The Borrowers (TV miniseries)
Encyclopedia
The Borrowers is a BBC
TV miniseries first broadcast in 1992 on BBC2 and then later on American television station TNT. The miniseries is adapted from the 1952 Carnegie Medal
Award winning first novel and second novel of author Mary Norton
's The Borrowers
series: The Borrowers
and The Borrowers Afield, respectively. The film stars Ian Holm
, Penelope Wilton
and Rebecca Callard
and was directed by John Henderson
. The miniseries was named on the BFI
's list of "100 Greatest British Television Programmes
".
The miniseries was followed by The Return of the Borrowers
. That TV miniseries aired in 1993 also on BBC2 and TNT.
Both series follow the Clocks, a family of tiny people who are forced to flee from their home under the floorboards in an old manor into the English countryside.
The tiny family, who live under the kitchen floorboards of an old manor, are eventually discovered by the other humans who occupy the home and are forced to flee into the English countryside. After finding an old boot to live in the family befriends a fellow Borrower - a young man who goes by the name "Dreadful Spiller". Spiller helps them find a more permanent home by reuniting them with relations who had formerly ran away from the same manor after one of them was seen and eventually relocated in the caretaker's cabin on the manor's grounds.
Royal Television Society
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV miniseries first broadcast in 1992 on BBC2 and then later on American television station TNT. The miniseries is adapted from the 1952 Carnegie Medal
Carnegie Medal
The Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...
Award winning first novel and second novel of author Mary Norton
Mary Norton (author)
Mary Norton, née Pearson, was an English children's author. Her books include The Borrowers series.-Background:...
's The Borrowers
The Borrowers
The Borrowers, published in 1952, is the first in a series of children's fantasy novels by English author Mary Norton. The novel and its sequels are about tiny people who live in people's homes and "borrow" things to survive while keeping their existence unknown...
series: The Borrowers
The Borrowers
The Borrowers, published in 1952, is the first in a series of children's fantasy novels by English author Mary Norton. The novel and its sequels are about tiny people who live in people's homes and "borrow" things to survive while keeping their existence unknown...
and The Borrowers Afield, respectively. The film stars Ian Holm
Ian Holm
Sir Ian Holm, CBE is an English actor known for his stage work and for many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear...
, Penelope Wilton
Penelope Wilton
Penelope Alice Wilton, OBE is an English actress.-Life and career:Penelope Alice Wilton was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, to a former actress mother and a businessman father. She is a niece of actors Bill Travers and Linden Travers and a cousin of the actor Richard Morant...
and Rebecca Callard
Rebecca Callard
-Early life:The daughter of Coronation Street actress Beverley Callard, she was born Rebecca Jayne Atkinson, but took her stepfather's surname when her mother married Steven Callard in 1989. In her early roles she used her father's surname and was credited as Rebecca Sowden.As a child Callard lived...
and was directed by John Henderson
John Henderson (director)
John Henderson is a British film and television director His first directing job was for Spitting Image on ITV, which won him a BAFTA...
. The miniseries was named on the BFI
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
's list of "100 Greatest British Television Programmes
100 Greatest British Television Programmes
The BFI TV 100 is a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute , chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened....
".
The miniseries was followed by The Return of the Borrowers
The Return of the Borrowers
The Return of the Borrowers is a BBC TV miniseries first broadcast in 1993 on BBC2 and then later on American television station TNT. The miniseries is adapted from the third and fourth novels of author Mary Norton's The Borrowers series: The Borrowers Afloat and The Borrowers Aloft,...
. That TV miniseries aired in 1993 also on BBC2 and TNT.
Both series follow the Clocks, a family of tiny people who are forced to flee from their home under the floorboards in an old manor into the English countryside.
Plot
The Clock Family are "borrowers," tiny people who live in the houses of regular sized "human beans" (a borrower mispronunciation of human beings). They survive by borrowing all they need from big people and try to keep their existence secret. The main characters are a teenage borrower girl named Arriety and her parents, Pod and Homily. During a borrowing expedition with her father and contrary to borrower nature, Arriety befriends a human boy named George who lives in the home and develops a friendship with him.The tiny family, who live under the kitchen floorboards of an old manor, are eventually discovered by the other humans who occupy the home and are forced to flee into the English countryside. After finding an old boot to live in the family befriends a fellow Borrower - a young man who goes by the name "Dreadful Spiller". Spiller helps them find a more permanent home by reuniting them with relations who had formerly ran away from the same manor after one of them was seen and eventually relocated in the caretaker's cabin on the manor's grounds.
Cast
- Ian HolmIan HolmSir Ian Holm, CBE is an English actor known for his stage work and for many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear...
as Pod Clock - Penelope WiltonPenelope WiltonPenelope Alice Wilton, OBE is an English actress.-Life and career:Penelope Alice Wilton was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, to a former actress mother and a businessman father. She is a niece of actors Bill Travers and Linden Travers and a cousin of the actor Richard Morant...
as Homily Clock - Rebecca CallardRebecca Callard-Early life:The daughter of Coronation Street actress Beverley Callard, she was born Rebecca Jayne Atkinson, but took her stepfather's surname when her mother married Steven Callard in 1989. In her early roles she used her father's surname and was credited as Rebecca Sowden.As a child Callard lived...
as Arriety Clock - Paul Cross as George
- Daniel Newman as "Dreadful Spiller"
- Siân PhillipsSiân PhillipsJane Elizabeth Ailwên "Siân" Phillips, CBE, is a Welsh actress.-Early life:Phillips was born in Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Neath Port Talbot, Wales, the daughter of Sally , a teacher, and David Phillips, a steelworker-turned-policeman...
as Mrs. Driver - David RyallDavid RyallDavid Ryall is an English actor who has appeared on British television since the 1970s. He has had leading roles in Lytton's Diary and Goodnight Sweetheart, as well as memorable roles in Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective and Andrew Davies's adaptation of To Play the King and The Final Cut, the...
as Crampfurl - Tony HaygarthTony HaygarthTony Haygarth is an English television, film and theatre actor.-Career:At the age of eighteen, Haygarth worked unsuccessfully as a lifeguard in Torquay, and also tried escapology, equally unsuccessfully...
as Mildeye - Stanley LeborStanley LeborStanley Harvey Lebor is an English actor, best known for his role as Howard in the 1980s BBC TV series, Ever Decreasing Circles and the Mongon Doctor in Flash Gordon...
as Uncle Hendreary Clock - Pamela CundellPamela CundellPamela I. Cundell is a British character actress. Her best known role was Mrs Fox in the long-running TV comedy Dad's Army....
as Aunt Lupy - Victoria Donovan as Eggletina
Awards
BAFTA Awards- 1993 Best Children's Programme (Fiction) (Nominated)
- 1993 Best Design (Won)
Royal Television Society
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
- 1992 Best Production Design (Won)
External links
- The Borrowers review at BlogcriticsBlogcriticsBlogcritics is a blog network and online magazine of news and opinion. The site—a self-proclaimed "sinister cabal of superior writers"—was founded in 2002 by Eric Olsen and Phillip Winn...