Noah's Island

1997 - 1999

The Lost Zoo

29th September 1997

Episode 1

A fireball from the sky causes Noah's home to break free from the Canadian coastline and float away. Now adrift in the Atlantic Ocean, the island runs out of steam in dangerous and freezing waters. Noah is ready to try anything to set the lava flowing again. Elsewhere a ship carrying a collection of animals bound for foreign zoos sinks in the middle of the ocean, leaving many of the surviving caged animals shipwrecked.

Reg Draws a Map

30th September 1997

Episode 2

The island is beset with territorial disputes. Having won the animals interest, Noah is continuing with his efforts to get them to co-operate as one community. However, Reg, believing Noah to be crazy with his eccentric ways, protests against it with his own idea of each animal having their own individual country on the island. When the two animals both argue over their different ideas, Reg wins. Noah is left by himself. While some of the remaining animals try to sort out their problems, Noah recruits a small band of animals who are assigned certain jobs around the volcano. Meanwhile, all of the animals are finding it difficult to adjust to their new territories after suffering setbacks. They crawl back to Noah eventually realising that he was right about them working and living together as a family.

Sacha Finds a Home

1st October 1997

Episode 3

Noah has a shower with the help of Mammothsbody, who uses his trunk as a hose. Noah explains his intentions to the mammoth of rescuing more animals from Spain as they pass the Iberian Peninsula. But as Mammothsbody prepares to refill his trunk with water, a jellyfish lodges itself in his trunk and is accidentally sucked up! Noah has to rush the distressed mammoth to the infirmary where he finds Rocco lying across the operating table, Woomera impatiently attempting to remove him. Upon seeing the stricken patient, the kangaroo knocks Rocco off the table. Rocco fists the jellyfish from Mammothsbody's trunk. At that moment Salomi enters and Mammothsbody proposes to her, but once again he is rejected as the female mammoth spots the jellyfish. A heartbroken Mammothsbody goes to Problem Walrus to seek advice on the matter but the walrus puts him down, telling him he is 'slow, dim, witty and clueless'. Later the island becomes home to a Russian desman named Sacha.

Sacha's Busy Day

2nd October 1997

Episode 4

The island runs aground, and A Lion appears.

Elephant Trouble

3rd October 1997

Episode 5

Tusker's ability to propel large quantities of paint across the cave walls proves most agreeable with Reg.

Search for the Baby Elephant

6th October 1997

Episode 6

Reg decides that his cave dwelling needs a splash of colour and therefore kidnaps the Baby Elephant to fill the vacancy of interior decorator. Tusker's ability to propel large quantities of paint across the cave walls proves most agreeable with Reg yet unfortunately the little elephant's grandfather does not seem to share in this venture. Grandfather elephant successfully rescues Tusker and dunks Reg in the remainder of the paint. Reg, absolutely furious by this, decides to attempt to drop a large boulder on the elephants yet as always it ends in tears for Reg; who ends up running for his life from an out of control 2 tonne boulder!

Doggies

7th October 1997

Episode 7

No overview available.

The Shipwrecked Desman

8th October 1997

Episode 8

No overview available.

Born To Be Wild

9th October 1997

Episode 9

No overview available.

How To Be A Bear

10th October 1997

Episode 10

As the island travels along the South American coast, the Vulture Squadron circles over the island and comes down to land. But the Squadron Leader accidentally flies into the fire ball and as a result is blinded, leaving him unable to fulfil his duties. The injured vulture is carried to the infirmary where Rocco tells him to breathe in some of the volcano's sulphurous fumes to cure his ailment. The Squadron Leader then announces his resignation. Things get worse for the squadron when Him announces that he wants to be a bear so he can attend Noah's Bear Evening, an event which he holds regularly for the other bears (Ursula and Panda). Noah advises Him to seek out Ursula who asks Panda to demonstrate her 'ferocity' for the hapless vulture. Elsewhere a stream has been diverted by a large log causing the island's water supply to flow in a different direction. Noah, Woamera and Rocco attempt to move it but fail. Grandfather Elephant is 100 years old and informs the rest of the animals he will be leaving the island. He tells Mammothsbody that he has 'a warm heart' who says to Salomi it is 'the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me' before proposing again. As usual he is rejected. Noah then comes to ask the ancient elephant to remove the log. Grandfather Elephant is not attending the Bear Evening as he is not a bear and so spends some time playing with Tusker on the beach. This involves burying a visibly astonished Problem Walrus in sand. Bear Evening is proving unsuccessful as Him upsets the peace and Ursula lunges at him from across the table. Sacha is upset at being unable to attend and plans a circus performance to coincide with the event. Lion? is somewhat bemused to find himself the main attraction and when Sacha encourages him to be fierce, he takes it literally and threatens to eat the desman. Sacha's pleas are heard by Salomi and Mammothsbody who are out for a walk on the beach. Salomi calls for help. Noah and the other Bear Evening attendees hear the commotion and Him flies off to the rescue, wanting to prove he is once again a vulture. Rocco is hosting a Monkey Night at the same time in Reg's home. When Reg walks in, he isn't happy at the intrusion. He then reveals he blocked the stream to create a waterfall. Rocco tells him that Grandfather Elephant is about to destroy all his work and Reg runs off to watch the destruction. Later the animals gather on the beach to watch Grandfather Elephant as he leaves. He tells Salomi and Mammothsbody to take care of Tusker from now on. Tusker is very upset. Noah's final narrative reveals he was best friends with the departed elephant.

