A Rabbit Called Basil: A Hare’s Story

''This article is about the original 1986 A Rabbit Called Basil: A Hare’s Story television series. For 1992 series, see The Rabbit Called Cuddles.''

A Rabbit Called Basil: A Hare’s Story is a British-Australian television series created by the British studio Cosgrove Hall Films, produced by Czech studio Krátký film Praha and the Australian studio Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was aired on June 12, 1986, and ended on May 21, 1991. The series was involved with the Polish rabbit named Basil goes on his journey with his love interest (who is an English spot rabbit) named Toodles, they meet their friends as they have to stop the bad guys.

Premise
Basil (John Hurt) and his love interest Toodles (Anne Reid) goes on their journey to see their friends (including Randy, Jerry, Sweetie, Priscilla, Hopper and Billie). but they have stop the bad guys, and save the forest. Basil and Toodles have their owners and friends, and they have family which they are rabbits that belongs to their owners who adopted them.

Main characters

 * John Hurt as Basil, a Polish Rabbit who goes on their journey.
 * Anne Reid as Toodles, an English Spot rabbit who is Basil’s love interest.
 * Reid also voiced Mrs. Parker, a mother to Fred and Henry and a husband to John B. Parker.
 * Rupert Farley as Randy, a blue-grey rabbit who is a friend of Basil which is the original leader
 * Richard Pearson as Jerry A. Cottontail, a brown and white rabbit who is a friend of Basil.
 * Peter Sallis as Hopper J. Bunnie, a Tan Rabbit who is a friend of Basil.
 * David Jason as Billie Q. Hare, a Belgian Hare who is a friend of Basil
 * Susan Sheridan as Priscilla, an English Spot Rabbit who is a friend of Basil.
 * Sheridan also voiced Sweetie, a holland lop who is a friend of Basil and a sister of Spotty.
 * Richard Briers as John B. Parker, an owner of Basil which he adopted him after his parents’ passing.
 * Briers also voiced Spotty, which he is a brother to Sweetie in some episodes “The Spirit of Sweetie’s Brother” and “The Ghost of the Forest Animals” as a spirit/ghost.
 * Jack May as Fred Parker, John B. Parker’s son and an owner of Toodles.
 * Brett Climo as Henry Parker, brother of Fred which he also owned Toodles.

Recurring characters

 * Michael Hordern as George R. James, Randy’s owner who is an inventor.
 * Ron Moody as Neil, a giant hare which he is a carefree hare appearing in season 2-4.
 * Moody also voiced Jett, a lost brother to Basil in season 1.
 * Kees Prins as Rufus, a Dutch Rabbit who speaks Dutch appears in Season 2-5.
 * Prins also voiced Buurman (yellow) which along with Siem van Leeuwen voicing Buurman (red) in 4-5 seasons, but the grey version of Buurman (red) appeared in season 1 or 2 only. Siem van Leeuwen also voiced a Dutch speaking English Spot Rabbit named Ruff in season 1-2.
 * Richard Kind as Daniel, a Checkered Giant Rabbit appeared in season 1-4.
 * Rik Mayall as Henry, a Silver Fox rabbit appearing in season 3-5.
 * Jane Horrocks as Michelle the English Lop, she only appeared in seasons 2-4.
 * Alan Bennett as Wilbur, a harlequin rabbit appeared in season 3-5.
 * Andrew Sachs as Cookie the Havana Rabbit appearing in season 4-5.
 * Julia Sawalha as Rebecca, a Czech spot rabbit who came from Czechoslovakia which appears in season 3-4 only.
 * Sawalha also voiced the holland lop character Martha, a lost sister of Sweetie in the second season.
 * Lynn Ferguson as Bella, a Scottish Dutch Rabbit appearing in season 5 only.
 * Various children actors voiced Rex, Luna, Fred, Abby, Tom, and Elena in season 2, they don’t have a speaking role until 2004 while they grew up to adults in series finale of the said series in 1991.
 * Tom Kenny as Timmy the Hare, which he appeared in season 2-5 only.
 * Peter Davison as Paul, a Blanc de Hotot rabbit appeared in season 3-5 only.
 * Carolyn Lawrence as Abby, an Alaska Rabbit appears in season 3-4 only.
 * Peter Woodthorpe as Rollo, a mole from “Rollo’s Mole Problem”.

