MOOMIN - BBC Broadcasts - English synopsis episode 1- 78

Creator: Tove Jansson / Theme Music: Pierre Kartner / Executive Producer: Dennis Livson / Producer: Kazuo Tabata.
Directors: Hiroshi Saito, Masayuki Kojima.

Animation writer for 32 of the first 40 episodes was Akira Miyazaki, NOT Hayao Miyazaki as some have mistakenly reported!

Spring has come to Moominvalley, and Moomin and his family come out of their winter hibernation. Up in Lonely Mountains Moomin, Snufkin, Sniff, and Little My find a large top Hat, which they bring home. Too big to be worn they use it as a waste paper basket, but it is a Hat of magical qualities, and anything thrown into it changes into something completely different.

The magical Hat, which the Moomins tried to get rid of in the first episode, reappears, it got stuck on a sand bank in the river, which has turned to raspberry juice. Moomin recovers the Hat and hides it in the cellar, wanting to have a constant supply of juice. Little My drops a piece of string into the hat, hoping it will turn into spaghetti. However, the string turns into something quite different.

Moomin and his friends go mountain climbing, encounter a very depressed Hemulen, sunk in gloom because his stamp collection is finally complete and he has nothing more to collect. They learn from him about a sailboat wrecked on the beach. They start repairing the boat, hoping to sail the seven seas. Deciding to start collecting plants instead. Hemulen gets over his depression, and they all go for a trial sail.

Moominfamily and their friends set out for adventure in their new sailboat, and finally arrive at a seemingly uninhabited island. It is, however, populated by some very strange creatures whom Hemulen has an unpleasant encounter. A terrible storm hits the island and they decide to stay over night, pulling up the boat as far as she will go and taking refuge in their tent.

Our friends have forgotten to tie their boat up in the storm and are attacked by hordes of electrified Hattifatteners, who want their sacred barometer back. Swimming about after the storm Moomin and Snorkmaiden find the most exciting things brought by the storm, but the most exciting find is undoubtedly made by Snufkin.

One day two very small guest arrive at Moominhouse. They bring a suitcase so Moominpappa knows they have come to stay and builds a small bed. Everybody is dying to know what's inside the suitcase which Thingumy and Bob guard day and night. The terrible Groke knows, however, and she is coming to get it.

After the visit of the Groke, Snorkmaiden finally find out to whom the contents of the suitcase belong, but this only makes the problem worse, and it is the with great misgivings they await the return of the Groke. Only Moominmamma has a plan, but will it work?.

The Groke has gone, having been given a very special sea shell which was a gift from Snorkmaiden to Moomin, who is now in trouble. Moominmamma's handbag disappears, and she promises the finder a huge party. It seems the Groke was not the only one interested in the contents of the suitcase however...

Too-ticky brings Ninny to Moominhouse view. Ninny has been frightened so often by her aunt that she has become invisible. Moominmamma concocts an infallible remedy, but will that and kindness be enough? Stinky does his best to see to it that it doesn't..

Episode 10. THE INVISIBLE CHILD 2 (or The Invisible Child, or Ninny Gets Her Smile Back or Ninny Smiles Again)

Very slowly Ninny comes back into view, but her face is still missing. Stinky does his best to stop her from becoming visible, resorting to very nasty tricks when the children play hide and seek. It appears that anger and shouting loud is even better than medicine and kindness for getting your shape back.

Snorkmaiden's brother has finished planning his flying ship, and has constructed a pair of wings so he himself can try out his theories, jumping off from the highest cliff in Moominvalley. But he is not the only one to think that flying is great - Stinky would like the wings for very Stinky-like purposes.

Moominvalley is hit by a terrible storm and an old sailing ship is wrecked offshore, finally sinking. But it is no usual ship - she is seen flying a black flag with a skull and crossbones. The pirates have made it to the shore unhurt and trouble starts when the captain, a terrible villain, grabs Snorkmaiden and holds her hostage, demanding a new getaway ship from the people of Moominvalley. The Inspector is frantic and helpless and it is left to Moomin to bring about her rescue.

After a tremendous downpour Moomin finds a very small dragon in a puddle. Smothering this most exotic of pets with love he expects great devotion in return, but finds that love is a fickle thing indeed, and particularly difficult to contain in a glass jar.

