackadder's Christmas Carol, a one-off episode of Blackadder, is a parody of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. It is set between Blackadder the Third (1987) and Blackadder Goes Forth (1989), and is narrated by Hugh Laurie. Produced by the BBC, it was first broadcast on BBC1 on 23 December 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miriam Margolyes</span> English and Australian actress, born 1941

Miriam Margolyes is an actress holding both British and Australian citizenship. She has gained prominence as a character actor on stage and screen. She received a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role as Mrs Mingott in Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence (1993), and portrayed Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film series (2002–2011). Margolyes was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2002 New Year Honours for Services to Drama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sinéad Cusack</span> Irish stage, television and film actress

Sinéad Moira Cusack is an Irish actress. Her first acting roles were at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, before moving to London in 1969 to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has won the Critics' Circle and Evening Standard Awards for her performance in Sebastian Barry's Our Lady of Sligo.

Juno and the Paycock is a play by Seán O'Casey. Highly regarded and often performed in Ireland, it was first staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924. It is set in the working-class tenements of Dublin in the early 1920s, during the Irish Civil War period. The word "paycock" is the Irish pronunciation of "peacock", which is what Juno accuses her husband of being.

Niamh Cusack is an Irish actress. Born to a family with deep roots in the performing arts, she has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre, and many others. Her most notable television role was as Dr. Kate Rowan in the UK series Heartbeat (1992–1995). Other TV and film credits include Always and Everyone (1999–2002), The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends (1992–1995), The Closer You Get (2000), Agatha Christie's Marple, Midsomer Murders (2008), A Touch of Frost (2010), In Love with Alma Cogan (2011), Testament of Youth (2014), Departure (2015), Chick Lit, The Ghoul (2016), The Virtues (2019), Death in Paradise (2021), The Tower (2023). She has been nominated at IFTA for her performance in Too Good to be True (2004).

Sorcha Cusack is an Irish television and stage actress. Her numerous television credits include playing the title role in Jane Eyre (1973), Casualty (1994–1997), Coronation Street (2008) and Father Brown (2013–2022).

Susie Blake is an English television, radio and stage actress.

Imagine is a wide-ranging arts series first broadcast on BBC One in 2003, hosted and executive produced by Alan Yentob. Most series consist of 4 to 7 episodes, each on a different topic. Episodes have been directed by, among others, Geoff Wonfor, Lucy Blakstead, Jill Nicholls, Roger Parsons and Zoë Silver.

<i>Revolting Rhymes</i> Collection of parody poems by Roald Dahl

Revolting Rhymes is a 1982 poetry collection by British author Roald Dahl. Originally published under the title Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes, it is a parody of traditional folk tales in verse, where Dahl gives a re-interpretation of six well-known fairy tales, featuring surprise endings in place of the traditional happily-ever-after finishes.

Story Teller was a magazine partwork published by Marshall Cavendish between 1982 and 1985. It was sold as Story Time in Australia and New Zealand; in Italy Story Teller 1 was sold as I Raccontastorie while Story Teller 2 as C'era una volta)

<i>The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends</i> British TV series or programme

The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends is a British animated anthology television series based on the works of Beatrix Potter, featuring Peter Rabbit and other anthropomorphic animal characters created by Potter. 14 of Potter's stories were adapted into 9 films, and the series was originally shown in the U.K. on the BBC between 20 December 1992 and 25 December 1998. It was subsequently broadcast in the U.S. on Family Channel between 23 October 1992 and 23 October 1995. For the initial VHS releases, some of the characters' voices were dubbed-over by actors with more American-like accents.

Percy the Park Keeper is a British animated children's television series based on the popular books by British author Nick Butterworth. It features Percy, and many wild animals, including the Badger, the Fox, the Owl, the Mice, the Mole, the Robin, and so on. The series started out as four seasonal specials airing in the UK between December 1996 and December 1997. This was followed by thirteen ten-minute episodes between September and December 1999. "After the Storm" got a theatre adaptation in London on Christmas 2015. The franchise eventually was commemorated with a statue of Percy in Raphael Park.

<i>The Water Margin</i> (1973 TV series) Japanese TV series or program

The Water Margin is a Japanese television series based on the 14th-century book Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Made in two seasons of 13 episodes each by Nippon Television it was shown in Japan in 1973 and 1974 as 水滸伝.

<i>Merlin</i> series 3 Season of television series

The third series of Merlin began on 11 September 2010. Series three regular cast members include Colin Morgan, Bradley James, Katie McGrath, Angel Coulby, Anthony Head, and Richard Wilson, as well as Emilia Fox joining the regular cast. John Hurt took his previous role as the voice of the Great Dragon but was no longer one of the regular cast. Series three consists of 13 episodes. The series three premiere was watched by 6.49 million viewers.

<i>Mrs. Browns Boys DMovie</i> 2014 film directed by Ben Kellett

Mrs. Brown's Boys D'Movie is a 2014 Irish comedy film based on the sitcom Mrs. Brown's Boys and is co-produced by That's Nice Films, Penalty Kick Films, RTÉ and BocFlix. BBC Films is acting as sales agent and it was distributed by Universal Pictures. It was written by series creator Brendan O'Carroll, who also plays the lead role. The film sees Agnes Brown go to court to protect her family's stall at Dublin's Moore Street market from a corrupt Russian businessman who wishes to convert it into a shopping centre. The film was released on 27 June to negative reviews from critics. It topped the UK and Ireland box office with £4.3 million in its opening weekend, on a budget of £3.6 million, and retained the top spot for a second week. On 27 October it was released on home media, again topping the charts.

The Making of a Marchioness is a 1901 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, followed by a sequel, The Methods of Lady Walderhurst. Subsequent editions published the two books together, either under the original name The Making of a Marchioness or as Emily Fox-Seton. The collected version was republished by Persephone Books in 2007, and it was then adapted for radio and television.

<i>The Phoenix and the Carpet</i> (1997 serial) British television programme

The Phoenix and the Carpet is a BBC Television adaption of the 1904 book of the same name by E. Nesbit about four children in Edwardian England who acquire a phoenix and the adventures they have as a result.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 British Isles cold wave</span> Cold wave in Europe in February–March 2018

Anticyclone Hartmut was a storm that began on 22 February 2018, and brought a cold wave to Great Britain and Ireland. Anticyclone Hartmut also brought widespread unusually low temperatures and heavy snowfall to large areas. The cold wave combined with Storm Emma, part of the 2017–18 European windstorm season, which made landfall in southwest England and the south of Ireland on 2 March.

References

  1. "BBC One London – 25 December 1998 – BBC Genome" . Retrieved 13 November 2020.