Mouse and Mole is a British cartoon that aired between 1996 and 1997. It was first a series of children's books written by Joyce Dunbar and illustrated by James Mayhew in 1993.
The cartoon is a slice of life series about the adventures of Mouse and Mole, voiced by Richard Briers and Alan Bennett.
In 2013, a half hour Christmas special titled "Mouse and Mole at Christmas Time". Sadly, this was Richard Briers' final film credit before he passed away earlier that year.
Not to be confused with Rat and Mole from The Wind in the Willows, although both Richard Briers and Alan Bennett did voice work on both "The Adventures of Toad" and the 1995 adaption and Alan Bennett did a play of Wind of the Willows with Richard Briers.
Mouse and Mole provides examples of the following tropes:
- Ambiguous Situation: It's never stated whenever or not the events after "Talk to Me" go onto "Tidying Up" and "Stuff" or it goes directly to "The Picnic", as "Tidying Up" has Mole saying he ate a lot of toasted muffins and salad from "Talk to Me", but "The Picnic" has Mouse assuring Mole about the weather as they couldn't go out for a picnic at the start of "Talk to Me".
- "The Hammock" has a lesson on not trying to take advantage of your friends, as it might bite back at you.
- Bedsheet Ghost: In "Frisky, Fluttery Ghost," Mole misinterprets Mouse's comment that there is "crispy, buttery toast" waiting for him as "frisky, fluttery ghost," then gets scared by thinking that a sheet which Mouse is hanging on a clothesline is one of these.
- Birthday Episode: The episode "Least Expecting" takes place during Mole's birthday.
- Blind Without 'Em: Mole can't see well without his glasses.
- British Brevity: The animated series had only 19 episodes (it was intended to be a 26 episode series, though 7 episodes were halted mid production). A Christmas Special was made two decades later however, bringing it up 20.
- Cool Bike:
- Mole has a motorcycle that he rides around with.
- Rat often rides in a bicycle.
- Digital Destruction: The American VHS release of the 13 episodes from Hallmark were low pitched.
- Informed Deformity: In "Whiskers", Mouse claims that his left ear is more pointed and one of his eyes is darker brown. However, the viewers can see that Mouse doesn't any of these deformed traits.
- Negative Continuity: If something bad happens at the end of the episode, things go back to normal in the next episode.
- Picnic Episode: "The Picnic" has Mouse and Mole going for a picnic. However, Mole gets paranoid about the weather that their picnic didn't go well as Mouse ate all the food while waiting for his friend.
- Sequel Episode:
- Snowlems: In the Christmas special, Mole built snowmen versions of both him and Mouse. They later came to life at the end.
- The Un-Reveal: The end of "The Secret of Happiness" doesn't reveal what Mole was going to say what the secret of happiness is.
