Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom is a British preschool animated television series. The show was created by Neville Astley and Mark Baker, and produced by Astley Baker Davies and by Entertainment One (the original companies responsible for Peppa Pig). Many of the voice actors who worked on Peppa Pig have lent their voices to the show; these include John Sparkes, Sarah Ann Kennedy, David Rintoul and David Graham. The music is composed, conducted, and produced by Julian Nott, who is noted for his Wallace and Gromit, Bing and Peppa Pig scores. Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom is the third show to be produced by Astley Baker Davies.

Overview

The show is set in the Little Kingdom, which is a miniature kingdom hidden among bushes. It is ruled by fairies King and Queen Thistle. They live in the Little Castle with their three daughters; 9-year-old Princess Holly and her naughty younger twins Daisy and Poppy. Nanny Plum is the fairies' nanny and housekeeper, known for her sarcastic comments and overall uninterested mood. Elves, including 9-year-old Ben Elf, live at the Great Elf Tree, which acts as a school, library, apartment complex and factory all in one. Elves are more traditional and live like humans, not using magic, while fairies are modern and magic-oriented. Despite this, the Elf Factory is run on magic. The Wise Old Elf is the head elf. He operates the Elf Rescue, Elf Farm and Elf Windmill, among many others. Elves have their catchphrase, "...and I'm an elf" (occasionally "we're elves"), tooting their horn afterwards, however, they sometimes just blow a raspberry, such as in "The Elf Factory" when an Elf Worker forgets her horn. Fairies have a matching catchphrase, "I'm a fairy" (occasionally "we're fairies"), followed by a wave and sparkle of their wands. Ben and Holly also have a coccinellid ladybird pet named Gaston, who acts like a dog and is their best friend.

Episodes

Characters

Major

Minor

Broadcast

In the United Kingdom and Ireland the show was broadcast on Channel 5 children’s programming block, Milkshake!. It was also broadcast on Nick Jr. UK and Ireland. In Canada, the show was broadcast on Treehouse TV. In the United States, the show was broadcast on the Nick Jr. Channel. The series also airs on Baraem in Qatar. On 1 June 2021, the entire show became available on Tubi. It was broadcast across Nickelodeon's channels throughout Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and North America.

Reception

Common Sense Media gave the show a 4 out of 5, calling it "charming" and saying it promoted friendship and perseverance. The Toy Insider also gave the show a positive review, saying it was entertaining and also taught positive values.