28 May Guess How Much I Love You

Generally when I go looking at children’s shows to write about it’s very much a hair-pulling exercise. This, however, is not the case with Guess How Much I Love You. It’s a story about the adventures of Little Nutbrown Hare and his friends.

The first thing I noticed was the beautiful watercolour art direction and the simple but effective animation style. It’s a marvellous thing to just look at. The show starts off with a catchy tune with the same name as the show and will have your kids memorising it in no time, and it won’t even be that annoying. That’s what got my attention in the show: how not annoying it is for a children’s show.

The characters are each their own and the innocence of the young animals (voiced by equally young kids) is so genuine that it puts a smile on my face. Their names are just as charming, being plain descriptions of the animals themselves. The main character is named Little Nutbrown Hare, his father is named Big Nutbrown Hare and his best friend is named Little Field Mouse. The naming scheme drips with charm and innocence, like everything else in the show.

It’s a show for children, clearly, but it is by no means awfully childish. The grown animals in the story busy themselves with their own things and mostly just let the kids be. They try to teach the younger animals important things but the young ones are more interested in playing than focussing on the lesson at hand, as kids do. What I love about the grown characters is how patient and loving they are. They are very clearly grown-ups who good-heartedly humour the children and give them little nudges of encouragement when it’s needed. Every show has a lesson to teach but it’s never forced. Things progress very naturally while the kids play and learn little lessons along the way.

This is an award-winning show and it shows. It’s a joy to watch from beginning to end and its charm warms the heart and cheers the soul.

Weekends | 09:00 | JimJam | Ch 303