One day, Fillyjonk moves into Moominvalley with her three children. Although the Moomins hold a welcome party with a lot of unique ideas meant to please them, Fillyjonk just dismisses them as harmful to the upbringing of her children, strictly prohibiting them from playing with Moomin and his company. Her children try to follow their mother's BEHAVE YOURSELVES type of orders at first, but their natural instinct as children gradually draws them into Moomin's circle of playmates.

During a spell of rainy weather Snorkmaiden has crammed herself with stories about princesses and chivalrous knights. On the first sunny day she and Moomin climb a mountain, where Snorkmaiden sees what she believes is, an Edelweiss. Needless to say it isn't (no such things in Moominvalley), but they have to climb down to get it. Snorkmaiden slips, rolls down the mountainside and winds up in a faint. When she comes to she has forgotten all, and thinks she is of royal blood.

One day a flying saucer land in Moominmamma's vegetable garden. It is apparently unmanned and she and Moomin savage a strange box-like apparatus which looks rather home-made, but which has many remarkable properties. The Inspector is on the war-path trying to nab extraterrestrials and when the Moomins find one, a runaway child, they have to hide him, quickly deciding that he has probably not come to invade Moominvalley. Their task isn't made any easier by the fact that the box-like apparatus has now made the Inspector iridescent, this fascinating the child so that he follows the inspector everywhere.

Bored stiff with calm, sunny weather and stuck in his memoirs, Moominpappa craves adventure. Stinky decides to comply and provides a set of gigantic footsteps, leading up from the sea to Moominhouse. This creates a diversion, but is not enough and Moominpappa decides he and Moominmamma should elope (they never did it before because the had no one to elope from). Stealing off in the middle of the night they leave Moomin to fend for himself, something he doesn't manage all that well Sniff and Little My help him cook and it is probably a very good thing that his parents haven't managed to get very far.

It is hotter than ever before in Moominvalley. The river has run dry and everything is wilting. Going down to swim one day with the other children Little My finds a large wooden crate floating in the water and when they open it they find it full of strange looking tropical seeds. They plant them as they have nothing better to do and next night the rain finally comes, a veritable deluge. The seeds sprout and next day the house is surrounded by a jungle. Bamboo, orchids, fruit trees, but also some much more dangerous plants.

Moominfamily and their friends have a great time in the jungle. The Hemulen is botanising as fast as he can, everyone is eating tropical fruit and Moomin and Snorkmaiden play Tarzan and Jane, building a leaf hut. Suspiciously helpful, Stinky offers to get them some animals too, so it will be more like a real jungle. He is as good as his word, but the animals that he provides are not exactly of the kind they had in mind.

Moominfamily have befriended all the wild animals that Stinky let out of the zoo (except the crocodiles and who wants to be friends with a crocodile, anyway?) And when the zoo keepers come to take the animals back, the Moomins, aided by the Inspector, fond them off. But also, the hot spell doesn't last. Autumn comes, the jungle withers in the cold and the animals huddles, shivering, in front of open fires, wondering if chilly freedom is really better than a warm zoo.

Again winter is at the door and Moominpappa and Moomin are collecting wood to keep the house warm during their long hibernation. Moomin is feeling very sad because it is time for Snufkin to go away on his long annual trip. Moomin talks his parents into letting him go along, but Snufkin says no - he needs some time to himself. Moomin takes to his bed, utterly dejected, but Snorkmaiden manages to bring him out of his gloom by showing something very, very special.

For no special reason Moomin wakes up in the middle of winter and can't go back to sleep. This is quite unheard of. He is unable to wake the others, and finally, shivering, he makes his way outside into the bleak, unfamiliar whiteness. He meets Little My who has woken up even before him, and Too-ticky who lives in the bath house. He meets the invisible mice, who also stays there for winter, and he almost meets the Lady of the Cold, the most fearsome of all winter's manifestations.

Moomin and Little My have finally settled into their wintry existence, living on Too-ticky's fish soup and Moominmamma's jam, of which there fortunately is an awful lot of. One day, Mr. Brisk arrives, a very hearty and jovial person, who likes cold baths and roughing it in igloos. He is much taken with Sorry-oo, a very timid dog who only dreams of running with the wolves that are nightly heard howling in Lonely Mountains. He considers them his brothers, but unfortunately they don't...Mr. Brisk finally leaves, having consumed the last jar of his (and Moomin's) favourite jam.

