Western Animation / Peppa Pig

Peppa Pig is a British pre-school animated television series created, directed and produced by Neville Astley, Mark Baker and Phil Davies (the same team that made The Big Knights and who also make Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom) and distributed by Entertainment One. Debuted in 2004 on Channel 5 with new episodes premiering as of August 2021, and renewed through at least 2027.

The series centers on Peppa and her family and friends. Other characters are other anthropomorphic animals whose names always start with the first letter of the name of their species. Popular enough in the UK to have an entire section of a children's theme park (Paulton's Park) called Peppa Pig World open in 2011. As of 2022, it is now popular enough in the U.S. that it has its own theme park there as well (as part of LEGOLAND Florida Resort).

It’s so popular in the UK in fact, it may as well be one of the few shows in history to have episodes premiere in cinemas. No, we're not joking.^note The other main UK examples are Sherlock and Doctor Who, so that's the kind of cultural phenomnenon we're talking about here The massive international popularity of the series resulted in the Chinese release Peppa Celebrates Chinese New Year, with plans for a limited subtitled U.S. release as well. We're not joking about this either.

A video game based on the show, My Friend Peppa Pig, was released on October 22, 2021 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC and Stadia, with the former two versions being compatible with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. A next-gen version for both consoles was released on January 21, 2022. The game proved popular enough that in March 2022, Outright Games released downloadable content for it, "Pirate Adventures." A second game, Peppa Pig: World Adventures, was released on March 17, 2023.

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Peppa loves tropes. Everybody loves tropes!

