Little Bo Peep is one of the seven Magical Events and one of the most rarely seen. It features Little Bo Peep, a shepherdess in a dress and hat, and her sheep which have humorous Cockney sounding voices which sound like characters from Monty Python or EastEnders. The sketch was the last one made as the other six magical events were shown in the first 11 episodes of Teletubbies while this magical event wasn't shown until the 245th episode which aired after Teletubbies was at its halfway mark. The sketch is the longest sketch. The unusual things are, there is no sound from the event (which is the same thing with the Magic House event) which indicates what is happening and there is a sequence, with long character shots and there is equipment visible. If you look closely, you'll see the characters are actually marionettes, puppets controlled by strings, and they move as a stop-motion, using the pictures for the footage.
Unlike other magical events, this one uses stop-motion animation instead of computer-generated animation.
Little Bo Peep appears in some various episodes. They are:
Colours Yellow
Teletubbies Magical Event Little Bo Peep - Clip
Long Horns (US Version)
Look (US DVD)
Teletubbies: Happy Birthday! (UK DVD)
Synopsis
The sketch starts with The Magic Windmill spinning. The Teletubbies then arrive silently at a place in Teletubbyland while the windmill is still heard spinning. The Sun starts to laugh and giggle, excited about finding out what is going to happen. This sketch is very different from other sketches as there is no sound from the event and the characters are visible from the start. A piano tune plays and the Teletubbies look around and see eight clouds in the sky, floating to the right. There is then a quick closeup of the clouds. The Teletubbies giggle quietly to the destination of the magical event. The Teletubbies then arrive at the destination of the magical event, a hilly field, and see the eight clouds as they find a place to sit, with another closeup. The Teletubbies then sit down on the last hill. A new piano tune plays and in another close off the clouds float by until sheep sounds are heard and black heads and legs form in the clouds. The 8 clouds then turn into sheep and one small cloud turns into a white lamb. The 8 sheep float across the sky and then float and land on the ground, forming a line, with the biggest sheep at the top and the little lamb at the end. The excited Teletubbies then giggle and laugh like mad upon seeing clouds turn into sheep. The looking sheep then walk in a line across Teletubbyland with hills and flowers, bleeting, with the biggest sheep at the top and the tiny baby lamb at the end of the line, heading east. The sheep then do the same thing again, bleeting even louder, walking across the hills. Then a voice in the middle of nowhere says, "Oh, where, oh, where are my sheep?" Little Bo Peep comes floating down from the sky and landed into Teletubbyland. She also says "Hello!" to the viewers and sings how she's lost her sheep and doesn't know where to find them, so she has to search for her sheep around Teletubbyland, with the help of the viewers. The sheep also sing too from behind her. The tiny lamb is blowing raspberries over the hills, and the sheep are playing hide and seek. Little Bo Peep just can't see them anywhere, until she finds them, and she sings how she's found her sheep and she said, "Bye-bye!" to the viewers and she and her sheep float away into the sky while singing the final words and disappears before the Magic Windmill stops spinning or the Sun Baby giggles, if there's some time.
Song Lyrics
Little Bo Peep: I'm Little Bo Peep, I've lost my sheep. I don't know where to find them. I'll leave them alone, and they'll come home, wagging their tails behind them.
The Sheep: We are the sheep, we are the sheep. We are the sheep and here we are, now we are the sheep, we are the sheep. We are, we are the sheep.
(Little Bo Peeps : I'm Little Bo Peep, I've lost my sheep. I don't know where to find them.
The Sheep: Leave them alone, and they'll come home, wagging their tails behind them. - 3x)
Little Bo Peep: I'm Little Bo Peep, and here are my sheep. I'm ever so glad I've found them. I left them alone an they came home, wagging their tails behind them.
Trivia
- The voice actors behind Little Bo Peep and the sheep are unknown. It was rumoured that Little Bo Peep was voiced by Toyah Wilcox. However if you listen closely, it's actually a man doing the voice. The sheep are rumoured to be voiced by Tim Whitnall. However there is no evidence that indicates this is true.
- In the foreign language dubs of the sketch. Little Bo Peep is either voiced by a man or woman. However, unlike the Lion and Bear where the Bear has a straight up man's voice in some dubs, if Little Bo Peep is voiced by a man, the voice actor puts on a feminine voice.
- Like The Lion and Bear, in most episodes Little Bo Peep happens straight after the TV Event.
- The scene where the clouds appear is the same where the Teletubbies look around in the Lion and Bear sketch.
- In Catherine's Toy Farm and Girl in the Back Garden, the Tubby Bye-Bye Voice Trumpet rises straight after Little Bo Peep and the sheep disappear, rather than using the Stop Spinning Magic Windmill animation like usual.
- Similar to some sketches like The Lion and the Bear (original), Tap Dancing Teddy Bear, or the Singing Puppet Man in the Magical Pink House, the Teletubbies' bottoms don't make a honking or parping noise when they sat down on the hill
- This was one of the two non-CGI magical events the other one was The Bear and Lion.
- In Puppies, the Magic Windmill stops spinning and then the Teletubbies dance a round-and-round dance