Jim Henson's Mother Goose Stories is a children's television show hosted byMother Goose, who tells her three goslings the stories behind well-knownnursery rhymes.
Fourteen of the episodes were based on stories inL. Frank Baum's 1897 bookMother Goose in Prose, while the others were original tales written for the show. The general look of the characters was based on the work ofMaxfield Parrish, the artist who illustrated Baum's book.[4]
The series was originally conceived as a co-production between theJim Henson Company andTelevision South West for British television and was first broadcast onChildren's ITV in the UK in 1988. A pilot episode, the story of "Humpty Dumpty", was produced in 1987 along with other episodes. The series was considered for a network slot in 1987, but was passed on. The first release of the series came in 1988 through a home video release as part ofJim Henson's Play-Along Video series. The video featured three episodes of the show, "Little Miss Muffet", "A Song of Sixpence" and "Boy Blue", plus original linking footage between each story.
The series finally found a home as a broadcast series onThe Disney Channel starting on August 25, 1990,[3] and was the company's first new television series to debut after the death ofJim Henson. Mother Goose Stories had three production seasons, spawning thirty-nine eight-minute episodes. For airing on The Disney Channel, the 39 independently produced episodes were grouped into 13 broadcast episodes to fit the half-hour time slot. Each of these broadcast episodes was composed of three separate stories (with individual opening titles and closing credits attached to each one). The show continued to air on The Disney Channel until 1993.[5][6] As of July 2025, the series is featured on theYippee TVstreaming service.[7]
The first and third seasons of Mother Goose Stories were directed byBrian Henson, in one of his earliest directorial efforts for The Jim Henson Company, whileMichael Kerrigan directed the episodes in the second season. Henson and Kerrigan received aDaytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Children's Program for their work on the show.[8]
A video of the series was also released byCEL Home Video in Australia along with several other films and TV shows from The Jim Henson Company.
Katy Boughton Smith - The Princess (Humpty Dumpty)
Simon Bright - Tom (Little Nut Tree)
James Conway - The Prince / Prince Lilimond / Page Boy (Humpty Dumpty /The Prince and the Beggars /Old King Cole)
Natasha Dilleyston - Mary / Little Bo Peep (Mary, Mary /Little Bo Peep)
Paul Dillon - Jack Horner (Jack Horner)
J.J. Flynn - Boy (Pat a Cake)
Alani Gibbon - Ella (Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat)
Laura Goodwin - May / Miss Muffet / Lucy / The Princess / Stella (Hickory Dickory Dock /Miss Muffet /Eenie Meenie /Dicky Birds /Twinkle Twinkle)
James Goodwin - Boy / Tom (Jack Be Nimble /Wee Willie Winkie)
Naomi Kerbel - Mary (Mary's Little Lamb)
London Kim - The Candlestick Maker (Rub a Dub Dub)
Luke Marcel - Nicholas (Banbury Cross)
Ilan Ostrove - The Little Boy / Giligren (Baa Baa Black Sheep /Song of Sixpence)
Laura Penta - Ella (Tommy Tittlemouse)
Sam Preston - The Knave of Hearts / Prince Freddy (The Queen of Hearts /It's Raining, It's Pouring)
Katie Rhodes - Princess Ella / Heather Hubbard / Princess Jill (Crooked Man /Mother Hubbard /Jack and Jill)
Victoria Shalet - Dorothy / Jenny (The Giant /The Little Girl with the Curl)
Alexandra Staden - Rachel (Hickety Pickety)
Toby Uffindell-Phillips - Youngblood (Duke of York)
Anthony Walters - Little Tommy Tucker / Little Boy Blue / Bobby / Wriggly Squiggly / Peter's son (Tommy Tucker /Boy Blue /Hey Diddle Diddle /Crooked Man /Peter Pumpkin Eater)
Michelle Wesson - Alice / Emily (Eensy Weensy /Hector Protector)