Wind in the Willows sideblog. Wind in the Willows content of all types, but especially the West End musical. Thimble. 32. It/They. I follow from lestatslestits.
I have created a master list of adaptations/pastiches and works inspired by The Wind in the Willows that are available to stream for free online. This list includes professional productions (although the recordings themselves may not be professionally produced), and does not include either audiobooks of the original text or amateur productions, or the list would be fairly endless.
I will continue to update this list as new versions are posted/uncovered online, by me or by others. I will also try to remove any links that go dead. If you find a dead link, feel free to let me know. I may or may not be able to re-upload any dead links, depending on if I was the uploader of the video.
Feel free to reblog and share, but please do not repost this list!
I have put a lot of time and effort into compiling this list, so if you enjoy it, please let me know and consider checking out my other Wind in the Willows content if you havenโt already.
Thank you to @tremendousdetectivetheorist for help on tracking down the 1996 and 2006 live action films, and to @sardinesandhumbugs for supplying The Willows at Christmas and the UK Tour audio, and for recording the Pitlochry Festival Theatre audio!
A Note on Content Warnings: Due to historical context and the age of The Wind in the Willows, please consider this a blanket content warning that any entries on this list may contain antiziganism, transmisogynistic humor, and misogyny. I have done my best to include more specific content warnings for individual entries with possibly triggering content that falls outside of these general warnings.
List under the cut:
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad - Disney (1949)
Note: in spite of including the opening credits for the whole film this is the Wind in the Willows portion only. Still an excellent find!
Toad of Toad Hall - A.A. Milne - BBC Radio Drama (1973)
Counselling for Toads: A Psychological Adventure - Robert De Board (1983)
Note: This is a self-help book and an introduction to transactional analysis through the framework of The Wind and the Willows. Trigger Warnings for: Child abuse, suicide, depression, mental health problems, dysfunctional interpersonal relationships, etc.
The Wind in the Willows - Cosgrove Hall
Movie and Series (1983-1990)
Note: Movie and all episodes ย in parts
"Extended Edition" Movie
Note: This is a fan cut of the Cosgrove Hall film, featuring footage from "The Further Adventures of Toad," ย "Wayfarers All," and "Piper at the Gates of Dawn," in order to restore cut chapters from the book.
Cosgrove Hall Season One (Full Episodes)
Cosgrove Hall Season Two (Full Episodes)
Cosgrove Hall Season Three (Full Episodes)
Cosgrove Hall Season Four (Full Episodes)
Cosgrove Hall Season Five/Oh, Mr. Toad! (Full Episodes)
A Tale of Two Toads
The Wind in the Willows - Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (1987)
The Wind in the Willows - Broadway (1985)
The Wind in the Willows - Burbank Films Australia (1988)
The Wind in the Willows - Eddie Hardin and Peter York (1991)
Note: This is a concert loosely based on The Wind in the Willows, narrated by Toad in his later years. It is extremely difficult to sum up beyond that.
Tales of The Willows - William Horwood (1993-1999)
The Willows in Winter (1993)
Toad Triumphant - Abridged - (1995)
The Willows and Beyond - Abridged - (1996)
Coming Soon!
The Willows at Christmas - Abridged - (1999)
The Wind in the Willows - The Martin Gates Collection (1994-1996)
The Wind in the Willows (1995)
Moleโs Christmas (1994)
The Adventures of Mole (1995)
The Adventures of Toad (1996)
The Wind in the Willows and The Willows in Winter- Television Cartoons (1995-1996)
The Wind in the Willows (1995) - Television Cartoons
The Willows in Winter (1996) - Television Cartoons
Mr. Toadโs Wild Ride (1996)
The Wind in the Willows (2006)
Kenneth Grahameโs The Wind in the Willows: A Musical - Douglas Post (2010)
Note: This is a musical from 1987, but the cast recording itself was released in 2010, so after a lot of consideration Iโve chosen to place it according to its release date.
The Wind in the Willows - Andrew Gordon (2013)
The Wind in the Willows - UK Tour (Audio) (2016)
The Wind in the Willows - London Palladium Cast Recording (2017)
The Wind in the Willows - London Palladium Proshot (2017)
The Wind in the Willows - Mike Smith and Keith Dawson - Junior Version (2020)
The Wind in the Willows - Audible and Dina Gregory (2020)
In the Willows - Metta Theatre (2021)
Note: This is the EP recording of Metta Theatre Companyโs hip hop musical, In the Willows. Music videos, behind the scene content, etc., available on the Metta Theatre website.
The Wind in the Willows - Green Matthews (2021)
The Wind in the Willows - Pitlochry Festival Theatre ย (Audio) (2021)
Wind in the Willows is unhinged in retrospect. Ratty, Mole, and Badger all lock Toad in his own home because his undiagnosed ADHD, massive ego and spoilt rich boy syndrome are making him a danger to himself. Then he immediately breaks out and commits grand theft auto. Rat and Mole meet a Greek god. Toad goes on the lamb from the police and keeps nearly getting caught through his own idiocy. His house gets taken over by some militant weasels.
"I suppose I should have expected this," he said bitterly.
โI suppose I should have expected this,โ he said bitterly.
