--- title: "Worzel Gummidge" year: 2019 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/worzel-gummidge" fi1m_id: "worzel-gummidge" imdb_id: "tt10516874" tmdb_id: 96176 wikidata_id: "Q84938226" fi1m_score: 84 critics_reviews: 3 published: "2026-10-02T22:20:19.674240+00:00" updated: "2026-10-02T22:20:29.716665+00:00" region: "AU" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Worzel Gummidge (2019) Created by Barbara Euphan Todd · 1h 00m · Kids ## Identity Worzel Gummidge - **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/worzel-gummidge - **Type:** Series - **Fi1m ID:** worzel-gummidge - **IMDb ID:** tt10516874 - **TMDB ID:** 96176 - **Wikidata ID:** Q84938226 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10516874/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/96176, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q84938226 **Fi1m score: 84** · Critics: 3 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* Mackenzie Crook in a field, worrying about the seasons, and we worried with him > Mackenzie Crook’s remake of Barbara Euphan Todd’s scarecrow stories is gentle, funny and quietly worried about the countryside. The hours are slight and the grown-ups are underused, but it is some of the kindest children’s television we have seen in years. ## Synopsis Susan (India Brown) and John (Thierry Wickens) arrive at a farm to stay with Mr and Mrs Braithwaite (Steve Pemberton and Rosie Cavaliero), who need the extra hands and are not sure what to do with the extra people. In the field stands a scarecrow called Worzel (Mackenzie Crook), who climbs down from his post, talks to a robin and is troubled that the year has stuck and the seasons will not turn. He lets the children see him move, asks for their help in setting the year going again, and takes them to meet Aunt Sally (Vicki Pepperdine), a wooden doll with airs who lives at the manor. The second episode brings Earthy Mangold (Francesca Mills), a scarecrow who thinks the world of him. ## Review Mackenzie Crook writes, directs and plays the scarecrow in this remake of Barbara Euphan Todd’s stories, and he has made something quieter than the name suggests. His Worzel belongs to the field before he belongs to the children, and the programme is as interested in what the hedgerows are doing as in what anybody says. The first episode went out on 26 December 2019, a second followed, and three more arrived in 2021. Each runs an hour, which is long for a children’s programme, and Crook uses the length to let things sit. He plays Worzel as a man who has stood on one post for years and finds walking a novelty. He moves stiff-kneed, tilts his head like a bird and talks slowly, with a country burr and a vocabulary of his own. He has a robin for company and a problem he cannot solve: the year has stuck. It is the end of summer on the farm and the seasons have forgotten how to turn. Susan (India Brown) and John (Thierry Wickens), children sent to stay with the Braithwaites, are the first people in a long time he has let see him move. There is a scene in that first hour where Worzel stands in his field at dusk and explains, half to the children and half to himself, that the year has stuck and he does not know why. It moved us more than a children’s programme has any right to. Crook plays it straight, with no wink to the adults, and nobody on screen has to say what it is about; the stopped field says it. That is the method throughout. The worry about the land is in the pictures, and the words are kept for jokes. The children are the second thing Crook gets right. Brown and Wickens are not cute and are not asked to be. They arrive bored, wary and used to being moved on, and the script lets them stay suspicious of the farm, the Braithwaites and the talking scarecrow for longer than most writers would risk. When they come round, we believed it. Steve Pemberton and Rosie Cavaliero, as the couple who have taken them in, are given chores, kindness and reaction shots, and not much else; two actors this good deserved a scene of their own. The craft is modest and exact. The fields are filmed at the gold end of the day, in long lenses that flatten the hedges into bands of colour, and the theme is sung in folk harmony over the titles, so the mood is set before anyone appears. The scarecrows are the best design work. Each one at the gathering Worzel takes the children to is built from what a farm leaves lying about, and you can tell at a glance which is vain, which is shy and which is falling apart. Vicki Pepperdine plays Aunt Sally, the wooden doll from the manor who considers herself above a scarecrow, with a stiff neck and a grand voice, and Francesca Mills, as Earthy Mangold in the second episode, is so plainly devoted to Worzel that we winced for her. It is slight, and