Coming Soon: Veggie Mates

Sounding like a cross between Lazytown and The Munch Bunch (remember them?), CBeebies have announced that they are producing a new show called Veggie Mates. This 15-minute show will feature a gang of veg, all tendered by Mr Bloom the gardener. A mix of live-action and puppets, with a healthy dose of music thrown in, the series will focus on the concept of nurturing, caring and growing.

The series aims to get kids outside and learning about the world around them, including the fun of gardening and caring for living things, the importance of drinking water when it’s hot out, and that everyone is good at different things. Each episode a team of young kids arrive to help Mr. Bloom care for the plants and produce growing in his garden. The puppet veg, aka the Veggie Mates, include:

• Colin the Runner Bean – he’s always first with the wrong answer;
• Margaret the Cabbage – she’s shy but fun and has her heart in the right place;
• Joan the Fennel – a mothering type;
• Raymond the Butternut Squash – who is always saying sorry;
• Sebastian the Aubergine – who enjoys summing up the day’s events with a song;
• and the Wee MacGregors – a group of mischievous radishes that cause havoc.

Auditions for kids to take part in the program are already going ahead – a detailed account of one of the auditions in Leek (the appropriately named town) can be found here.

Veggie Mates is a CBeebies production made in BBC Manchester. Expect to see it on our screens early 2011.