Antagonists

 * Jon Glover as The Big Bad Fox, Brown Bear, George the Aggressive Lionhead Rabbit, and Robert the Snake
 * Sally Grace as Willow Mad Hare, Melissa Hunt, Alena the Hunting Cat, and The Mean Old Rabbit
 * By the time, two Dutch voice actors Kees Prins and Siem van Leeuwen voiced the antagonist characters which are animals and humans who spoke Dutch by the list:
 * PawPaw the Czech Red (voiced by Siem van Leeuwen)
 * Hare Hari the Bauscat Rabbit (voiced by Kees Prins)
 * Van Rabbit, an English Lop (voiced by Siem van Leeuwen)
 * Dutch Hunter (voiced by Kees Prins)
 * Himalayan Dutch, A Himalayan Rabbit (voiced by Siem van Leeuwen)
 * Roo, a New Zealand Rabbit (voiced by Kees Prins)
 * Twee Hang, A Plush Lop and a Meissner Lop (voiced by Kees Prins and Siem van Leeuwen)
 * Timothy Bateson as Scarred Peter, a Mellerud rabbit.
 * Alan Marriott as Duffy, a French Lop.
 * John Alderton as Percy, a Giant Papillon rabbit.

Development
On January 24, 1986, Cosgrove Hall Films wanted to make the TV series about the white rabbit named Basil and his love interest named Toodles. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (from Australia) decided on filming the series between February 11 through April 13, 1986, British studio Cosgrove Hall Films collaborated with the Australian network studio ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation for a project.

Animation
The animation of the series was drawn by the artist of Count Duckula, as the animation’s storyboard was made in 1986. the animation was made by the British animator who done the series which it focuses on rabbits and animals, the series was intended to be a sequel to Randy and His Friends.

Music
The Czechoslovakian musician Petr Skoumal had returned for each scores of the soundtrack.

In 1989 through 1990, the episodes from Pat & Mat (1989-1990) was archived for the fourth and fifth season of the series, the musician intended to have new score of the series’ soundtrack as well.

Broadcast
The series was aired on both BBC1 and ABC in UK and Australia on June 12, 1986, it was lasted on May 21, 1991 before the 2004 series Priscilla Tales: The Wild Adventures where Priscilla saves Basil from being poisoned after the final episode of the series.

The series airs on different channels in other countries (like United States, Canada, Slovenia, Germany, etc.).

Switzerland
The series has these episodes banned from one of the German-language broadcast due to dark matter subjects and high amount of violence which deemed too dangerous, the episodes were uncensored for Switzerland television broadcast.

Middle East
Coming soon!

Fox Kids airings
Coming soon!

European Cartoon Network airings
Coming soon!

Iran
Coming soon!

United States
The complete series boxset was released on May 25, 2021 by Shout! Factory which it distributes the series to streaming services. the series was first released on VHS and DVDs from 1990s-2010s, as these seasons began to be released in 2003 through 2007.

United Kingdom
The series was released on VHS by Video Collection International in 1992 through 1994, as these episodes were separated to have the VHS tapes released.

The complete boxset of the series was released on DVD in 2019 by 2 Entertain.

Australia
ABC Video has released the series on VHS in 1994 through 1998, as the ABC DVD released the complete boxset of the series in 2018.

Czech Republic
The series was released on VHS by Bontonfilm in 1998, along with the Randy and His Friends video release. In 2002, it was released on DVD by Ateliéry Bonton Zlín as the series has been gotten to the numbers of volumes.

In 2020, the complete series boxset was released on DVD by Magic Box a.s. for its home entertainment release.

Trivia

 * First traditionally animated series to have the characters showing in 2D, which drawn by British artists.
 * The series was first aired on three channels (such as BBC1, ABC, and ČST).
 * The rabbit characters appears in the seasons of the television series that has Dutch and English languages that they speak in any languages.