A-D

• Acquired Error at the Printer: "Mummy Pig's Book" is about Peppa and George getting a record-breaking high-score on "Happy Ms. Chicken" via keyboard spamming, which ends up overwriting Mummy's storybook about an onion who tries to be funny to others. This isn't discovered by Mummy until the book gets released, which starts with the story then jump-cuts (after the first two pages) to Peppa and George's scoreboard. Everyone finds it funny, but Peppa and George know the truth.
• Aerith and Bob: While most characters have common names like Danny, Suzy or Zoe, Peppa and Candy's names are much rarer.
• All Balloons Have Helium: In "Mummy Pig's Birthday", the balloons float up to the ceiling even though they are blown by mouth.
• Alliterative Name:
  • Peppa Pig, and most of her friends—Danny Dog, Suzy Sheep, Zoe Zebra, Pedro Pony, Rebecca Rabbit, et al.
  • Even Peppa and her friends agree that they like it when their names start with the same sound as the name of the species they are. For example, in "Mummy Rabbit's Bump", Peppa and some of her friends get to pick out a name for Mummy Rabbit's baby. Pedro's suggestions elicit strong questioning or rejection.
    Pedro: Sharon Rabbit.
    Suzy: I don't think so, Pedro.
    Peppa: Sharon Rabbit sounds wrong...
    (later on)
    Pedro: Michael Rabbit!
    Peppa, Suzy and Rebecca: Michael Rabbit?!? No!
  • Joey Kangaroo averts this trope. However, he still has a Punny Name.
  • However, as a general rule, characters outside the Competence Zone of Peppa and her friends avert this trope. This includes older characters who are referred to as "Mummy", "Daddy", or other titles, and younger characters or extended family like George Pig, Chloé Pig and Alexander Pig.
• Alliterative Title: Peppa Pig. Most of her friends are also named this way.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song:
  • The Japanese version that aired on Cartoon Network used "Colorful Fanfare" by ROCO as its theme song.
  • For a time, the second Japanese dub, made for TV Tokyo's Kinder TV block, used "Miracle Everyday" as an Additional Foreign Theme Song, as the original intro was also used for the Peppa Pig segments of said block.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: All of the parents featured in "School Play". They all take photos when they're not supposed to, and a few also call out to their children during the play.
• Ambiguous Situation: There are several moments where a child either outsmarts an adult or the adult is humouring the child by letting them think they outsmarted them. The adult's tone makes it unclear.
• Americans Are Cowboys: Pedro likes to play cowboy in his spare time, and when he draws America for International Day, he just comes to school in his cowboy outfit.
• Animals Not to Scale: The Elephants are similar in size to the Cats and the Foxes.
• Annoyingly Repetitive Child: In "George Catches a Cold", Peppa and her parents are very annoyed by two-year-old George asking, "Why?" about everything they say.
• Anthropomorphic Food: Mr. Potato appears as an anthropomorphic potato (though he may be an animal in a costume).
• Art Evolution: As the series progresses, the animation gets smoother and there's subtle improvements to the art.
• Artistic License – Biology:
  • In "George Catches a Cold", George walks into the rain without a hat and suffers the common cold. This is a myth, as cold is caused by viruses, not coldness and wetness.
  • Rosie and Robbie Rabbit are born in a few minutes in "Mummy Rabbit's Bump". In real life, childbirth lasts hours for humans, but this would be about right for rabbits. That being said, Mummy Rabbit's pregnancy is nine months long while the average gestation period for real-life rabbits is 31 days.
  • In one episode, Pedro breaks his leg. Thankfully it heals, but if he were a real-life horse, he would be crippled for life.
  • Rebecca and her family have button-like noses like every cartoon rabbit. Real rabbits have V-shaped noses.
• Artistic License – Medicine: When Mummy Rabbit gave birth to the twins, Peppa and her friends were allowed to watch her do so. In real life, kids aren't allowed to watch childbirth.
• Artistic License – Paleontology: In-universe; when the kids visit the dinosaur exhibit in Potato City, Edmund Elephant points out that the dinosaurs they have living together didn't actually live in the same era. The kids also basically get the attendant of the dinosaur exhibit to admit that the only reason they have a dinosaur exhibit at Potato City is because it's awesome.