. Wintering away from bed can't be very good for Moomins, for when spring comes Moomin has a terrible cold and takes to bed when all the others are up. This year Snufkin is very late and Moomin worries far more than is good for him. Finally Snorkmaiden sets off to try and find Snufkin and bring him back, hoping this would bring about a speedy recovery. Stinky makes a bedside call and agrees to help Moomin go out to look for Snufkin. Poor Stinky - he learns that when you have a bad reputation good deeds don't really help much.

Once again the very fine weather is boring Moominpappa to tears and this time he decides to take the whole family with him and sail for a lighthouse on a small island, not bigger than a fly speck on the chart. Loaded down they set off and arrive next morning after a harrowing experience with a ghost ship during the night. They meet a small boat with a man and a boy fishing, but when they get to the lighthouse it is empty, thick with dust and the beacon has gone out. What has happened?

The Moomin's first night in the abandoned lighthouse is haunted by ghosts from the mysterious ghost ship, who finally take off. One of their group is left behind and the Moomins have to build a raft for to sail away on. Moominpappa is in vain trying to light the beacon in the lighthouse and they all try to unravel the mystery with the absent keeper. It is finally solved with the help of the small boy, Toft, from the fishing boat, and when the Moomins sail back to Moominvalley they see the lighthouse lit for the first time.

One day, Moominpappa gets a very rare thing, a letter! It is from Aunt Jane, a stinkingly rich relative of whom Moominpappa is rather scared. She is great on duty, and particularly on one's duty to money, so Moominpappa packs a knapsack and flees before she arrives. And very wisely, too, for she wants Moominpappa to look after her gold doubloons when she gets too old. There are, however, those in Moominvalley who need gold for their pet projects - and those who need gold just because they like it.

Catastrophe strikes Moominvalley again, this time in the shape of an underwater volcano. A huge tidal wave sweeps across the valley, leaving just the top floor of Moominhouse above water. The family, Sniff, Snorkmaiden and Little My save themselves on board a house that comes floating by. It is an eerie building, full of clothes and hats and mirrors and strange machinery and huge paintings that drop down from the ceiling. The crazy house, which they learn is also called a theatre, is halted by a large rowantree and Moomin and Snorkmaiden makes a fatal decision. They spend the night in the tree.

Next morning Moomin and Snorkmaiden wake up, find the theatre gone. They are alone, surrounded by an empty expense of water, with here and there a tree sticking up. Aboard the theatre further catastrophe strikes, they are grounded and Little My falls overboard and is swiftly carried away by the current. Besides themselves with worry, Moominmamma and Moominpappa decide to put on a play to let the children know where they are, because as Emma the cleaning lady says, "When you put on a new play, everybody comes flocking to see it.".

Moominpappa finds that writing a play is even more difficult than writing one's memoirs, as one doesn't know what's going to happen. Meanwhile, an awful lot has happened to the children. Moomin and Snorkmaiden have met with a Fillyjonk, and they have all been cast in jail for burning all the "Forbidden" signs in the park that Little My and Snufkin threw away. Their jailer takes off to see the play, and they try their utmost to get his stand-in to set them free. Meanwhile, the theatre is in frantic throes of preparation for the Gala Opening Night of Moominpappa's play. .

One day the Snork gets a visit from the Muffle, an inventor no one has heard of. He has not only invented the triangular handkerchief and the newspaper that reads itself, but has now come up with a new super fuel for the flying ship, which is otherwise complete. Diluting the solid super fuel with water does nothing to it, and the Snork throws the Muffle out, very upset at having shown his flying ship for nothing. However, aided by Stinky and Muffle returns at night, quite certain that his fuel will work, if used in its solid state.

The Hemulen tells about a lake on the other side of Lonely Mountains, where a legendary golden fish is said to live, that once was seen by his great-grandmother. Moomin and his friends become very excited, particularly Sniff, who decides a golden fish must be very valuable. Very special conditions of weather must be met for any chance of seeing the fish: absolute calm, in the afternoon, with the sun coming out after a heavy rain. The children take the rather dangerous short-cut through the Forest of Witches, where they are caught by a violent thunder storm.

