Y me encanta que, en historias como la del zoo, Mortimer no es quien salva el día, sino que anda en lo suyo buscando revancha de las jirafas.

Arabel Jones, as everybody must know by now, is a little girl of five (going on 35, I always think) who lives in Rainwater Crescent, Rumbury Town, a district of London, with her taxi-driver father, Ben, his outrageous wife, Martha, and Arabel’s pet raven, Mortimer. Granny Jones does some Christmas baking, and Arabel and Mortimer make Christmas decorations for Mallards' Bank. The first of these was Jonny Briggs from Joan Eadington’s stories which had been specially written for Jackanory, followed by Simon and the Witch by Margaret Stuart Barry and Happy Families from the books by Allan Ahlberg.Post-production is now under way: editing the entire series, adding opening and closing titles and the specially commissioned music. On this occasion Quentin agreed to do the illustrations for the story and the jacket for the special Silver Jackanory Book. Further Arabel and Mortimer stories arrived, uncommissioned, at regular intervals and so began a long-standing relationship between Joan, Quentin, Bernard Cribbins (who read all but the first story), and all of us in the Jackanory office.

Late one night, as Mr Jones drove his taxi home through a storm, he spotted a large black bird with a hairy fringe round its beak sprawled out in the road. Mortimer se lleva todo el protagonismo con sus actitudes, y me encanta lo curioso e inteligente que es. It is the big day for Mortimer and Arabel, but unexpected things happen when Seleena hits the high notes and Mortimer hits Pianono, Mr.The first series was originally shown on BBC One on Mondays at 4:15 pm and Wednesdays at 4:20 pm between 15 November and 22 December 1993. When Arabel's father, Ebenezer Jones, drives his taxi home late one night he comes across 'a large black bird, with a hairy fringe around its beak. Others including the much loved Necklace of Raindrops and award winning Kingdom Under the Sea are illustrated by Jan Pieńkowski.

He has won many prizes, including the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration, the Eleanor Farjeon Award and the Kate Greenaway Medal, and in 1999 he was appointed the first Children’s Laureate. The shooting of the series took seven weeks: an exhausting business, especially for the puppeteers who had to stand with their arms in the air while doing all manner of manipulations which they couldn’t see except with the use of small monitors, all the while speaking lines, moving the puppets motions and trying not to get any parts of their bodies in shot! I had a meeting with Joan at her daughter Lizza’s house and asked her whether she liked the idea and whether she was able to devise some original storylines for a 12-part series which could then be dramatised.This series was also released on VHS (BBCV 5249) under the same name as the show itself on 5 April 1994, but it is now out of print. Leggitt's pet pigeon Pianono, a Scottish odd-job woman named Flo (known as "Have-A-Go Flo" and "In-The-Know Flo" by Mr. A large crack has developed in the Joneses' fireplace because the hole in the garden is growing, in spite of Mortimer's efforts. After the initial shock, and helped I’m sure by the fact that Lizza had worked in puppet theatre, they gave their blessing.