• Baby's First Words: Peppa's first word was "Mummy", George's was "dinosaur" and Alexander's was "puddles".
• Beeping Computers: In "The Library", when Daddy Pig's library book is scanned in as ten years overdue, the library computer actually sounds and flashes a siren and displays a frowny face.
• Bicolor Cows, Solid Color Bulls: Mrs. Cow and Carol Cow are black-and-white, while Mr. Bull is brown.
• Bigger on the Inside: Peppa's house looks to be about four or five "Daddy Pig"s across when they are standing outside of it. Plenty of room indoors, though.
• Birthday Episode: There are lots of them throughout the series:
  • Season 1: "Mummy Pig's Birthday", "My Birthday Party" (Peppa)
  • Season 2: "George's Birthday", "Zoe; Zebra the Postman's Daughter" (where Peppa writes a birthday card to Zoe), "Daddy Pig's Birthday"
  • Season 3: "Danny's Pirate Party", "Edmond Elephant's Birthday"
  • Season 4: "Grampy Rabbit's Dinosaur Park" (Freddy Fox)
  • Season 5: "Canal Boat" (Captain Dog), "Wendy Wolf's Birthday", "Soft Play" (Richard Rabbit)
  • Season 6: "Grandpa Pig's Birthday", "Mandy Mouse's Birthday"
  • Season 7: "Undersea Party" (Goldie the fish)
  • Season 8: "Superhero Party" (Pedro)
• Blah, Blah, Blah: Peppa says this at one point. According to her, "That's how daddies talk."
• Black Comedy Cannibalism: Whenenver Mr. Potato is asked about potatoes being eaten, he quickly changes the subject.
• Blind Without 'Em: Daddy Pig and Pedro Pony. When both lose their glasses in separate episodes, they have a hard time telling what's what and who's who.
• Brainy Pig: The main characters are anthropomorphic pigs that are usually of average intelligence, however:
  • Downplayed for George. His first word is said to have been "dinosaur", hinting at his interest in paleontology, but other than that, he's mainly a normal toddler.
  • Zigzagged for Daddy Pig. On the one hand, he's accident-prone and often claims to be an expert on things he doesn't know squat about. On the other hand, he's an architect and has extreme DIY skills.
• "Brave the Ride" Plot: Downplayed in one episode where it's just one scene, not an entire plot. The Pig family is about to go on a roller coaster and the females are excited but the males are scared. George eventually wusses out and sits on the bench instead, but Daddy Pig reluctantly rides it.
• Bumbling Dad: Daddy Pig can be this when he doesn't exactly know what he's doing.
• Call-Back:
  • In "Winter Games", the characters are on a ski trip and Mummy Pig is cautious not to inadvertently ski down a mountain and into her house like she did in "Snowy Mountain". She ends up doing that again, going through and out of the other end of the house and into the playgroup.
  • In "Charity Shop", a old chair can be seen from the episode "Jumble Sale". They even comment on how they thought they got rid of it years ago.
• Captain Obvious: The Narrator normally makes obvious comments on what's happening.
• Catchphrase: "If you jump in muddy puddles, you must wear your boots!"
  • The police officers have "Always remember to keep your ears and eyes open!". Typically followed by them bumping into something and giving it a ticket.
  • Pedro has "It's a super-(insert thing here)!", which is typically used to win an argument.
• Carnivore Confusion: Subverted in "The Zoo". Mr. Lion, a guide at the zoo, keeps calling Madame Gazelle a wildebeest, and it seems as though he could be compelled to eat her at any moment.
• Characterization Marches On: When first introduced in her introductory episode, Emily Elephant was shy and modest, however in the same episode onwards, after winning a loud animal sound making contest on recess, she has become more cheerful and outgoing.
• Cheated Angle: The characters only ever face in two directions and both eyes are always on whatever side of their face is facing the viewer.
• Child Prodigy: Edmond Elephant is "a clever clogs". and knows a lot of random facts. He is also two but has perfect speech.
• Christmas Episode: Other than Season 1 and the latest Season 8, every season so far has at least one of these, usually taking place halfway through or at the end of the season.
  • Season 2 ends with the special "Peppa's Christmas".
  • Season 3 has "Santa's Grotto" and the follow-up "Santa's Visit".
  • Season 4 has "Mr. Potato's Christmas Show".
