Ep 5: Hans My Hedgehog. A farmer's wife wishes to have a child so badly she doesn't care what it looks like. As if by a miracle, she does get pregnant, but the child Hans looks like a cross between a human and a hedgehog. Nicknamed 'Grovelhog' by the other children and unaccepted by his father, Hans asks for a saddle for his giant chicken and leaves. Twenty years later a king who has lost his way stumbles upon the Grovelhog's castle. The creature helps the king find his way home, but demands to receive something in return: the first thing that greets the king on his way home. Unfortunately for the King, that turns out to be his daughter...
Starring John Hurt as the Storyteller, this story features David Swift, Helen Lindsay, Abigail Cruttenden, Eric Richard, Maggie Wilkinson, Jason Carter, Robin Summers, Ailsa Berk and Heather Hanson, with voices by Brian Henson (as the Storyteller's dog), Stephen Garlick and Terence Harvey. One of the fascinating things about watching this is spotting the familiar faces and here up pops Eric Richard (Sgt Cryer in The Bill) as Hans' less than happy father when they are finally blessed with issue, while a young Abigail Cruttenden (Benidorm, Not Going Out) appears as a young princess who finds her eagerness to greet her father finds her the subject of a forfeit. It seems her betrothed has a prickly personality...