Toad Hall was all askew: an ancient vase had taken a tumble and lay in shattered pieces, there was a bicycle in the drawing room, a guide to piloting dirigibles open on the table, and the abandoned remains of a half packed picnic hamper scattered across floor. Toad stood in the middle of it all, wearing his dressing gown and a straw boater hat, looking dazed and half confused as to how he had gotten there in the first place.
โToad, the funeral is in two hours,โ Rattyโs voice broke on the last word as he fixed his friendโwere they friends anymore, or was he more of a nanny these days?โwith an icy glare, โWhat would your dad think if he saw the place like this, on today of all days?โ
Toad gave him a slow, half-vacant blink before his brow furrowed and he said, without a trace of vitriol, โI suppose weโll never know now, will we?โ
41. comfort food โ either Mole & Badger or Rat & Mrs Otter (both platonic, obvs), dealerโs choice :)
Okay yes so I know this was supposed to be a โmicroโ ficโthe suggestion was 3โ10 sentences.
However. I did stick to that :)
So here it is, a slight elaboration on one of my favorite passages (so far) in Donโt Carry It All.
There is another knock on the door, and for one moment Mrs. Otter thinks she will cry. The day so far has been a torrent of company, and she has just shooed away the last of Toadโs uncannily over-eager butlers, laden with expensive gifts she does not want, and unfamiliar food her pups will never eat. If this is another insipidly smiling rabbit, she may well go spare.
โTell Mister Toad that Iโm very grateful for his generosity, but Iโoh.โ
The animal in her doorway is decidedly not a rabbit: heโs a young rodent of some kind, probably a water rat judging by his clothes.
โI might have known Toad would beat me here,โ he offers a rueful grin of apology.
โNot Toad,โ she corrects with a sigh, โA whole outfit of butlers.โ
โLate all the same,โ he surmises, but still proffers a neatly wrapped brown paper package. It is heavier than it looks, and she spends an artless moment trying to puzzle out the contents.
โItโs fish,โ he fills in, before she can prompt an answer, โAlready gutted and cleaned. I know you have pups, I thought you could use it, all thingsโโ he stops himself, seems to reign in his thoughts, and continues, โIโm so sorry for your loss.โ
She has borne the pain and indignity of being a widow well so far, but this earnestness from a stranger almost causes her to crack.
โWhat did you say your name was?โ
โRatty, to my friends.โ
โItโs very kind of you, Ratty,โ she hopes sheโs not being presumptuous by using that nickname, โwould you like to come in for dinner?โ
It seems impolite not to ask.
โWho, me? No, Iโve got loads to do before nightfall. Iโm just down the River, though, should you ever need anything.โ
He is back in his boat, docked nearby, before she can make a polite, half-hearted insistence that he stay. He is the first well-wisher she has not had to entertain, even briefly. It is a kindness on par with the gift.
In half an hour her home is full of the familiar scent of frying fish. Itโs the first shred of normalcy sheโs known in two days.
The next day, Ratty appears again, another parcel firmly in paw. This time she means it when she invites him in. This time he stays.
finally done with my witw 2017 mole sweater vest!!
I fucked around and made a pattern (shoutout to the incredibly good resolution of the national theatre film that let me zoom in enough to count individual stitches for the color work lmao), wandered around the yarn store with my photo of mole to match colors, worked on it for what felt like forever, and I'm so pleased with how it turned out :)))
(also if any of you want the pattern lmk and I will endeavor to get it into some form of legibility lol)
I really need to pay attention to the backgrounds more in The Wind in the Willows 1984 (this is from Series 1 Ep 5)
It implies that the rest of them have first names too. On the eviction notice that the weasels use to try to kick Mr Badger out it shows his initials to be T. E. Badger
K so you know how when you want to make a quick post about how much you like Ratty's hat and then 2 hours later you've got a folder with over 70 images about WITW 2017 - well that happened to me, but some of these are absolutely fascinating. None less so than these images from the 2016 run which featured Sophia Nomvete, Fra Fee, Thomas Howes and David Birrell as Mrs Otter, Mole, Ratty and Badger respectively.
Why does Ratty have a paint bucket here, not there in 2017. These are promo images so maybe it's just to represent them painting the name on which is really, really cute if true. Or maybe that scene did initially have Ratty doing some painting.
They really made Chief Weasel look like the main here lol, love the direction here as well, Mrs Otter and Ratty very shocked as to Chief's appearance here while Badger just looks bewildered.
Interesting to note here that the Otter costumes were changed before Denise Welch took the role for 2017.
The phenomenal Neil Mcdermott and Rufus Hound both reprised their roles into 2017 however all these quite common photos are from the 2016 run interestingly.
Material from the 2016 version is tough to come by, including any video as far as i'm away yet but it would the very interesting to see even a snippet from pretty much the exact same show but with 4 majors actors swapped.
there are some more odd / promo / bts photos from 2016 as well but they can go in their own post cause some of the ones from west end as well are hilarious.
(I will make more posts rambling about all the other photos ive collected (this is like 1/10th of them), but even this is a ridiculously long post so hello to all 2 of you who made it this far down :)
trying to get back into the habit of drawing regularly by getting out of the house at least once a week for a cafe art date with my partner. here's today's drawing of Mole's cute little winter outfit from the stop-motion Wind in the Willows.