Dec Shields
It's rare to come across a show that has the perfect balance of dramatic tension, comedic relief, and epic story-lines. The relationships between the characters never seem forced or pushed, they all develop naturally as the seasons progress. This show is very similar to Breaking Bad in a sense that what you get at the beginning is not what you'll have by the ending, similar also to Breaking Bad, 'In the night garden' is truly a show about the process of transformation, about going from one state to another, and I don't think I'm alone in saying that it did it better than BrBa. You'd be doing yourself a disservice to skip over this.It's easy to draw comparisons to shows like 'Game of Thrones', 'Breaking Bad', 'Mr Robot', 'Doctor Who' and 'The Wire' but in the end, 'In the night garden' is a rare, unique gem, you'd be hard pressed to find another show that can add this many layers of tension and not crumble under the pressure it's put on itself. Every single episode (except for maybe some in the middle of season 3, the shows ONLY slightly weak spot), is absolutely fantastic and will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end, and let me tell you, the finale of the final season does not disappoint, all the differing story arcs collide together in an epic final episode which ties up every loose end and leaves you wanting more, but satisfied with the stories incredible, heart wrenching climax, expect tears. It's close to impossible to find another show with writing THIS consistently perfect.With a series this tightly written, perfectly directed and incredibly acted, I just can't see any show stealing it's #1 spot for a very very long time. In a sense this is the pinnacle of all television, this is the finest example of the small-screen out-performing the big-screen. I personally can't wait to see what the creators do next. Do yourself a favour and watch this, this is literally the perfect show. Proud to say that 'In the Night Garden' receives a perfect '10'
guttlesswonder
Like any caring family member, I'm concerned about what my niece watches and what lessons she is learning especially at such a young age. I outright refuse to allow my Sister (her mum) to put anything on I consider wasteful and generally trash (cough spongebob cough).I'm going to out right admit that at first I hated the Idea of ITNG until I actually saw the effect the show has on my niece. She is literally Mesemerized by the show, and sitting with her watching it I can see why.The whole point of this show is not to be witty, educational or have some deeper meaning to it; it's simply there so parent/child, family/child can watch the show together for half an hour of calming TV before bedtime. All in all I believe my niece loves it so much because its really the time she gets to relax and enjoy being a kid.I'm sorry, but If you are forcing your child to watch educational shows or learn something every minute of the day, you are awful, awful parents. You can't cram knowledge into your kids and expect them to retain everything. Is that how you learnt as a child? Relentless, unforgiving absorption of knowledge? Like hell you did.The calm, quiet breaks and relaxing nature of ITNG are the periods that lets kids process the information they have learnt without burdening them with more things to try learn and understand. Stop forcing your own social inadequacies on your kids, and just sit back and enjoy some good old magical adventure with some colourful and enjoyable characters to watch. It's fun, you can sing along and generally enjoy being with your family without having to think about anything. And played about an hour before bedtime makes the task so much easier. I'd much rather put my niece to bed after watching half an hour of this peaceful, calming, magical TV show than force another round of learning to count/read/dance/understand the importance of the race-class divide in modern America (aka Sesame Street).I will concede the education aspects are lacking (hence 8 stars). So here's a solution: don't have it be the Only show your kids get to watch. But don't dismiss it either simply on face value, because I can tell you; you'd be missing out otherwise.
Shade A
Kids at the age there after (1-3) are constantly learning, and a brainless TV show like this, ware the characters constantly talk rubbish and the narrator keeps naming nonexistent things and creatures. Cannot be any good for the poor kids (even if them may like it). This show is absolutely terrible! I review 1/10.-(no better than Teletubbies!)I believe that shows like this may not just be a waste of the kids time but may have a negative for longer term learning.As research shows TV can be vary bad for young kids, so why waste the little time that a kid can have, with such a pointless show. Especially when there are much better shows, like Playschool, Curious George, Shaun the Sheep
Matthew Hill
Our 2 year old niece recently started watching this program on BBC 2 and is loving every minute of it. There are not many children's programs that allow a child to sit and watch in complete silence for half an hour and be completely engrossed in it.Derek Jacobi is a wonderful narrator and has a perfect gentle voice for a program like this.The characters and the models are very well done and a lot of time and creativity has been put into thinking about creating unique characters and locations unlike any other children's program. The seamless transition of CG and real world sets are very well done and makes it a joy for even adults to watch and enjoy. I can recommend this children's program for any child 1 to 3 years old and it is gentle and calm in every way a children's program should be.