Digging for beautiful seashells on the shore, Moomin and Snorkmaiden find what looks like an old oil lamp. A bit self-consciously they try rubbing it, and are more than a little surprised when the spirit materialises and asks what they want. He is a rather lazy spirit, however, who finds stealing easier than creating something new, and who won't grant more than one wish a week. At night he comes forth and reads Moominpappa's new play, which he finds disgustingly bad and promptly rewrites - again, however, without bothering to come up with something new. Stinky expresses marked interest in the lamp and the Moomins finally come to the conclusion that maybe it isn't such a blessing to have all your wishes instantly granted.

One night there is a big wind in Moominvalley and next morning the children find a large kite high up in a tree. They get it down, take it home and repair it, then go out again to fly it. At first the wind is too weak, but it picks up and is soon strong enough to send the kite soaring up into the sky. Little My thinks this looks unbelievably exciting and decides to hang on to the kite next time they send it up. And unbelievable exciting it is, but when the wind keeps getting stronger and stronger, the excitement turns to something else.

One day the children meet a new girl, who is sitting on a stone waiting for her grandmother to come and take her home to their house in the Witches' Forest. Could she really be a witch? Snufkin says nobody else would live in that house, but can there really be witches nowadays? That evening the Snork sees what he thinks must be a witch, riding on a broom, silhouetted against the moon and next day the children set off for the forest to settle the question once and for all.

Moominfamily has already started hibernating when they are woken up by a busy Hemulen who tells them they can't possibly go on sleeping when Christmas is coming! The Moomins haven't a clue what Christmas is (being clever enough to sleep Winter away), but everyone tells them of all the preparations one must make to meet Christmas. They do their best, and wait, and wait....

Waking up in the midst of Winter, Moomin decides to show Snorkmaiden what Winter is like. Going outside they find that most of their firewood has disappeared. Walking on they find that someone has used their logs to build a huge bonfire on a cliff. Too-ticky, who is fishing under the ice as usual, tells them it has been built by invisible Winter beings to greet the return of the sun, which will show a little sliver of light the day after the bonfire. However, the festivities come to a sudden end when the Groke appears.

Spring has already come in Moominvalley and Snufkin is back from his journey, but Moominfamily sleeps on and apparently nothing can wake them up. The others decide this can be no natural sleep, and conclude that the witch must be responsible. She admits to having cast a spell, but is not very willing to lift it again.

Everyone in Moominvalley is awakened at night by faraway explosions that no one is able to explain, and no one is really able to say where they come from. A beautiful young girl, worn out with fatigue, appears from nowhere and stumbles over Sniff, who carries her up to Moominhouse where she is put to bed. The explosions are finally found to come from the sea, and a younger version of the Hemulen is seen rowing away into the night.

The beautiful young girl whom Sniff rescued (and promptly fell for) woke up next day and said she had come to see the Hemulen who, however, denies any knowledge of any young girls whatsoever - his only worry being that he gets no answer from the Federation of Botanists about a totally new plant he has discovered. Finally the letter arrives in time for a great display of fireworks.

Moominvalley is peaceful, as usual. For once too peaceful, for there simply aren't any crooks there for the inspector to arrest...The Chief Constable informs him that the whole police station will be discontinued as totally unnecessary, and it seems to be up to Moomin and his friends to see it that there is something for the Inspector to do, after all.

Moominvalley is about to experience a solar eclipse, and everybody is preparing for it. Moominpappa is sorting bits of glass to see through, and the witch is preparing for a special ceremony on top of a mountain to strengthen her witchcraft. However, a very strong wind springs up and topples her from her witch's broom into a bush. She is taken to Moominhouse to recover, and that really is the final insult to her pride.

Torrential rain has caused a new flood in Moominvalley, and a whole circus has floated off. The prima donna, her horse and Emeraldo, the strong man, float away to the vicinity of Moominhouse and Moomin saves the prima donna, becoming totally besotted with her. It takes a lot of time and some help from Snorkmaiden before he finally come to his senses.

