Old Bear Stories

- Season 2

(1994)

A strange noise at the door is the start of a new friendship for Old Bear and his chums. The newcomer is a lively dog called Ruff. When the toys discover that Ruff is seven but has never had a birthday they give him a week long one.

Old Bear and his friends are playing in the garden. When Bramwell Brown makes some pirate hats for them all out of newspaper they decide to have a boat race in the stream. But things get a little bit too exciting for the pirates.

When Old Bear sees how dusty the windows have become he suggests it is time for spring cleaning. A flight in a balloon, skating on dusters and riding a hobby horse are just some of the unusual methods used to clean the playroom.

Ruff the dog can smell something interesting. The young pup leads Little Bear off on a journey all over the house in search of the source of the smell. Eventually Ruff tracks down what he is hunting for in an unlikely place.

The toys are searching everywhere for a missing piece of jigsaw puzzle. Their search leads them all over the house and they find all sorts of interesting things they were not looking for. When they find some plates that belong to the Dolls' House dolls, Mrs Doll invites them to tea to thank them. When tea is served everyone is amazed to see what Mrs Doll is using as a tray.

Little Bear is woken in the middle of the night by a crash and a 'whooo' noise. Is it a ghost? He wakes the others and together they try to find out who made the noise. At last they meet a little white owl whose nest of socks has fallen down from the top of the wardrobe. The toys find their new friend an even better nest and Little Bear has a rather unexpected night-time flight. When the toys wake in the morning they find that another mystery has been solved in the night.

When Duck wakes up covered in mysterious red spots, the day's plans; to paint the garden gate have to be postponed. The toys think up many different ways to entertain Duck and help him forget his spots. Duck thoroughly enjoys having so many special treats until, by chance, Little Bear discovers the unexpected cause of the spots. Perhaps Duck is not unwell after all.

Old Bear is reading a story to his friends in the garden when Jolly Tall gives them the idea of putting on a play. The toys make a stage on the grass and perform their own, rather special, version of 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'. Little Bear doesn't want to be 'Baby Bear' until he realises there will be real porridge in the play. With Rabbit as a rather over-enthusiastic Goldilocks and three bowls of porridge on the table, just about anything could happen.

While searching for treasure in the sandpit Rabbit discovers a hoard of yellow counters. Bramwell Brown suggests they use the counters as money. They decide to have a market and all make their own stalls to sell odds and ends. They have great fun buying things from each other with the counters and are puzzled when Old Bear buys lots of containers from Rabbit's stall. The mystery is soon solved when Old Bear teaches the toys another game they can play with their counters.

It is Old Bear's birthday and the toys decide to surprise him with a special, musical treat. Everyone sets out to find or make an instrument and soon they are making wonderful music. Old Bear is delighted with his surprise and the only problem is that Bramwell has managed to lose his special birthday buns. However, all is revealed when Little Bear's big bass drum rolls out of control.

Old Bear promises to read Little Bear a very special bedtime story because he has been so helpful. Little Bear is very excited as he gets ready for bed but then he can't find Old Bear anywhere. It seems that everyone else is also too busy to read him a story. Little Bear is very disappointed, but he needn't worry; he eventually discovers Old Bear and the reason why all his friends have been so busy. And his bedtime story really is extra special.

The toys are having a wonderful time using Old Bear's special chair as a slide. Finally, when Ruff has a go, it collapses and, however hard they try, they can't put it back together again. They decide it must be broken and are worried what Old Bear will say when he finds out. However, when at last they pluck up courage to confess, Old Bear shows them how easy it is to mend a deck chair ... if only you know how.

It looks as if nobody wants to ride in Zebra's little wooden cart now the toys have seen Bramwell Brown's big, red car. But the car likes to go very fast and the lack of brakes makes it really rather dangerous. After much excitement and a few disasters, all the friends agree that Zebra's little cart might be, after all, a much safer and more comfortable ride.