  • Season 5 has "Father Christmas".
  • Season 6 has "Christmas at the Hospital".
  • Season 7 has Episode 26, "Christmas with Kylie Kangaroo" and Episode 52, "Grandpa Pig's Christmas Present".
• Clark Kenting: In "Super Potato", Mr. Potato visits the class and leaves the room before his friend Super Potato comes in to entertain the children. Then, Super Potato leaves before Mr. Potato comes back in. Then, as he's leaving the school, Mr. Potato gets stuck in his car and everyone calls for Super Potato to come to the rescue. Subverted, as Super Potato shows up, showing they're separate people. During the episode, it's implied that Mr. Potato was the Super Potato who entertained the children, but the real Super Potato only showed up when needed.
• Clothes for Christmas Cringe: In "Christmas at the Hospital", socks are seen as an unfavourable gift, with Mummy Pig clearly not pleased with her gift of socks. Meanwhile, Peppa taunts George on the possibility that he has only gotten socks (luckily, it's a toy for him) and hopes that Pedro Pony hasn't got socks from Santa as well.
• The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: A related example; Pedro's father is an optician, but Pedro is the only child that needs glasses.
• Company Cross References: The story which Daddy Pig reads to Peppa and George at the start of the episode "Bedtime" has a picture of Ben and Holly on it, which was also produced by Entertainment One and Astley Baker Davies.
• The Compliance Game: In one episode, Peppa's cousins Chloé (who's about elementary school age) and Alexander (a baby) come to visit. The family tries to spoon-feed Alexander, but he refuses until they pretend the spoon is an airplane.
• Cool Old Lady:
  • Madame Gazelle is old enough to have taught the parents, plays a mean guitar, used to be in a band, and was a world champion skiier.
  • The Queen isn't too uptight to join in a round of jumping up and down in muddy puddles, and she drove the playgroup's double decker bus over Tower Bridge during their tour of London.
• Creative Closing Credits: If a character or characters sing a song within a story, it will generally be reprised during the closing credits, instead of the normal theme tune instrumental.
• Cue the Rain: In the episode "Thunderstorm", after Daddy Pig says, "Plenty of time before it rains."
• Cute, but Cacophonic:
  • In the Spanish dub, when Richard cries, he sounds like he's shrieking.
  • Baby Alexander's wailing is loud enough to be heard from quite a while away. Although it's justified, since he is a baby.
  • Edmond Elephant, with his tendency to dish out information to correct others.
• Debating Names: In the episode where Mummy Rabbit is pregnant, Peppa and her friends try to think of names for the baby. Pedro keeps suggesting names that don't follow the Alliterative Name pattern.
• The Dentist Episode: Season 2 Episode 35, aptly titled "The Dentist".
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage:
  • "Musical Instruments": The theme tune is played on various instruments.
  • Peppa, her classmates and Daddy Pig play a lively rock-and-roll version of the theme tune in "Shake, Rattle and Bang" to end the episode. The same tune is then played over the closing credits.
  • In the beginning of the episode "Whistling", Daddy Pig whistles the theme tune while he reads the newspaper. Peppa hears this and spends the entire episode trying to whistle (and getting dismayed by the fact everyone else can). By the end of the episode, Peppa figures out how to whistle, and the tune she whistles is, of course, the theme tune, which is shortly lampshaded by Mummy Pig ("What a lovely tune!").
• Disappeared Dad:
  • Danny Dog's father has been sailing around the world. He decides to stay home when he returns during Sason 4.
  • Suzy Sheep's father is never seen or heard of.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: In "International Day", the kids dress up as different countries from around the world. They all eventually get into a fight, which is supposed to be analogous to World Wars and other conflicts. To drive it home, Peppa innocently asks if the countries really do argue.
• Double Standard: In-universe; in "Fathers' Day", Mummy Pig jokingly tells her children that Mothers' Day is a real day and Fathers' Day is a "made-up modern thing". She isn't too wrong, though, because Fathers' Day only emerged in the UK after WWII, while Mothers' Day had biblical roots.