Moominmamma's birthday is approaching, and although Moominpappa says he has a very special, nice present for her, in actual fact he hasn't a clue what to give her. In his desperation he turns to the Snork for help - he even tries to make an invention himself, but everything fails. Finally he joins the children in their present - and, combining this with one of his earlier ideas, together they make a truly wonderful birthday gift.

The unthinkable happens - Moomin is driven out of Moominhouse! Mymble's mother and her ten children come to live with the Moomins after their own house has tumbled around their ears, and after a few days of living with Little My's brothers and sisters Moomin begins to understand why it did. He flees and Snufkin persuades him to build a house of his own. But although Moomin is helped by Little My he finds that building a house isn't all that easy - if anything can go wrong, it will. And then the ten little pests finds his new house too.

Moominpappa is informed that he has inherited a country estate. He doesn't want it, but when told that his decision is probably a wise one as Gobble Manor is haunted and that nobody dare go there anymore, he changes his mind and off they go, avid for adventures with ghosts, dungeons and torture chambers. And a ghost there is, but not one with clanking chains and his head under his arm. Dame Elaine has seven centuries behind her, and since she hasn't had company for the last two of them she is very, very talkative. However, Moominpappa finds a solution.

One day Moominvalley is invaded by three men looking for a hot spring around which they are going to build a big health spa. Sniff is very excited and helps them look, certain this will finally make him rich. The Moomins, however, are horrified at the prospect of having Moominvalley overrun by tourist, and in their plight finally enlist the help of the witch, who is no friend of tourists either, and she applies all her witchcraft to the task of permanently scaring the men off.

The Snork has invented a fantastic fabric strengthener for his flying ship, and he shows this to Snorkmaiden. When she tries blowing soap bubbles with Moomin and Little My and the solution they have is too weak, she hits on the idea of mixing in a little of her brother's invention. Soon they are blowing fantastic, huge bubbles, and accidently find out one can get inside them, and fly around. They have a wonderful time until they notice that one can't go where one wants but must follow the wind, and also one can't get down.

One of Moominfamily's absolute favourite is pumpkin pie, so when all of Moominmamma's plants just produce leaves but no flowers, it is a small catastrophe. Finally the Hemulen finds a flower, so there may be enough for one meal, after all. Moominmamma decides to let the pumpkin get as big as possible before giving her family the happy news - but what does one do with a pumpkin that just won't stop growing, no matter what? How long can one hold a secret, and what does one do when it gets too big?

Deep in the forest in Moominvalley there used to be a tree that had stood there for over five hundred years and had been dead for most of that time. In the old, old days people had known about this tree, but over the centuries this knowledge had become lost and nowadays no one knew there was anything special about it. One day, Moomin and his friends happened to play hide-and-seek in that part of the woods and found that not only did the tree conceals a secret, but one that was still very much alive.

Snorkmaiden very foolishly takes shelter under a big tree in a thunderstorm, and is struck by lightening. She is all right when she wakes up from her faint, but for one thing - she is able to see into the future. She saves Snufkin from a very nasty accident, but soon finds out that knowing what's going to happen isn't all roses, and that not everyone even wants to know. Sniff enlists her powers in one of his money making schemes, and finally is on the brink of being VERY rich.

A prospector comes to Moominvalley, looking for veins of gold, but finally decides the rocks are wrong. He is moving off to beyond the Lonely Mountains when he comes down with a fever and is put to bed in Moominhouse. Before leaving after his recovery he gives the Moomins an old map showing where a treasure is supposedly buried in Moominvalley. He says it's probably a forgery, but the Moomins decide to try anyway. By now everyone in Moominvalley is certain that rich veins have been found and the gold rush is on.

