| Genre: | Children's television series |
| Runtime: | 15 mins |
| Producer: | Christine Hewitt |
| Starring: | Nick Mercer, Stella Goodier |
| Theme Music Composer: | Jonathan Cohen |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Network: | BBC Two |
| Num Series: | 2 |
| Num Episodes: | 26 |
Greenclaws is a children's television series aired on the BBC between 3 January 1989 and 6 February 1990. It starred Nick Mercer and Stella Goodier, was written by Ursula Jones, directed by Adrian Mills, and produced by Christine Hewitt.[1]
Greenclaws, played by Nick Mercer, was a big green monster who lived in a greenhouse. Every week, Iris (Stella Goodier) would visit Greenclaws. They would put one of Greenclaws' fabulous seeds (that were once found and left by Greenclaws' Great Uncle Vasco d'Itchyclaws) in a plant pot, put the plant pot inside a secret growing place in the Riddle Tree, wait for Owlma (a mechanical owl) to alert them that the plant was ready, answer three riddles/questions correctly from Owlma (which were always along the lines of "Twit twoo, twoo, twit twit twoo?" and then translated into English by Iris for her and Greenclaws to solve), then open the tree to find the plant had grown into something bearing unusual fruit. Each episode featured a song filmed (lip-synched) on location, most of which were written by Hilary James and Simon Mayor. There would also be a story told featuring relatives of Greenclaws while the plant was growing, accompanied by illustrations.[2]
Only one series of Greenclaws was produced – reportedly due to the fact that some young pre-schoolers at which the series was aimed, were frightened by Greenclaws's appearance, regardless of his gentle-natured persona. Despite this, the series was repeated several times, including in a later-afternoon Children's BBC slot, where a slightly older demographic audience less likely to be intimidated by Greenclaws's appearance, would be watching.
In the greenhouse, Greenclaws' greenhouse,
Greenclaws grows them amazing plants.
They're surprising, mystifying,
Greenclaws grows them crazy plants!
Owlma is meant to be a female owl. The "Twit Twoo" call is actually two owls calling to each other. The female calls out the "twit" sound to which a male owl answers with a call of "twoo"
"The whole premise of the show was pretty bizarre, but for many 90′s kids, Greenclaws was their answer to Alan Titchmarsh.", commented retrospectively The Huffington Post.[3] The Guardian characterised the show by its "melancholy".[4]