E-I

• Edutainment Show: While the series' primary focus isn't education, several of the episodes, especially from Season 5 and onward, feature informative elements and premises for the young audience.
  • "Simple Science" discusses a simplified form of the scientific method, with greater focus on asking questions, making hypotheses/predictions, and experimentation.
  • "The Great Barrier Reef" has marine conservation as a theme and makes it a plot point that one should never take anything out of its natural habitat.
  • "Doctors" introduces the audience to medical doctors, opticians, vets, dentists, and mechanics (or, well, "car doctors"), as well as their respective jobs and roles.
  • "Chinese New Year" involves the playgroup being taught about and engaging in several of the holiday's cultural traditions, such as 'spring-cleaning' out the old year and wearing red for good luck.
  • There are a number of history-based episodes in Season 6, namely "Roman Day" "Viking Day", and "Stone Age Granny".
  • "Breakfast Club" has the preschool audience learn alongside Peppa that food gives one energy for their daily activities.
  • Different winter sports are illustrated in "Winter Games".
  • "Woodland Club" teaches both Peppa and her friends and the audience how to make a shelter in the wild.
• Endless Game: My Friend Peppa Pig does have a defined ending in that you can only visit Potato City once you've done everything else. However, after you have done so, you can repeat any of the activities in the game as much as you want, which probably isn't much, given that there's nothing new to reveal.
• Establishing Character Moment: The first episode, "Muddy Puddles", is based around establishing that Peppa, George, and their parents like jumping in muddy puddles, one of their iconic character traits.
• "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Often laughing so hard that they are all on their backs.
• Everyone Went to School Together: Madam Gazelle taught the parents of all the kids in Peppa's playgroup, as well. Peppa and her friends get to see the time capsule their parents made after burying one of their own.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: The children certainly seem to think so in-universe.
  • In the episode "School Project", when all the children at playgroup submit their artistic projects, a vast majority of the cast and their parents are covered in glitter from decorating the projects. Peppa's parents at least attempt to persuade her to remove glitter from the design, but she refuses.
  • In the episode "Masks", all of the children at playgroup insist on decorating their masks with glitter, in spite of Madame Gazelle's attempts to dissuade them from how messy glitter is to clean up.
• Evolving Credits: Beginning in 2019 onwards, there are clips shown from previous episodes.
• Faint in Shock: Miss Rabbit gets so nervous when meeting The Queen that she faints twice.
• Familial Chiding: Mummy Pig and her kids like to tease Daddy Pig for having a "big tummy".
• "Far Side" Island: In "Desert Island", the grandfathers are trapped on one briefly.
• Fantastic Legal Weirdness: In "The Electric Car", after learning that Roger is a Sentient Vehicle, the police tell him that, if he's the one driving, he needs a driving licence. Roger explains that he does, in fact, have one.
• Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: In a variant, in the first two series, Peppa, George and friends are not seen wearing seat belts in their car, or wearing bike helmets. From 2009 onwards, all characters appear with both in requisite situations and the creators of the show took the retroactive remedy of editing all older episodes to also feature belts and helmets where applicable.
• Fat and Proud: Daddy Pig. He doesn't see the point in being fit and is fond of his fat belly (though he believes it to be pure muscle).
• "Fawlty Towers" Plot: In "Daddy Pig Puts Up A Picture", Daddy Pig accidentally breaks the wall when trying to put up a photo of Peppa and George. He manages to mend it before Mummy Pig returns and notices it, and he and the children pretend nothing's happened when she ends up putting up the photo herself.
• Filthy Fun: Exaggerated. Everyone in this show, even the civilised/clean characters, enjoy muddy puddles.
• First Day of School Episode: Season 1 Episode 6, "The Playgroup", covers George's first day at playgroup. Various later episodes also introduce new characters as Peppa's new friends through them attending joining the playgroup, such as Emily Elephant, the Panda twins, and Mandy Mouse.
• Flanderization: Mr Potato started off as a character from a ordinary kids show^note It is shown that the they spoke through Pokémon Speak. Since "Mr. Potato Comes to Town", he has become the local celebrity of Peppa's hometown from opening a theme park, hosting a Christmas stage show, getting a superhero movie, hosting a muddy puddle jumping competition and his show, well, it transformed to a educational one (as he was once shown acknowledging Ms. Rabbit's jobs on TV).
• Foul Medicine: In "Pedro's Cough", several people come down with a vaguely-defined disease, of which a cough is seemingly the only symptom. To treat them, Dr. Brown Bear feeds them a liquid which is said to taste of "custard and old socks".
