The Wind in the Willows - The Complete Collection [DVD]

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Champion of the Willows – 1. Paper Chase, 2. The Great Golfing Gamble, 3. Champion of the Green Baize, 4. Winter Sports. The Four Seasons – A 2 VHS boxset (29 June 1998), containing one episode each from the original four season based Videos (see below) – May Day, Grand Annual Show, Harvest and Winter Sports. DVDs were made as part of a one-off Daily Mail event around the end of 2008, each containing six episodes. Two of them are similar to The Four Seasons collection. On a Toad-inspired hiking trip attended by Mole and Rat, the trio soon bump into an old friend – Alfred the horse who once pulled Toad's caravan. Tired of the ghastly (yet only) 3 quarters of a mile journey thus far, Toad leads the way to the derelict caravan full of desire to hit "the open road again". However, things change when a group of field mice lose their homes due to the harvester owned the farmer who also owns Alfred, and they actually want to live in the caravan. In no time at all, Toad is off on another craze astride his new Dursley Pedersen bicycle. Badger does not appear in this episode. The New Year brings little cheer for the riverbankers, as the approaching railway threatens to destroy everyone's homes, and even Badger seems to have given up hope. Despite this, Toad insists on holding a New Year's celebration at the Hall, and on providing the entertainment himself (by playing the bagpipes very badly and reading with an exaggerated accent from the poetry of Rabbie Burns). Mole's cousin Auberon is in attendance. During the evening two messengers bring news to the group: the first concerning the weasels and a stolen traction engine; the second concerning new developments on the railway.

Toad comes down with a minor cold, but begins to think it something much more serious after he realizes that all his ancestors died young. He searches what he thinks are his father's medical books and realizes that he has come down with a fatal combination of diseases (specifically, armillaria mellea, botrytis, and ranunculus repens). While Rat and Mole diligently wait on the seemingly-dying Toad, Badger searches the books and discovers that Toad's diseases are actually plant ailments. When informed of this, Toad leaps out of bed in happiness, only to fall down the stairs and break his leg. A.A. Milne adapted The Wind in the Willows into a play, Toad of Toad Hall which debuted in London at the Lyric Theatre on December 17, 1929. The play involved such elements as Toad's caravan and auto, as well as his imprisonment, escape, and fight with the weasels to regain Toad Hall with the help of his friends. Thomas ( Jimmy Hibbert) – Auberon's chauffeur and personal assistant, who is also a toad. He appears in the episodes "Mole's Cousin" and "Happy New Year". Autumn (DVD) / Autumn Antics (VHS – 7 November 1988 & 18 September 1995) – Harvest, Monster of the Wild Wood, Remember, RememberToad Hall is in need of some renovation work. Badger tells Toad about his ancestor, Inigo, a great architect. Inspired, Toad decides to take up architecture himself, and re-design Toad Hall. As usual, his efforts are somewhat misguided – he thinks the west wing has been put on the wrong side of the hall – and the weasels see yet another opportunity to take advantage of him. It is autumn, and Rat, Mole and Badger are making preparations for winter, exchanging their home-made jams and preserves. Toad's garden supplies most of the fruits and vegetables for his friends, but Toad himself prefers to buy his own winter provisions in a hamper from London, much to Badger's distaste. Determined to impress them all, Toad buys a canning machine imported from the USA. However, having refused to blanch the vegetables before putting them into the tins, the impression he makes when they are opened is not the sort he planned.

Toad invites everyone to a fancy dress Christmas party, at which he plans on making a surprise entrance. Mole decides that he will go as an Indian chief, while Ratty goes as an admiral and Badger as a rajah. A group of weasels have also shown up at the party, all of them dressed as burglars and criminals, with Chief Weasel as a Gangleader. Throughout the party, they secretly snatch cutlery, jewels, and even Ratty's watch, and hide them in a suit of armor, which turns out to be Toad in costume (he intended to appear as a "knight watchman", but his ancestor's suit was too heavy to move). The plan works fine until the suit falls down the stairs and all the jewels tumble out, along with Toad, who exposes the weasels and has them driven out.

Disguised as representatives of the railway company, the weasels talk Toad into selling Toad Hall to them. Toad plans to travel the world with the proceeds, until Badger gets wind of the deal and reads the fraudulent contract. No one would be silly enough to believe in a perpetual motion machine, would they? Except, of course, for Toad, who acts as generous benefactor to a rather weasely "professor"...