Woomera Runs Away

13th October 1997

Episode 11

It is a normal day on Noah's Island until the silence is broken by the discovery of some dolphins on the beach. The animals assist Woomera, who gets a personal attachment to the situation, in enticing the dolphins back to the sea; alas the next day the dolphins have been washed up on the beach once again. By this time the entire island's population has fallen ill with the 'meese': a contagious virus similar to measles. So with the majority of the animals quarantined in the infirmery Woomera has no choice but to save the dolphins herself. All night she tries but her efforts are in vein, for at dawn she confides in Noah that 'they're all dead.' With a great sense of personal loss Woomera decides to leave the island and asks Noah to steer the island as near to South America as possible so she can swim ashore. When Rocco gets wind of Woomera's plan he races to the beach to stop her. But he is unfortunate enough to be in the firing line of a coconut, accidentally rolled off a cliff above by Sacha and his little cockroach friend. Knocked unconscious by this heavy fruit, Woomera turns to see Rocco face down in the surf. In an attempt to turn back to assist, from some offshore rocks she slips into the ocean and is taken ashore by yet another dolphin. She pulls Rocco from the water and realises her place is on Noah's Island.

The Skating Rhinoceros

14th October 1997

Episode 12

In an attempt to reach the legendary Diamentina as soon as possible Noah decides to take a short cut around Cape Horn; an area of sea renounded for its vicious storms. During the passage through this treacherous stretch of water a massive wave crashes through the island and extinguishes the firebowl rendering the island merciless to the ocean currents. The animals are furious with Noah for not only has their only power source been lost but Mammothsbody has been seriously injured from the storm. Noah now a broken bear wanders off and Reg, never missing a trick, takes over and self-elects himself as captain. The island is drifting further and further south and the temperature is dropping and when snow starts to fall it is a welcome relief for the animals that Mammothsbody has recovered and Salomi has accepted his proposal of marriage. Whereas Noah, who is trying to square things with Reg, is far too occupied to bless the happy couple. Reg threatens Noah that he will 'set his doggies' on him if he doesn't leave but Noah isn't giving up that easily and with a little assistance from some visiting penguins Reg relinquishes his post and Noah returns to his rightful position.

A Dodo Do-da Day

15th October 1997

Episode 13

Noah's Island has ended up floating very near to Antarctica which causes a rather chilly unpleasant environment for the island's animals. With snow and ice everywhere the animals all turn to Reg with his human genius to make them a fire. After some subtle persuasion Reg agrees and makes the animals a large fire in his cave. Meanwhile Sacha and Carmon have been exploring the winter wonderland and come across an uncovered egg. Intrigued they take the egg to Reg's cave where the fire hatches it. Nab, one of the only animals present at the hatching, recognises it instantly as a 'Do-Da', a famous extinct bird. Whilst these events are happening Noah, Sacha and Sacha's nephew (the baby vulture) are hot on the trail of a shooting star which has landed and become lodged at the highest point on the island. Also down in the Mammoth cave the long awaited wedding of Salomi and Mammothsbody is well underway with the majority of the island's animals present. One of the procedures at a mammoth wedding is to 'stomp' around for several hours and the animals reluctantly respect this ancient tradition yet the vibrations cause the ice above ground to crack. This in turn dislodges the shooting star from its resting place and causes it to roll down the hill side at tremendous speed, fortunately right into the firebowl freeing the island's energy once again. Enjoy

Top Cast

Jon Glover•Sally Grace•David Holt

Noah's Island was an animated children's television series made by the creators of The Animals of Farthing Wood and commissioned by the European Broadcasting Union. It was directed by Philippe Leclerc and Alan Simpson and written by Elphin Lloyd-Jones and John M. Mills. Each episode, of which there were 39, ran for 28 minutes. Although not as successful as Farthing Wood, it was fairly popular on Saturday mornings in many of the homes of the United Kingdom, particularly with its younger target audience. Based on the Bible story, Noah's Ark, the series was praised for its characterization, imaginative storylines and for introducing ecological themes in a way that delighted children.

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Full Cast

Jon Glover Image

Jon Glover

Sally Grace Image

Sally Grace

David Holt Image

David Holt

Jill Schilling

Ron Moody Image

Ron Moody

(voice)

Full Crew

Siegmund Grewenig

Executive Producer

Theresa Plummer-Andrews

Executive Producer

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