knows it. An hour is a generous allowance for a plot in which a scarecrow wants autumn to start, and the second episode slows after its halfway point. The message about the land is said out loud more than once when the pictures had already made it. There is no real villain and no real peril, so a child who wants a chase may fidget; this is television for the ones who will sit still for a robin. It is thinner than [*Detectorists*](https://film.one/tv/detectorists), Crook’s comedy about two men with metal detectors and a great deal of patience, because it has to explain itself to the young. Watch the first episode on a grey afternoon with the lights down, children or not. If that first hour does nothing for you, the remaining four will not either. If it does, there are four more, and they are kind to the end. *Fi1m score 84, published 2 October 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Worzel Gummidge worth watching?** *Worzel Gummidge* is worth watching for anyone, child or adult, who will sit still for a slow, kind hour about a scarecrow and a stuck year, and we scored it 84. Mackenzie Crook plays it straight and the fields do the talking. It is slight, has no villain or chase, and a child who wants peril will fidget. **How long is Worzel Gummidge, and what is it rated?** *Worzel Gummidge* has episodes of about 1h 00m. It is a kids series. **Where can I watch Worzel Gummidge in Australia?** *Worzel Gummidge* is not on any streaming or rental service in Australia at the moment. It is available in 2 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **What should I watch after Worzel Gummidge?** After *Worzel Gummidge*, try [*Detectorists*](https://film.one/tv/detectorists) (2014, Fi1m 87): Crook’s other slow, funny programme about fields, friendship and small obsessions. Then [*My Neighbour Totoro*](https://film.one/film/my-neighbor-totoro) (1988, Fi1m 89): Two sisters, a new house in the country and a large creature nobody else can see; and [*Song of the Sea*](https://film.one/film/song-of-the-sea) (2014, Fi1m 82): Irish animation about a brother and sister and the folklore that comes for them. ### Reviews we read (3) - **The i Paper**, Sarah Carson (★★★★★): Carson finds the remake a tender, intelligent comic triumph. She praises Crook’s precise, funny writing and his perceptive portrayal of children. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/worzel-gummidge-bbc1-remake-mackenzie-crook-review-triumph-378766) - **The Guardian**, Lucy Mangan (90/100, inferred): Mangan finds the reboot a joyful, funny, and timely eco-romp that makes Worzel lovable. She especially praises its deft blend of environmental themes, jokes, and ancient folkloric atmosphere. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/dec/26/worzel-gummidge-review-mackenzie-crook-hes-back-hes-hilarious-and-hes-wearing-a-cravat) - **Radio Times**, Morgan Jeffery (85/100, inferred): The critic presents this special as another tremendous, warmly whimsical instalment. Its kindness is singled out as its defining strength. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/worzel-gummidge-review-saucy-nancy/) ## Details - **Created by:** Barbara Euphan Todd - **Creator:** Barbara Euphan Todd - **Director:** Mackenzie Crook - **Writer:** Mackenzie Crook - **Producer:** Georgie Fallon - **Cast:** Mackenzie Crook as Worzel; India Brown as Susan; Thierry Wickens as John; Steve Pemberton as Mr Braithwaite; Rosie Cavaliero as Mrs Braithwaite; Vicki Pepperdine as Aunt Sally; Francesca Mills as Earthy Mangold; Andrew James Spooner as Flat Alistair - **Runtime:** 1h 00m - **Release (Australia):** 26 December 2019 - **Genres:** Kids ## Where to watch in Australia Not streaming, renting or buying in Australia at the last check. Also available in: GB, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Detectorists* (2014), Fi1m 87: Crook’s other slow, funny programme about fields, friendship and small obsessions. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/detectorists.md) - *My Neighbour Totoro* (1988), Fi1m 89: Two sisters, a new house in the country and a large creature nobody else can see. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/my-neighbor-totoro.md) - *The Box of Delights* (1984): Christmas, English weather and old magic, made for children and never talking down to them. - *Song of the Sea* (2014), Fi1m 82: Irish animation about a brother and sister and the folklore that comes for them. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/song-of-the-sea.md) - *Fantastic Mr Fox* (2009), Fi1m 84: Hedgerows, harvest and a hero made of fur and corduroy; dry where Worzel is gentle. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/fantastic-mr-fox.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/worzel-gummidge