After Badger interrupts the Chief Weasel's attempts to rob Billy Rabbit in the Wild Wood, the angry Chief plots his revenge. When his henchman stumbles upon an old hunter's trap, he sees what seems to be the perfect opportunity. However, despite the Chief setting everything up, things go horribly wrong. Badger unexpectedly takes another route to help judge ownership of a fence between the hedgehogs and the rabbits, and when the Chief Weasel's henchman relocates the trap, the Chief accidentally walks right into it. Upon being caught, the Chief yells so loudly that Rat and Mole hear him from Rat's house, and minutes later the henchman arrives pleading for their help. When they are unable to remove the trap, Rat and Mole enlist Badger for help, much to the chagrin of the Chief. A field mouse reports that he saw the henchman plant the trap, and the game is up for the weasels; but Badger nevertheless frees the Chief, who is begrudgingly thankful. Badger then takes the trap home so as to prevent its further use. Toad does not appear in this episode. Patient Toad and other stories (VHS – 1 May 1989) – Patient Toad, The Kidnapping of Toad, Badger's Remedy. Auberon Mole (Howard Lloyd Lewis) – Mole's cousin; in the series, is a well-known playwright, and the focus of the episodes "Mole's Cousin", "Auberon's Return" and "Happy New Year". Bored by Badger's intellectual slide show, Toad decides to hold a soirée at Toad Hall. He starts with a game of charades, but when his opening charade ( The Three Musketeers) goes wrong, he calls a halt and suggest they play Pin the Tail on the Donkey instead. This plan goes awry when the blindfolded host falls down a flight of stairs. Badger suggests an impressions game, but Ratty's impression of Toad offends him, and he storms off to bed, vowing never to speak to them again. He then has a strange dream where his friends and the weasels have switched bodies, causing him to see the error of his ways. Classic Willows Tales – 1. The Yuletide Entertainment (cut version), 2. Caught in a Maze, 3. Grand Annual Show, 4. Badger's Remedy.

Children's Favourites - Volume 1 (1 February 1988) - Wayfarers All. (Compilation VHS with Danger Mouse and Alias the Jester) My Bumper The Wind In The Willows: Fun & Games (VHS – 5 May 1997) – Mercury of the Motorbicycle, Champion of the Green Baize, The Tournament, Hot Air, Fighting Fit. To cure Toad's new mania, Ratty and Moley put Toad under house arrest. However, Toad escapes from the window and is later arrested and charged with car theft. At his trial, Toad represents himself and calls Cyril as his first witness. Cyril testifies that the car which Toad was accused of stealing was the very same one that had already been stolen by a gang of weasels. Toad had entered a tavern where the car was parked and offered to buy the car from the weasels. However, since Toad had no money, he instead offered to trade Toad Hall for the car. As nobody believes it, Toad then calls the bartender Mr. Winkie as a witness to the agreement; however, when told by Toad to tell the court what actually happened, Winkie falsely testifies that Toad had tried to sell him the stolen car. Toad is found guilty on the spot and sentenced to twenty years in the Tower of London. Toad's friends make every effort to appeal his case to practically every court, but they have no success and eventually the case is closed.

Ratty and Mole:Chums For Life – 1. The Ghost at Mole End, 2. The Great Steamer, 3. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, 4. The Storm. It is nearing 5 November, Bonfire Night, and the riverbankers decide to celebrate as a welcome distraction from the construction of the railway in the Wild Wood. Toad determines to have fireworks, and after trying his hand at firework-making without success, he heads to London to buy a luxury box. The display is in peril when the weasels steal the wood for the bonfire and the fireworks, but the riverbankers have a merry gathering nevertheless. Seeing the fireworks being let off from the Wild Woods, the riverbankers notice that the woods are on fire. While tending to the injured weasels, Badger offers them asylum in Mr. Toad's outhouses. He makes an impassioned speech for unity in the face of the builders. Billy Rabbit ( David Jason) – "Billy" is present in all series. He first appears as an unnamed character the Series 1 episode "The Grand Annual Show", but becomes more of a recurring character from Series 3 onwards. He is not to be confused with Billy the Fieldmouse, who appears on and off in the series. Both appear together in a number of episodes. Toad has taken up an interest in stargazing, in anticipation of the return of Halley's Comet. Naturally then, he has bought a telescope at, as Badger puts it, "an astronomical price". Having managed, with some difficulty, to get it onto the roof of Toad Hall, Mole and Rat leave Toad to his observations, and as night falls he spots a moving light which he assumes to be the comet and dubs it 'Toad's Comet'. Little does he realise that the weasels are creeping about with a torch, and suddenly his ladder disappears, leaving him stranded on the roof. He is eventually rescued in the morning and is surprised to hear what the 'comet' he saw actually was.Mole's cousin, a famous literary figure called Auberon Mole, comes to stay after being invited by Toad to a 'literary soiree.' Mole's friends deem his dwelling and appearance too humble for the famous guest, and 'try to give him a little bit of style'. Toad and Rat redecorate Mole's house, and Badger sets out to teach Mole a smattering of Latin and Shakespearean drama. Eventually Mole decides to resist the attempts to have him present himself as someone he is not. Auberon and Mole have a lovely time, and the others are somewhat ashamed of their earlier actions. Mrs. Carrington-Moss ( Beryl Reid) – The magistrate in the film; she appears in the episodes, "The Grand Annual Show", "Buried Treasure", and "Burglary at Toad Hall". Wind In The Willows – The Complete Collection – released on 13 October 2008 (features all 65 episodes including those from Oh Mr. Toad! plus both films) Typical Toad – 1. Mercury of the Motor bicycle, 2. Burglary at Toad Hall, 3. Fire at Toad Hall, 4. Patient: Toad. The Wind in the Willows Bumper Special (VHS – 10 September 1990) – Mr Toad of the Times, Toad in Motion, Piano-Roll Toad, Gypsy Toad, Toad in Love.