No-one tells a story like Jackanory
Episode synopses
Muddle Earth - Episode 1
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Joe Jefferson's home is a madhouse! He has to get out, but if Joe's English essay isn't finished on Monday morning there'll be serious trouble.
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And so Joe finds himself in the park with Henry the dog – Henry is standing stock still, the hairs along his back are on end and his ears and nose are twitching.
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Suddenly, Joe is pulled by Henry into a large rhododendron bush and tumbles headfirst down a long tunnel. He lands with a thump onto a tiled floor and peers out into a dimly lit room.
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He has arrived in Muddle Earth, summoned by a spell from Randalf the Wise, who thinks he is a warrior-hero.
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All Joe needs now is some armour for the small task that lies ahead.
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Muddle Earth - Episode 2
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Joe arrives in Goblintown with Randalf, Norbert and Veronica to be kitted out as a warrior-hero, and apart from the smell (of unwashed goblin), it's an amazing place.
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There are buildings built on buildings, higher and higher. Joe thinks they might topple over at any moment.
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Once inside Grubley's Grotty Garment Store, Joe is given his armour but it's not quite what he expected… The Helmet of Sarcasm is, in fact, a saucepan and the Trident of Trickery a toasting fork. Joe is horrified, but there's no point in arguing.
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They set off for Mount Boom and the Horned Baron's castle, where Joe is informed that an ogre –
Engelbert the Enormous –
is running amok and Joe is expected to deliver his head on a plate.
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Muddle Earth - Episode 3
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By following a trail of squeezed sheep, Joe and his new friends come across Engelbert the Enormous but he's not his usual ogre-like self.
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Something is wrong... Engelbert's snuggly-wuggly is missing ... and Joe thinks he knows just where it is.
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Back at the Horned Baron's castle, Joe returns with the news that he has Engelbert's head… but it's not on a plate… it's at the window of Ingrid's bedroom, admiring her new singing curtains –
his "snuggly-wuggly".
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He reaches inside the window, grabs the curtains and runs for the hills. Ingrid is not pleased.
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With the task complete, Joe turns his attention to getting home and after some persuasion Randalf weaves another spell and suddenly… Joe is back home, just in time to complete his essay.
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The Magician Of Samarkand - Episode 1
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Zohak Ali comes out of the desert. Behind him, a train of 100 camels and 50 elephants, each heavily laden with treasure and led by a barefoot slave.
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Before him, the golden domes of Samarkand are lit by the rising sun.
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A crowd gathers at the city wall to watch; amongst them Anahita, the shoemaker's daughter.
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She marvels at Ali's billowing silk robes but beneath his turban she can see that his eyes are as fierce as an eagle's. He glances up at her and she shivers.
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Work on Zohak Ali's blue palace begins that very day and Anahita is amazed at the rate at which it grows. Only the creatures of the night know that while the rest of the city sleeps, Zohak Ali creeps from room to room working his magic, finishing a wall here, an arch there.
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It is soon complete and from the highest tower Zohak Ali watches the citizens of Samarkand go about their business.
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He longs to possess Anahita, so one day he makes his way to her father's shoe shop and asks for her hand in marriage, but Anahita is horrified at the thought of marrying somebody so old.
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Stung by her rejection, Zohak Ali casts a spell and turns Anahita into a withered old woman.
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The Magician Of Samarkand - Episode 2
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Whilst Anahita lives in the mountains, Zohak Ali takes power. He trebles the number of spies in Samarkand and seizes the possessions of the richest merchants.
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So many lives are devastated that Anahita realises that nobody even remembers the old woman who was said to have killed the daughter of the shoemaker.
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So, she takes a job feeding the city pigs. At the end of each day, she returns to the small house that comes with the job.
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A fever then rampages through the town and Anahita becomes ill. Just when she thinks there's no hope, Anahita is saved by the lizard who shares her home.
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He brings her gold coins – day and night he scurries back and forth until the pile of coins grows large.
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Anahita is rich. She grows strong and healthy and plots her revenge. She paints her house and transforms her little garden.
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She hangs curtains and tapestries… and then sends out an invitation to Zohak Ali to join her – a rich widow new to the city – for supper.
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The table is set but the wine is poisoned and a knife hidden in the fruit bowl. As Zohak Ali reaches for some fruit, Anahita lunges at him with the knife but Ali isn't a stupid man – many attempts have been made on his life before and he is ready with a spell.
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In an instant, Anahita is shrunk to the size of a lady's finger but, with the help of Lizard, she escapes and makes her way to Zohak Ali's palace to steal his book of spells.
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The Magician Of Samarkand - Episode 3
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Anahita finds the spell she is looking for – "Shrivelling and Shrinking–To Reverse" –
and turns herself back to full size.
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She puts Lizard and Rat in her coat pocket and runs from the palace, taking the spell book with her.
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Zohak Ali tries to stop her but can't. Without his book, his magic becomes confused and he casts a breaking spell, freeing all his slaves from the palace.
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Anahita runs to her home and is reunited with her mother. They transform Lizard and Rat back into Prince Sohrab and Farraj, her brothers.
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Together they all head to the marketplace to rouse the people and drive Zohak Ali from the city, but when they arrive he is already there waiting for them.
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Enraged, Zohak Ali casts another spell but Anahita thrusts forward his spell book and it is destroyed.
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Finally, Zohak Ali transforms himself into a serpent, so that he can escape –
but an eagle carries him up into the sky and then drops him from a great height.
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He is then flung into the crumbling ruins of his palace and sucked down into the flames.
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