Review: The Animals of Farthing Wood

DVD: The Animals of Farthing Wood (1993)

I have very fond memories of watching The Animals of Farthing Wood with my children when they were young. We used to sit together as a family and I vividly remember that everyone enjoyed it and we all thought it was a lovely programme. Amazingly the same feelings we had some 20+ years ago all came flooding back watching it today. Although it did give me a nice fuzzy feeling, it also made me feel a little old!

The Animals of Farthing Wood is a simple animation which follows the tales of various woodland creatures. Their home is being destroyed so they are led by fox in their quest to find the fabled White Deer Park.

It surprised me that for a so called kids TV show, The Animals of Farthing Wood deals with some very important issues in a delicate and considerate way. These include death, old age, violence and the human mistreatment of animals and their homes for the sake of progress.

I really enjoyed revisiting The Animals of Farthing Wood and found it was funny in parts and sad in others. It always had a great story and even though it was released over twenty years ago, it is still thought provoking and relevant. The only word of caution I would add is young children might find it a little hard going, so I would suggest kids over 7 give it a go.

Review by Helen Handley from discs kindly supplied by Network on Air.