53 Treasure Hunt Uproar / The Water Nymph - the menfolk find a magic pond.
54 Gift for Mimura / Mymbles Diamond - Fillyjonk spoils Mymble's happiness at finding a treasure.
55 Sad Papa = samishis na papa / Moominpapas's Second Youth- is Moominpappa getting old and forgetful?
56 Mama Departs on a Journey / The Secret Dish - what to do when your family grows tired of your cooking.
57 Floren Raises a Child / Motherly Love - some children are nice, some less so.
58 Contest in Moominvalley / Artists in Moominvalley
59 Papa's Memories / Adventures of Moominpapa Part 1 - young Moominpappa escapes an orphanage and sets sail.
60 Mee's Prank / The Terrible Little My
61 Moomin's a Genius Fortuneteller / Moomin's the Fortune Teller
62 Magic Word = mah no kotoba / Witch Walking - Alicia learns witchcraft and Snufkin tries to catch a very hungry large fish.
63 Adventure of the Ship Orchestra / Adventures of Moominpapa Part 2 - a youthful Moominpappa builds a house.
64 The Day of Leaving the Nest / Moomin and the Birds
65 Moomin's Secret = muumin no himitsu / The Fancy Dress Ball
66 Vampire of Moominvalley / The Vampire - a vampire escapes from the zoo and takes refuge in Moominmamma's kitchen.
67 Papa's Important Seat is Broken / The Chair - Moominpappa's chair is broken.
68 Fateful Meeting with Mama / Adventures of Moominpapa Part 3 - young Moominpappa meets Moomin Maiden, now Moominmamma.
69 Crisis with the Immortal Bird / The Phoenix. - An injured bird which the Hemulin cannot identify is rescued by Moomin and restored.
70 Making up at the Fish Party / Moomin's Big Fish. - Getting the Snork and Snorkmaiden back together after Snork makes some glue.
71 Identity of the Glowing Mushroom / The slug-a-bed Mushrooms
72 Friendship of Moomin and the Dolphin / Moomin and the dolphin - can Moomin visit the dolphin's world?
73 Moomin's Explorer Team / The Cave. - Circle Island and the Hattifatteners.
74 Singing Flower Present = utau hana no purezento / A Wonderful Present. - Thingummy and Bob return with a present.

75 Moomin's Lovely Dream = muumin no sutekina yume / The Fabulous Emerald. -Moomin dreams of going behind a waterfall and sets out with Snuffkin to find it, once there he discovers a large emerald which he takes home. A severe hail storm destroys Hemulens greenhouse and rare flowers. The witch (injured by the hail) finds the Hobgoblin who accepts the emerald and turns back the clock to restore greenhouse and flowers.

76 Broken House = kowareta ouchi /Painting a House. On a windy day Little My takes to the air and damages Hemulen's house. The group repair and paint the house very colourfully leading to sleepless nights for Hemulen and a new discovery.

77 Finished! Flying Ship / The Great Race
78 Moomin into the Open Skies = muumin zora he / Going South. - The Moomins hibernate and everyone else goes South.

Long before Moomin came to television there were the original excellent books which are recommended. Also, back in 1956 a Canadian composer living in England by name of Robert Farnon wrote a light piece of music at the request of Associated Newspapers who were publishing a Moomin comic strip (also available in book form). Here is a small low quality sample - you can imagine Moomin as you listen to this.
The music was recorded in 1956 by the Danish State Radio Orchestra conducted by Robert Farnon and released on the Chappell label, C527. On library album "Mood Music Volume 4" (Chappell - who also released a different album "Dance and Mood Music" Moomin was on CCM204 NOT the later CCM304). Original 1956 recording rereleased about 2002 on "Light music gems", Evergreen C81. I cannot locate a current CD release. Current copyright Universal Production Music.
A short low quality sample of Robert Farnon's Moomin:
This is audio for HTML5 browsers only, sorry!

The 1954 London Evening News four panel strip saw new life in 2014 when the centenary of the birth of Tove was celebrated by a brand new Finnish animation of a chapter which appeared in the first book of strips, the chapter was "Moomin on the Riviera" but the film was "Moomins on the Riviera".

image of Moomin four strip cartoon and 2014 movie

It had a very limited release in the UK in May 2015 - 2015 was the 70th anniversary of the first Moomin book - in Stockport there was one single special showing at 11am on a Sunday. Unfortunately it lacked a major distributor- there are few Finnish films shown in the UK. The DVD came out at the end of September 2015- by the end of December it was selling for under a fiver, a real bargain for Moomin fans. It IS a good film especially if you have read the newspaper strip.
The strip was darker than the books and this is reflected in the film, which still obtained a UK "U" certificate.
The new film followed the style of the four panel strip cartoon very carefully- here is a comparison (original copyrights reserved, shown here for review and identification purposes):

This still image was the "concept".

