The Wind In The Willows [VHS]

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Billy Rabbit ( David Jason) – "Billy" is present in all series. He first appears as an unnamed character the Series 1 episode "The Grand Annual Show", but becomes more of a recurring character from Series 3 onwards. He is not to be confused with Billy the Fieldmouse, who appears on and off in the series. Both appear together in a number of episodes. The Christmas Collection (5 October 1992) - Auld Lang Syne. (Compilation VHS with The Sooty Show and Rainbow) Rat ( Peter Sallis) – Best and platonic friend to Mole. A friendly and strait-laced everyman with a love of poetry and music, and a great passion for the river by which he lives. Disc Two: Spring and Summer – The Great Steamer, The Lost River, Paper Chase, May Day, Toad: Photographer, The Great Golfing Gamble, Grand Annual Show. VCI Children's Promo From 1996 with clips of "Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends", "Fourways Farm", "Sooty & Co.", "Rosie & Jim", "Tots Video", "Sky Dancers" and "Dragon Flyz". [announced by Jonathan Kydd]

The popular theme song is based on the instrumental theme to the original film, which had been composed by Keith Hopwood and Malcolm Rowe and arranged by Brian Ibbetson. For the series, the song was adapted by the same composers and arranger and was sung by British singer-songwriter Ralph McTell. The Stone Roses guitarist John Squire also worked on this series, but as a prop maker, not a musician.Oh! Mr Toad! (VHS – 5 February 1990) – Oarsman Toad, Midsummer Night's Disaster, The Complete Bungler. The Video Collection children's trailer from 1993 with clips from "Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends", "Rosie & Jim", "Tots TV" and "The Wind in the Willows". Ratty and Mole:Chums For Life – 1. The Ghost at Mole End, 2. The Great Steamer, 3. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, 4. The Storm. Toad decides to enter the "Home-Made Boat Competition" in the River Bank Regatta. However, he can't be bothered to build a boat, and therefore decides to buy one and attempt to pass it off as his own. This plan fails, and he decides to build a boat just to spite the cynical Badger. His first attempt at building a boat fails, but the Weasels offer to help him build another one, and disaster strikes when it sinks with Toad aboard.

Model Characters Constructed by Peter Saunders, Noel Baker, Colin Batty, Peter Bentley, Clare Elliott, Marcia Pidgeon and Bridget Smith. Spring (DVD) / Spring Follies (VHS – 4 April 1988 & 6 March 1995) – The Great Steamer, Paperchase ( The Lost River in newer VHS 1995), May Day On a Toad-inspired hiking trip attended by Mole and Rat, the trio soon bump into an old friend – Alfred the horse who once pulled Toad's caravan. Tired of the ghastly (yet only) 3 quarters of a mile journey thus far, Toad leads the way to the derelict caravan full of desire to hit "the open road again". However, things change when a group of field mice lose their homes due to the harvester owned the farmer who also owns Alfred, and they actually want to live in the caravan. In no time at all, Toad is off on another craze astride his new Dursley Pedersen bicycle. Badger does not appear in this episode. One morning after the storm, Rat return home with Mole after being invited to breakfast, only to discover that the river has disappeared from its channel. Confused and distressed, he enlists the help of Mole, Badger and Toad, and they all set off to find out what happened. But Rat is not the only one to have lost something: on their search, he and Toad encounter a family of fieldmice whose caravan home has been flooded out. Toad is eventually persuaded to put them up at Toad Hall, but meanwhile the others may have found a clue to the disappearance of the river.The Four Seasons – A 2 VHS boxset (29 June 1998), containing one episode each from the original four season based Videos (see below) – May Day, Grand Annual Show, Harvest and Winter Sports. Version 2 is The 1998 Re-Release which contains The 1991-1998 Thames Video Ident at the start and end of the video! The Grand Annual Show - When the Grand Annual Show is announced, Badger, Ratty, Mole and Toad are all determined to win the Silver Cup for the Best Entry, but one of theme decides to cheat and naturally so do the Weasels. The Video Collection Children's Promo From 1995 with clips of "Britt Allcroft's Magic Adventures of Mumfie", "Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends", "Tots TV", "Rosie & Jim", "Brum", "Sooty & Co." and "The Wind in the Willows". [announced by Sarah Greene] The Video Collection children's trailer from 1992 with clips from "Rosie & Jim", "Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends", "Learn with Sooty" and "Sesame Street".

