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. 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: Happy Birthday! (DVD) (Catherine's Toy Farm)
Long Horns (US Version)
Look! (US DVD)
Synopsis
The sketch starts with the Magic Windmill spinning. The Teletubbies then arrive silently at the Magic Event place in Teletubbyland while the windmill is still heard spinning. The Sun Baby starts to giggle. This sketch is very different from other sketches as there is no sound from the event and the characters are visible from the start. The Teletubbies look around and see eight clouds in the sky, floating to the right while the Teletubbies cloud tune plays. There is then a quick close up of the clouds. The Teletubbies giggle quietly as they follow the clouds. After another close up of the clouds, the Teletubbies then sit down on a hill. A new piano tune plays and in another close up, the clouds float by until sheep sounds are heard and black heads and legs form in the clouds. The 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 after seeing the sheep land. The sheep begin to explore Teletubbyland with the little lamb slowly following behind. 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 lands into Teletubbyland. She says 'Hello!' and starts to sing about how she's lost her sheep and doesn't know where to find them. So she searches for her sheep around Teletubbyland. The sheep also sing too. The little lamb follows behind and starts blowing raspberries over the hills. The sheep hide behind some hills as Little Bo Peep looks around. After a while, the sheep come back to Little Bo Peep. Then she sings about how she's found her sheep. Little Bo Peep says 'Bye-Bye' and floats back up into the sky with the sheep and little lamb following behind. Once they've completely disappeared, either the windmill stops spinning or the Sun Baby giggles.
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 Peep: 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.
Watch
Gallery
Trivia
- When Little Bo Peep and the sheep float down and back up into the sky, they are controlled by strings. When they move around Teletubbyland, stop motion is used.
- The voice actors behind Little Bo Peep and the sheep are unknown! Since the credits at the end of the episodes do not feature any additional voices.
- This is the only Magical Event to feature the new set of costume designs from 1998 - 1999
- When the Teletubbies laugh after the sheep have landed in Teletubbyland, their laughing is re-used audio from the Tubby Custard Flood segment in Trickle Painting.
- 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 since the sketch is long.
- 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.
- In Puppies and Girl in the Back Garden, the Teletubbies giggle when they arrive at the Magical Event hill. (It's the same giggle sounds from the Edited Sketch of the Lion and Bear)
- Similar to some sketches like the Lion and the Bear (original), Dancing Bear, or the Magic House, the Teletubbies' bottoms don't make noise when they sit down on the hill. However in Girl in the Back Garden, their bottoms do make noise.
- 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 do the Round and Round dance
- All of those episodes above were directed by Andrew Davenport.