• Friendly Pirate: Played with. Piracy itself appears to be against the law, but the pirates who occasionally appear in person are never shown doing anything illegal. In fact, most of the population, including police officers, seem to view pirates as friendly by default. But amusingly, pirates themselves are worried they will get in trouble with the law simply for no other reason than being pirates and try to steer clear of police.
• Frigid Water Is Harmless: The episode "Sun, Sea, and Snow" has the characters going to the beach in the snow, and Madame Gazelle swims in the sea with her swimsuit on and doesn't get hypothermia. While the others don't want to swim due to finding it unpleasantly cold, hypothermia isn't brought up.
• Funny Foreigner:
  • Mr. Potato, if his accent is anything to go by.
  • Delphine Donkey and Pedro Pony count as well.
• Furry Confusion:
  • Among a cast mostly made up of Funny Animals, there's a family of normal ducks.
  • Also, Gerald Giraffe and his family are anthropomorphic, but Gerald's father is a zookeeper for normal animals.
  • The episode in which Peppa and her friends go to the zoo is full of this. Peppa and her friends meet Mr. Lion who looks after the tortoises, Mrs. Crocodile who looks after the penguins, as well as Gerald, who looks after the butterflies. Madame Gazelle is freaked out by both Mr. Lion and Mrs. Crocodile at first, then relaxes when she realizes they aren't wild animals.
  • In one episode, there was a polar bear featured in the boat. In Season 7, the character of Penny Polar Bear and her 2 mothers were introduced.
  • Madame Gazelle has pet Guinea pigs.
  • Peppa and George have a four-legged piggy bank.
• Furry Reminder: This show likes this trope a lot. To start off, the animals make their species' noises frequently, Peppa Pig and her family enjoy jumping in muddy puddles, and the Rabbit family lives in a burrow.
• Fuzzball Spider: The episode "Mister Skinnylegs" has a spider that's a fuzzy black ball with long, skinny legs.
• "Getting Ready for Bed" Plot:
  • Peppa and George hear an in-universe story with this kind of plot, about a red monkey going to bed. Peppa finds the story boring, so she's pleased to find more interesting books featuring the same monkey at the library.
  • In-universe, Daddy Pig once makes up a bedtime story about a royal family going to bed, called "The Sleepy Princess".
• Glitter Litter: Addressed twice in Season 5, in contrast to how the children believe Everything's Better with Sparkles.
  • In the episode "School Project", Suzy Sheep asks for permission to use glitter for her art project for playgroup, to which Madame Gazelle, the playgroup teacher, replies they can't use too much as it gets everywhere. Later in the episode, Peppa's parents attempt to dissuade her from incorporating glitter as a finishing touch into her art project. Predictably, one Gilligan Cut later, most of the playgroup and their parents show up with glitter all over their clothes, with similarly sparkly art projects.
  • In the episode "Masks", Madame Gazelle continues to be adamantly of this belief, to the point of keeping all the glitter in the playgroup (read: a small vial of it) inside a locked vault. The glitter leak at the end of the episode ultimately spills out onto the closing credits as well as the entire classroom.
• Group Costume Fail: In one episode, Peppa's preschool has a fancy dress day, where the students dress as pirates. Pedro comes to school dressed as a cowboy instead.
• Halloween Episode: The special "Pumpkin Party" takes place on Halloween.
• Have You Tried Rebooting?: It almost always works. In one episode, Grandpa Pig does this to his broken computer, which announces that it is now even more broken.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • In "Basketball", when Emily Elephant holds the ball with her trunk instead of her hands, making it so the other kids can't reach it, Peppa starts complaining that that isn't fair. Then, Suzy Sheep reminds her that Emily is on their team, at which point Peppa decides it is fair.
  • In "George's Birthday", when Peppa complains to Mummy and Daddy that George woke her up early, they remind her that she did the same thing to George and them in "My Birthday Party". Peppa declares that that was okay because it was her birthday.
  • In the episode where they wash Daddy Pig's shirt, George says he doesn't like pink, which is weird because he is a pink pig himself.
  • In "Mummy Rabbit's Bump", Peppa and her friends think of names for Rebecca Rabbit's new baby sibling(s), she disagrees with Pedro's name ideas that don't start with an R because it doesn't match the Rabbits' last name, but she has a little brother named George Pig, and two cousins named Chloé Pig and Alexander Pig.
• I Want My Jetpack: In "The Time Capsule", in the old VCR showing Peppa Pig and friends' parents as young children, Daddy Pig suggests that in the future, people will be living on the moon. That's the same thing Peppa and friends think the future will have.
  Peppa Pig: Silly little Daddy Pig.
• Informed Species:
  • Suzy Sheep doesn't look much like an actual sheep, rather looking more like a polar bear.
    • She looks like a mouse in the live adaptation.
    • It is entirely possible she is a haired sheep rather than a wooly one.
  • Pedro Pony looks nothing like a horse. Several people have noticed he actually seems to somewhat resemble Arthur.
  • Danny Dog looks like a cross between some sort of dog and cat.

