The Queen's Nose (TV series)

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The Queen's Nose
The.Queen.Nose.title.card.png
Title Card
Genre Children's Drama
Created by Dick King-Smith (original adaption)
Steve Attridge (series 2–3)
Developed by BBC
Film and General Productions Ltd
Starring Victoria Shalet
Paula Wilcox
Theme music composer Carl Davis
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series7
No. of episodes42 (list of episodes)
Production
Production location London
Running time25 minutes
Original release
Network BBC One
Release15 November 1995 (1995-11-15) 
16 December 2003 (2003-12-16)

The Queen's Nose is a 1995 BBC children's television series. It was adapted by Steve Attridge from the novel of the same name written by Dick King-Smith. It ran for seven series. [1]

Contents

Premise

Harmony Parker, a twelve-year-old girl who loves animals, receives a magical 50 pence coin from her Uncle Ginger that can grant wishes when Queen Elizabeth II's nose is rubbed.

Production

The novel was adapted into three television series by the BBC which were broadcast during the CBBC slot between 1995 and 1998. The stories remained faithful to the book, although in the book Harmony is granted only seven wishes compared to the ten wishes being granted upon rubbing the coin in the TV series. The first series by Steve Attridge, directed by Carol Wiseman and edited by Sue Robinson, won the Royal Television Society 1996 award for best Children's Drama, [2] and the third series also by Steve Attridge winning the Indie Awards 1999 prize for Digital Cinematography. [3] According to a podtail interview with Victoria Shalet in February 2021, the director Carol Wiseman was responsible for her being cast in the role of Harmony Parker after she had been impressed with the actress after working with her on the TV series Goggle-Eyes in 1993. [4]

In 2000, the BBC revived the series with new stories, but without the main character Harmony, with a further four series being made between 2000 and 2003. Many viewers felt that the departure from the novels and the loss of the main character, played by Shalet, diminished the series. [5] The later series did however still feature other members of the Parker family in various roles. Harmony's sister Melody, played by Heather-Jay Jones, stayed on until the penultimate series. As of 2010, The Queen's Nose was no longer repeated on the CBBC Channel.

The Queen's Nose has also been broadcast in Germany, under the name Die Magische Münze (The Magic Coin). [6]

Cast

Owners of The Queen's Nose

Episodes

SeriesEpisodesFirst air dateLast air date
1 615 November 199520 December 1995
2 613 November 199618 December 1996
3 618 November 199823 December 1998
Specials 230 December 199928 August 2000
4 613 November 200018 December 2000
5 624 September 200129 October 2001
6 623 September 200230 October 2002
7 611 November 200316 December 2003

VHS

TitleRelease dateCountryDistributor BBFC
classification
Ref.
The Queen's Nose: Episodes 1 & 215 September 1997United KingdomCarltonU [8]
The Queen's Nose (Series 1)11 November 2002ITCU [9]
The Queen's Nose: Harmony's Return (Series 2)11 November 2002ITCU [10]
The Queen's Nose: Harmony's Holiday (Series 3)11 November 2002ITCPG [11]

Radio dramatisation

In 2011 The Queen's Nose was adapted for radio by Elizabeth Kuti [12] and the hour-long drama was broadcast on Radio 4 Extra on Sunday 26 June 2011. [13] The programme was produced by Heather Larmour. [12]

Radio dramatisation cast

Ratings (CBBC Channel)

WeekViewers [14] Notes
Monday 13 May 200250,0002nd most watched on CBBC that week.
Tuesday 21 May 200250,0003rd most watched on CBBC that week.
Wednesday 5 June 200270,0002nd most watched on CBBC that week.
Monday 3 June 200250,0005th most watched on CBBC that week.
Thursday 13 June 200220,0008th most watched on CBBC that week.
Monday 17 June 200230,00010th most watched on CBBC that week.

References

  1. "Babe creator Dick King-Smith dies aged 88". BBC News. 5 January 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  2. BFI | Film & TV Database|1996
  3. BFI | Film & TV Database|1999
  4. "Victoria Shalet- the Queen's nose – Are you from that show? – Podcast". 17 February 2021.
  5. "The Queen's Nose" (1995) – IMDb user comments
  6. Die magische Münze / The Queen's Nose (TV-Serie) – wunschliste.de
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 List of cast "Full cast and crew for The Queen's Nose (1995)". IMDb . Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  8. "Queens Nose [VHS][1995]". amazon.co.uk. 15 September 1997. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  9. "The Queen's Nose [VHS][1995]". amazon.co.uk. 11 November 2002. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  10. "The Queen's Nose – Harmony's Return [VHS][1995]". amazon.co.uk. 11 November 2002. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  11. "The Queen's Nose – Harmony's Holiday [VHS][1995]". amazon.co.uk. 11 November 2002. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 List of cast 2011 "The Queen's Nose". rupert-graves.com . Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  13. "Dick King-Smith – The Queen's Nose". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  14. "Broadcasters Audience Research Board". BARB. 25 September 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2016.