Shown as a series on Sky and released on DVD.
The need for more screen time for a series rather than a film led to a simplification of the CGI (I am sure the quality dropped as series one proceeded!) but most of the characters and the feel of the books was kept. Sadly a pop song was shoehorned into the episodes - the episodes would be improved by the removal of the irrelevant and rather poor music. I did miss Susan Sheridan as the voice of Moomin and thought the Snorkmaiden voice actress had a rather odd take on the character... but not too bad for a modern production. I loved the voice actress for Tootikky- perhaps not surprising as the creative consultant Sophia knew the original Tuulikki for many years.
Christmas 2021 and the BBC show 26 episodes of this new version in Scots as "Gleann na Mumain" on BBC Alba.

English Scripts

Where did the English words that we hear on screen come from? Many of them - perhaps half the episodes- were written by Chris Rock, now working as a professional translator, who has written to me as follows:
"Although I’m a professional translator these days, my role in the 1990s Moomin series was actually as an adapter.
As I recall (and it’s quite a long time ago now), I was supplied with copies of the original Japanese episodes and a rough translation of the scripts from Japanese into English, and was asked to adapt them for broadcast.
That process involved borrowing a professional video recorder with a jog shuttle from my dad (who owned the dubbing company in Cardiff, and was effectively my first client!) and tweaking the scripts to be less literal, more culturally relevant to an English-speaking audience and - of course - trimmed to the appropriate lengths to fit the on-screen mouth movements.

I didn’t adapt all of the Moomin series, but I’m pretty sure I did more than half of it. My friend Susan Bridgewater (who was still "Susan Daniels" in those days) adapted a few of the scripts herself to help me. She thinks "The Kite", "The Witch" and "The Bubbles" (at least) were her exclusive work. A large portion of the words you’re actually hearing the characters speak were written by me…

I thought I was being asked to do a final script at the time. However, Susan just reminded me that she was "a little miffed when [she] spotted edits [in the final broadcast version] to [hers]", which I think is all just part of the process; the adapter isn't the final link in the chain of approval, of course, and the people in the studio (including the actors themselves) often get to add their own input along the way as to what they think works and what doesn't. So the work was substantially mine/ours, but yes, it also appears to have been further modified a little.

As for the character names, I don’t recall having played any part in that - they already had English names in the [rough] translated scripts I received, and so I just stuck with those. [This relates to a query regarding Hodgkins / Frederikson]
I had, of course, read (and loved) the Moomintroll books as a child, and did re-read a few of them as background research when I got the job. Not that I felt it helped all that much - the mood and plotlines of the TV series were, as I recall, often very different from the original books.

The dubbing company was Eco Studios, in Cardiff. The studios where the Moomin dubbing was done were based in the Coal Exchange building in Mount Stuart Square - frequently used these days as a Dr Who / Sherlock location - and the directors were my father Ken Rock (technical director) and his partner John Cross (artistic director). John has sadly since died, but my father is alive and well [2017]."

[Thanks to Chris for those thoughts]

sjs: The other major tv series Chris Rock worked on had no UK broadcast and seems to have originated from France's TF1. The Moomins credits show a major production credit for a Belgian company with a co-production credit for a French company. The character the English know as Hodgkins is indeed referred to as Frederikson in the French books.

English Dubbed voices

This data is for the version shown in the UK by the BBC. An American dub used different actors.

The English dubbed voices were listed in the end credits- there seem to be three sets of end credits, but no indication of who voiced which character. So let's delve.

I asked David Graham which character(s) he voiced, and he had no memory of it. In addition to main characters the voice actors also voiced the minor occaisional characters as required.

IMDB lists the following actors/characters:
Susan Sheridan- Moomin (Susan died in 2015);
Peter Whitman as Papa (see note below).
Pat Starr as Mama;
Toni Barry as Maiden, Little My;
David Graham as Snork;
Garrick Hagon as Hemulen;
John Chancer as Snufkin;
Stacey Jefferson (Gregg) (see note below) as Tooticky;
Jeff Harding in one episode as Captain
IMDB is probably incorrect in listing Peter Woodward (not listed in the credits) as Sniff, it seems to have been Jeff Harding by comparing voices.

