Watership Down (1999 TV series)

Watership Down
The Watership Down title card for Seasons 1-2. From left to right: Pipkin, Bigwig, Hazel, Blackberry, and Fiver.
GenreFantasy
Children's television
Created byRichard Adams (book)
Written byMary Crawford
Alan Templeton
Directed byTroy Sullivan
Opening theme
Ending theme
  • "Bright Eyes" (reprise)
ComposerMike Batt
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Canada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes39
Production
Executive producersSimon Vaughan
Justin Bodle
Steven Denure
Neil Court
ProducersSimon Vaughan
Beth Stevenson
Running time23 minutes
Production companiesDecode Entertainment
Nepenthe Productions
Alltime Entertainment
Original release
NetworkYTV (Canada)
CITV (United Kingdom)
Release28 September 1999 (1999-09-28) –
4 December 2001 (2001-12-04)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Watership Down is an animated fantasy children's television series, adapted from the 1972 novel of the same name by Richard Adams. The second adaptation of the novel (after the 1978 film), it was produced by UK's Alltime Entertainment and Canada's Decode Entertainment in association with Martin Rosen (the director of the 1978 film), with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund, the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit and the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit from the Government of Ontario.[1] The series stars several well-known British actors, including Stephen Fry, Rik Mayall, Phill Jupitus, Jane Horrocks, Dawn French, John Hurt and Richard Briers (the latter two also star in the film).

For the theme song, Stephen Gately performed a new arrangement of Art Garfunkel's "Bright Eyes" (included in the 1978 film). Mike Batt (who wrote "Bright Eyes") composed an all-new score performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.[2] In 2003, composer Mike Batt was nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Original Music Score for a Dramatic Series for his work on the series.[3]

Watership Down aired for three seasons from September 1999 to December 2001, on both YTV in Canada and CITV in the UK,[4] though the latter aired only the first two seasons. 39 episodes were produced.

  1. ^ Decode Entertainment. "Watership Down"
  2. ^ MikeBatt.com
  3. ^ Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. "Canada's Awards Database". Accessed 19 April 2008.
  4. ^ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. pp. 341–342. ISBN 9781476672939.