Tilda Appleseed

TILDA is a clever, very cultivated white church mouse, who lives in a tiny house at the foot of the church wall. TILDA lives there with her pet SNAILY and close to her best friends, the gray mouse MOLLY, who is a worrywart, the grumpy but kind-hearted hedgehog RUPERT, the high-spirited squirrel twins BILLY and BENNY, EDNA the squirrel Mum who’s always as busy as a bee and the vain but loveable robin ROBIN. TILDA loves exciting stories just as much as she likes delicious food, so it’s no surprise that there’s always plenty of both in her tiny house. She deals humorously with matters at hand and in her very own original way, therefore small things can turn into big stories… And the solutions Tilda comes up with, when dealing with problems are refreshingly unique and childlike in their directness. Tilda Appleseed and her friends are a wonderful ensemble that will immediately find a place in the hearts of all viewers of this lovingly animated series. Season 2 is already in production!



Format:
Season 1: 26 x 7‘
Season 2: 26 x 7‘

Genre/Subgenre:
Junior/Animation

Target Audience:
Preschool 3–6



Characters

  • TILDA APPLESEED

    Tilda is quite literally „as busy as a mouse.“ Planning a picnic, giving her house pet a bath, organising a flea market, winning a baking contest, getting rid of unpleasant „guests,“ deciphering a secret recipe, saving a chick, taking care of her nephew, the list of her daily activities seems to go on forever. Even when Tilda is sitting comfortably on her couch drinking tea she has something to do; thinking about her Great Great Aunt Emily’s pearls of wisdom, listening to her best friend Molly’s worries or exchanging important handyman’s tips with Rupert the hedgehog.

    Believing that all her friends should be happy, Tilda always goes about doing things with determination and good humor. Helping is her mission in life. Because that’s what friends are for! That’s her motto, as well as the notion that „there’s nothing that can’t be accomplished.“ That sometimes a small but important detail is overlooked, in the face of all this zealousness, is no wonder. “That’s really quite careless of you Tilda Appleseed” Tilda inevitably scolds herself. But no matter, even when Tilda sometimes overshoots the mark, she always has a better, more original idea already up her sleeve.

  • MOLLY

    Molly is a gray mouse and is always worrying about something. You could get the impression that the colour of her fur was directly related to her constantly worried state of mind. Molly lives in a little country store tucked right underneath the mail counter. Which is why she always knows what’s going on in the village and Robin the robin is of course very jealous of this. However the real question is whether the latter is really a good thing for Molly. As everything Molly overhears (from moon to goon to spoon) rolls over in her head, and she makes a mountain out of a mole hill at every small sign and see disaster around every corner. She then locks herself up in her home and cleans it meticulously. Out of sight and out of mind. But Molly can’t clean up the whole world.

    Molly is strongly driven by her moods, on top of the world one minute, down in the dumps the next. When Molly is really afraid, only Tilda can help her with kind advice and a steaming cup of tea.

  • RUPERT

    Rupert is a hedgehog and acts as prickly as he looks. After all, there’s nothing he wants more than peace, quiet and relaxation. While others are wasting their time with frenzied activities, he looks forward to hibernating every winter. When Rupert is not sleeping or gets agitated about something (for example that he didn’t get enough sleep), he absolutely loves to read books. There’s only one thing Rupert likes more than reading and relaxing, and that is Tilda. As under his prickly exterior he’s got a heart of gold. Tilda knows for sure that, when push comes to shove, Rupert can be counted on to be there. And remain stoically calm and keeping his cool at times of crisis: “Guys, I think we’ve strayed off course…” is then his analysis of the situation, and everyone can count on him one hundred percent.

  • SNAILY

    Snaily is very attached to Tilda, but is actually really more attached to its shell into which it disappears when needing some peace and quiet (very often) or is in a bad mood (very seldom). Snaily doesn’t need much exercise and leaves a trail of slime wherever he has crawled to during the day. Snaily is driven by hunger or curiosity and has to be careful not to be overlooked.

  • EDNA

    Edna is Billy and Benny’s squirrel Mum and lives with her twins high up in the old oak tree, way above the hedgehog Rupert’s house. Edna is a very caring and is also a very busy Mum, always trying to make sure her sons have enough to eat and to not lose sight of them. When she sometimes has to scurry off after her twins, her friends are impressed by her climbing skills.

  • BILLY and BENNY

    Billy and Benny are two squirrel twins, spunky and very frisky. They often want to outdo one another, which can lead to hair-raising situations. And then squirrel Mum Edna has her paws full trying to get her sons back in line. Assuming she can even find them in the hustle and bustle of Hedge Rose Lane, that is. Billy and Benny are the youngest in the circle of friends, and if they are the only ones who have to stay inside when it’s raining and storming outside, it’s more than likely they feel insulted, deciding to pout and stare out of the window at the gray skies all day long in complete boredom. Luckily, they can’t keep still for more than two minutes being so boisterous and soon find interesting new activities to keep them occupied.

  • ROBIN

    Robin is a robin and „the little diva“ of the songbirds. Not only is he really proud of being the first to whistle every morning – and to do so has to spruce himself up in every puddle – he also sees his mission in life as the collector of trivial gossip and tittle-tattle which he only too happily spreads around. He fervently assumes that hidden behind all seemingly innocent actions there’s a real sensation and therefore can’t help raising alarm as often as possible, and his non-stop flow of chatter and whistling are then nearly unstoppable. And it’s no wonder that his actions time and again fuel the flames of Molly’s worries…

  • AUNT EMILY

    And of course there’s Great Great Aunt Emily from way up north. Emily’s pearls of wisdom are a constant enrichment in the form of delicious recipes and good advice. „A mouse is what it eats,“ she might say. Or „Anything a mouse can imagine it can also cook.“; „If life gives you lemons, make lemon pie.“ Or maybe just „The truth lies in the apple pie.“ Those are sayings every mouse can relate to. And Tilda is no exception!

  • FURTHER CHARACTERS

    Other characters and their needs also appear in our stories of course, for example rabbits, moles, turtles, ducks, frogs, fish, ants and bats. All are small animals that live in the immediate vicinity of gardens, fields and forests.

Credits

Based on the Children’s Book Series by Andreas H. Schmachtl Producer Gisela Schäfer Sunna Isenberg

Producer:
Gisela Schäfer
Sunna Isenberg

Producers:
Dr. Astrid Plenk (MDR)
Benjamin Manns (SWR)

Co-Director
Dieter Riepenhausen

Director
Konrad Weise

Funded by
MDM, FFHSH, FFF Bayern

A Production of
WunderWerk GmbH

in Co-Production with
MITTELDEUTSCHER RUNDFUNK, Südwestrundfunk

© 2016 MDR / SWR / WunderWerk

 



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