THE WATER BABIES
By Zoë Seaton

1998


Did you hold your breath for this underwater fantasy - as Big Telly went overboard with the fresh and bubbly adaptation of Charles Kingsley's much-loved story The Water Babies. Something very fishy happened to little Tom when the sooty sweep lost his way in the blackest of chimneys and ended up in the whitest of rooms where a brief encounter with pretty Miss Ellie left him completely out of his depth. A furious chase landed him in even deeper water with an ocean full of fishy folk including a dancing dragonfly, a funky otter and a learned lobster from another land. Things were not what they seemed in the topsy-turvy sub-marine world full of magic, mystery and mayhem, but everything was kept shipshape by the surf 'n' turf sisters - Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby and Mrs Bedonebyasyoudid. Tom desperately wanted to see Miss Ellie again but first he had to ride the tide and navigate the perilous voyage to The Other End of Nowhere...

At its simplest level The Water Babies was a playful and charming fairytale, but for those who cared to look closer, it was amusingly and amazingly informative.