The Lost River - The construction of the railway line diverts Ratty's beloved river and floods the fieldmice from their homes. Otter brings news that the havoc this causes is only temporary. Badger is concerned about the imminent arrival of the railway line. Mrs. Carrington-Moss ( Beryl Reid) – The magistrate in the film; she appears in the episodes, "The Grand Annual Show", "Buried Treasure", and "Burglary at Toad Hall".Fighting Fit - Nagged by his friends about his physical condition, Toad invests in some keep-fit apparatus and turns Toad Hall into a gymnasium, with disastrous consequences. Disguised as representatives of the railway company, the weasels talk Toad into selling Toad Hall to them. Toad plans to travel the world with the proceeds, until Badger gets wind of the deal and reads the fraudulent contract. Bored by Badger's intellectual slide show, Toad decides to hold a soirée at Toad Hall. He starts with a game of charades, but when his opening charade ( The Three Musketeers) goes wrong, he calls a halt and suggest they play Pin the Tail on the Donkey instead. This plan goes awry when the blindfolded host falls down a flight of stairs. Badger suggests an impressions game, but Ratty's impression of Toad offends him, and he storms off to bed, vowing never to speak to them again. He then has a strange dream where his friends and the weasels have switched bodies, causing him to see the error of his ways. In 2003, Time Life DVD released a set of six DVDs with four digitally re-mastered episodes on each disc containing various episodes from Series 1 – 3; these were as follows: VHS Videos with Walt Disney Home Video's children's trailer from Late 1991 (announced by Brian Cummings)

After staying with Mole's cousin Auberon in London, Toad excitedly tells his three friends of the wonderful French cuisine he ate whilst there, and promptly announces his plans to host a special dinner at Toad Hall, which Toad himself will prepare. Toad sets to work on preparing the various dishes, with calamitous results. Upon receiving their error-strewn invitations, Badger, Rat, and Mole agree to attend, and fearing the worst, take their own provisions with them. Toad decides that he must have a portrait on the wall in his home, alongside his ancestors, and not being convinced by the merits of painting, he sends for some expensive camera equipment. Having contemptuously disregarded the introductory manual "For Novices", he sets out to practice what he believes to be a natural ability for photography. It soon becomes clear that Toad is not a skilled photographer, and after a number of mishaps (one of which entails Toad falling into the river), Toad gives up and develops the photographs. Inviting all of his friends to see the results, it is revealed that many of them are badly shot or shot with the lens cap still on, which gives the Riverbankers a good laugh and makes Toad somewhat embarrassed Toad's new enthusiasm is film-making, but with Badger, Mole and Rat preparing for the winter he seeks other cast members. After the initial failure of a young hedgehog and of Billy Rabbit in the role of the orphan child, the heroine and her villainous father are replaced by the Assistant and Chief Weasel. The screening reveals a rough cut and, amid much hilarity, Mr. Toad's wedding to the Chief Weasel's Assistant. During the movie, Badger remarks to Mole that despite all of Toad's follies, he really had given everyone a little magic with his film. He also says that when they are gone, they will be preserved forever on a little strip of film, showing those in the future of what their lives were like in their time.

While resting, Mole hears sounds which he cannot account for. It leads him to fear that there might be a ghost in his house. Mole seeks reassurance from Badger that the sounds could be the noises of growing tree roots, etc., but Toad exacerbates the issue by singing to Mole about the thousands of ghosts skulking in Toad Hall. Eventually, though, he discovers that the sounds are produced by a hedgehog which has fallen into a crevice immediately above his burrow. With the help of Rat, he saves the animal. Ernest, a young shrew, is missing in the snow. Rat and Mole discover him with the Chief Weasel and his Assistant, who Ernest calls "Uncle Bill" and "Uncle Bert". They have taken him in after finding him lost and taught him to make a bunny from a handkerchief. Rat and Mole are surprised by the weasels' kind streak, but the weasels are rather affronted to be accused of kindness, and try to pretend they have been mistreating the shrew. Accompanying Ernest home, they encounter Toad. Toad was also searching for the shrew, but became lost along the way. The weasels stole his possessions, and he is displeased to discover that Ernest was treated to his lunch. Badger does not appear in this episode.