"Little
Red Tractor, he's King of the Field!"

Welcome to the country idyll of Babblebrook. It's
where you'll find Gosling
Farm with Stan, Patch the dog and their mechanical
pal, the Little Red Tractor.
Jasper Jones lives at nearby Beech Farm, with
Big Blue and Harvey the combine
harvester. There's Beech Garage with Walter
and Nicola and Sparky the tow-truck.
Amy lives at Rose Cottage, then there's the
oh-so theatrical Skip Shutter and
the super-competitive Mr Turvey and his long-suffering
wife. Oh, and gamboling
around the farm land are the Turvey kids Ryan and
Amy. And then there's that
accident-prone miller Stumpy with his erratic blue
quad bike Nipper. He
lives with Elsie at the Babblebrook Windmill, and
he's a larger-than-life country
character, so he is...
Well, suffice it to say, there are a lot of
friends around town. And that means
life in Babblebrook is never dull, for man
or machine. Which
explains why
there are some 80 episodes of this shiny series
to savour.
"Little Red Tractor" has been brought
to life here by the folks at the
Little Entertainment Company, who previously
put the doggy-breathe into
Merlin
the Magical Puppy. It's a great production, with lots of little
character
quirks and detail to really make the stars
shine. And some fine voice work
too, most notably from Derek Griffiths (BOD).
This being a shiny modern show, there's a
shiny modern message
hidden within the production. And that's the
fact that you don't have to
be the biggest to be the best. You see, although
he's somewhat smaller
and older than his hi-tech pals, Little Red
Tractor invariably shines in the
face of adversity and saves the day.
And as the series has continued, so the Babblebrook
population has
expanded. Mr Jones' nephew Thomas has joined
the team (he arrived
in the episode The
Town Boy). Likewise, there's young Leo at the
garage. Plus there have been new animals and vehicles
including a
traction engine, motorbike with side car and even
a llama!
»
Our
pals Stan and the Little Red Tractor are actually older than you might
think. They first appeared
in a series of storybooks by Colin Reeder, with
text by Elizabeth
Laird, published back in 1990...
»
In
1993, Colin's watercolour pictures were brought to life in Little
Red Tractor
Stories.
They were gentler tales, told with some rustic charm. Here in this
latest incarnation,
there's more noise and bustle and business, but the
charm's still there,
in spades...


Oh,
Stumpy!
Stumpy is a bit of a cult figure in Babblebrook,
with his matching big knitt
sweater and muttonchop hair. He's the one always
getting in to bother.
and he's hopless when it comes to riding Nipper.
All too often he'll tug
so hard on the brakes that he gets thrown
over the handlebars!
We're always learning new things about this
man of the country. Like the
fact that he has bunions that throb when rain
is imminent (Row
Yer Boat)
He can apparently play bass guitar (Thunder
and Lightning), and he
was once mistaken for a mencaing beast (The
Beast of Babblebrook)...
"There was an old Miller who lived on a hill,
A happy old fellow who loved his old mill,
And if he's not left it, then he'll be there
stiiiiilllll,
A millin' his flour -"
-
Stumpy's Mill Song
(cut
short by Elsie)

Broadcast
info
The series premiered on CBBC2 and CBeebies
on 5th January 2004....
Little
Red Tractor episode titles
The Big Bang
Glorious Mud
The Ladder
The New Addition
The Gold Cup
The Treehouse
Little Red Tractor's Birthday Traction
Trouble
Making Hay Gone
With the Wind
The Lucky Day Llama
Drama
Berries Read
All About It
Mr Fixit Marrow
Mangler
Flying Buried
Treasure
Garage Sale The
Ghost of Tawny Owl Wood
Windy Day
The Beech Farm Flyer
Tiger Tiger Paperchase
Farm of the Year Molehills
and Windmills
The Dam May
Day
Silence of the Cows Scrambled
Eggs
The Big Sneeze
Farm
Games
Secret Den Double
Trouble
Mr Big
Hot, Hot, Hot
The Detectives
Cheesed Off
Rooftops
Magic Hat
Winter
Lights
Thunder and dancing
Dog Gone
Row Yer Boat
Bye Bye Blue
Lost
Enter the Dragon Up,
Up and Away
Water, Water One
Potato, Two Potato...
The Party The
Show Must Go On
The Beast of Babblebrook Furry
Jumper
The New Engine Topsy
Turvy
Circles in the Corn The
Map
The Town Boy Run!!
Spuds Movie
Madness
Little Red Rocker The
Hill

Promos/Tie-ins
This being a shiny series made with
a big playing rights firm, there are lots of
tie-in toys and goiddies to track down.
Most notably, Ladybird have published
a number of LRT books, and Corgi have
produced a terrific line of vehicles
and figures...
» Little
Red Tractor toys at Amazon.co.uk
Little
Red Tractor on DVD
Little
Red Tractor - Let's Go
Region 2 / 6 eps / Universal /
October 2004
Little
Red Tractor - Happy Birthday
Region 2 / 6 eps / Universal /
April 2005
Little
Red Tractor - Enter the Dragon
Region 2 / 6 eps / Universal /
July 2005
Little
Red Tractor - Glorious Mud
Region 2 / 6 eps / Universal /
October 2005
Little
Red Tractor - Winter Lights
Region 2 / 6 eps / Universal /
November 2005
Little
Red Tractor - Hot Hot Hot!
Region 2 / 6 eps / Universal /
July 2006
Little
Red Tractor - One Potato, Two Potato...
Region 2 / 6 eps / Revelation
/ June 2008
Little
Red Tractor - Topsy Turvy
Region 2 / 6 eps / Revelation
/ April 2010
Little
Red Tractor Collection
Winter Lights + Let's Go + Happy
Birthday / Universal / Sept 2009
based on an original idea
by Colin Reeder and Peter Tye
series director: Russell
Haigh
producer: Keith
Littler
exec producers: Theresa
Plummer-Andrews (BBC)
Oliver Ellis
(Ent. Rights)
Ian Gordon (Track)
writers: Russell
Haigh, Jimmy Hibbert,
Keith
Littler, James Mason
LRT theme: Michael
Cross, Stan Cullimore
performed
by Stephen Tompkinson
dir of animation: Dave
Scanlon
animators: Laurie
Sitzia, Grant Maisey
model shop
manager: Martin
Adamson
puppets: Roger
Tarry, Richard Modlen,
Chloe
Downs, Jo Emberson
vehicle des.
& construction: Kieron
Thomas
set design
& construction: Rupert
Lampard
costume design
& props: Louise
Benton
d.o.p: James
Lampard
lighting camera: Mark
Pullon
studio co-ord: Samuel
Stevens
storyboards: Vincent
James
prod accountant: Angela
Dunn
assistant: Nikki
Brisland
bus affairs manager: Tony
Church
asst to the prod: Ellen
Collins
prod assists: Samuel
Stevens, Samantha Hawkes,
Charlotte
Acton
incidental music: Michael
Cross
audio post-prod: Jon
Fox, Ruth Matthews
editor: Fred
Tay
voices: Stephen
Tompkinson (Stan)
Derek
Griffiths (Mr Jones / Walter)
Jimmy
Hibbert (Stumpy)
Beth
Chalmers
Shireen
Shah
Florence
Jones
Euan
Dick
Stewart
Majkowski
Francis
Maloney
Jack
Metcalf