Additional notes on casting:

From the credit dates, dubbing took place over several years- First 26 episodes 1990, 27 to 56 dubbed 1995 and later episodes 1999.
Each period of dubbing had its own set of credits which listed the actors but not which characters they voiced. Sometimes a character could be voiced by a different actor to usual or there may have been a longer term change.

lkcrm94 has taken a close look at the voices used in the series (many thanks!) and compared them with other shows, and it looks as though......

Narrator in the first 26 episodes sounds like John Chancer or Garrick Hagan, later episodes are more like Peter Marinker.

Due to the death of Peter Whitman in 1995, the voice for Moominpappa changed in ep 48 and is probably William Roberts (but a possibility of Peter Marinker for ep 48 to 56 then William Roberts).

Stacey Jefferson (Gregg) (see notes below by character name for other voice actors for these characters): Mrs Fillyjonk, Alicia, The Witch, The Mymble, Too-Ticky, Thingumy and Bob.

Jeff Harding- the Inspector and Hobgoblin (except ep 75-see note below).
Garrick Hagon: Stinky; Postman
Robert Chase: Fredrikson (in the books called Hodgkins), and the Hobgoblin in episode 75 (The Fabulous Emerald)

Liza Ross - episodes 23-26: Sorry-oo, Tweety-woo, Toft.

Mymble was voiced by several actors- originally voiced by Toni Barry, but after that she's voiced by Stacey Jefferson in the later episodes. and then Joanne McQuinn (in episode 76)

Alicia was later voiced by Joanne McQuinn.
Thingumy and Bob mostly Stacey Jefferson (Except episode 74, The Wonderful Present where Thingumy is voiced by Joanne McQuinn and Bob is voiced by Toni Barry or Joanna Ruiz).
Too-Ticky: in episode 37 (The Midwinter Bonfire) she's voiced by (amendment ~~Toni Barry~~) Emily Stride, then age c 12, daughter of Susan Sheridan. Possibly also voiced a woody in Ep 36 and possibly other child characters.
The Witch and Mrs. Fillyjonk were possibly later voiced by Joanna Ruiz.

One other voice actor listed in the credits: Brendan Charleson who seems to have voiced unnamed minor characters. For example Ep58- artist in black suit and judge; ep 61:first customer. Any others?

You may from the above understand why long animated series often lack a detailed list of who voices whom, there is more flexibility in voice overs and things can become horribly complex.

(If anyone has any stronger information on who voiced which character in each episode, please do contact me. Anyone got a studio cast list hidden somewhere...?)

English actress Susan Sheridan incorrectly advised on her website that she was the only English actor with the others being American/Canadian! The other actors could take issue with this as David Graham and Garrick Hagon were born in London, Stacey Jefferson and Toni Barry were also British. Jeff Harding was US born but moved to the UK in the late 70's. Pat Starr also American born, living in London. Peter Whitman was Canadian born but moved to the UK in 1968. John Chancer was US born but lives in the UK now.

The TV show and the books

Episodes 1-8: Finn Family Moomintroll.
9-13: Tales from Moominvalley.
14: Moomin and the Family Life
16: Moomin and the Martians
18-20: Moomin Vally Turns Jungle
22: Moominland Winter
24: Tales from Moominvalley

Other pages on this site which you may wish to glance at

Stephen's Anime page has links to other Japanese animated films and tv series, with an emphasis on those which are family friendly.

This web site has a variety of other random areas you may wish to explore:

Texas Instruments TI99/4A home computer resources - this page links to a number of articles on this site, several interesting TI99/4a related external links, and some programs to download and run with the PC99 emulator or the MESS emulator. The TI99/4a started life in 1978 or 1979 and was withdrawn from manufacture in November 1983 - nevertheless there are still several original consoles in working order and emulators to run on your PC.

St Thomas Church Heaton Chapel - a history of this old Church of England chapel, the first in the Heatons area of Stockport, built in what was then called Heaton Norris.

The earliest days of UK radio and tv is a collection of articles culled from a radio magazine published in the 1920s and 1930s with articles on the very earliest of days of radio and television broadcasting in the UK.

MOOMIN - France-Japan / Moomin-Bulls TV / Telecable Benelux BV / 1990

English Scripts

English Dubbed voices

The TV show and the books

Other pages on this site which you may wish to glance at