Madame Gazelle looks more like some kind of horned rodent than an actual gazelle.

• Penny Polar Bear looks like a cross between a polar bear and a mouse.
• The Guinea pigs don't look like Guinea pigs.

• Injured Limb Episode: In the episode "Hospital", the playgroup visits Pedro at the hospital after he breaks his leg.
• Insistent Terminology:
  • In "Grandpa Pig's Train To The Rescue", Gertrude is not a toy train, she is a miniature locomotive. In order, this is insisted by Grandpa Pig, Peppa, all the other passengers, then finally Mrs Rabbit (whose big train had broken down).
  • In "The Golden Boots", Peppa insists that her boots are "golden", but Suzy feels that they're simply "yellow". They get into an Argument of Contradictions about it.
• Interspecies Friendship: Most of the characters are different species of Funny Animals, but they get along very well.
• Interspecies Romance/Childhood Friend Romance: The episode "In the Future" alludes to this; Peppa Pig and Suzy Sheep speculate about marrying Pedro Pony or Danny Dog when they're grown up. However, given they're still young children, it's unconfirmed if they are thinking of marriage in the romantic sense just yet.

K-R

• Kids Hate Vegetables: Played with the episode "Lunch", in which the title character and her family visit her grandparents' house for Exactly What It Says on the Tin, where George refuses to eat some vegetables. So, Grandpa Pig then rearranges the vegetables to look like a dinosaur, and because of that, George eats them and loves it.
• Kids Prefer Boxes: George ended up playing with the box instead when Daddy Pig and Grandpa Pig took too long setting up the fancy electronic car he got in the Christmas episode.
• Kitchen Sink Included: In the episode "The Camper Van", the Pig family rents a camper van with dashboard controls for everything, including the sink.
• Language Barrier: When the Pigs arrive in Italy, Daddy Pig goes through a lot of trouble trying to ask the rental agent for a car.
• Large Ham: Grampy Rabbit, who is overly eager and over-the-top at anything he does. Helps he's also played by BRIAN BLESSED, who is quite a hammy actor himself.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: During "TV Land" Peppa and her family visit the local television station, where they film a version of the opening to the show.
• Leaving Food for Santa: In "Santa's Grotto", Grandpa Pig leaves Santa a mince pie and an unspecified drink. Given British tradition, it was probably sherry. A carrot is also left for Santa's reindeer.
• Let's Meet the Meat: Mr. Potato is a large sentient potato, but still encourages children to eat fruits and vegetables.
• Library Episode: The characters visit the library in several episodes, but the most prominent one would be Season 3 Episode 4, "The Library".
• Loose Tooth Episode: In "The Tooth Fairy", Peppa's baby tooth falls out. She tries to stay up all night so she can see the tooth fairy.
• Loud Sleeper Gag: In "George Catches a Cold", George keeps Peppa awake by snoring due to congestion brought on by his cold.
• Mad Libs Catch Phrase: The Narrator:
  "[Character] likes [what is currently happening]. Everybody likes [what is currently happening]."
• May It Never Happen Again: "George Catches a Cold" sees him with a cold because he didn't wear his rainhat. When he gets better, he decides to wear the rainhat all the time so he won't catch another cold.
• Mini-Golf Episode: Season 7 Episode 12, "Playing Golf", initially starts with Peppa and George visiting a golf course with Grandpa Pig, but they eventually start playing mini-golf.
• Minimalist Cast: In the first episodes, Peppa and her family were the only characters who appeared. Later seasons added more characters.
• Minor Injury Overreaction: In one of the Christmas episodes, Peppa falls and gets a bump on her arm from running around the Christmas tree with her new toy car. This somehow warrants a hospital visit and is given priority over patients in the waiting room with broken arms and legs.
• The Mountains of Illinois:
  • The series never says where it is set. It is supposed to be somewhere in the UK, but things like high, alpine mountains, which aren't found in the UK, appear.
  • Also in most foreign dubs, the dub will change the setting to where the dub takes place. For example, the Brazilian Portuguese version is supposed to have the series set in Brazil, despite the fact snow-topped mountains and hills lined with temperate climate vegetation appear.
• Mr. Exposition: In many episodes, the Narrator explains what's going on to the audience. In the episode "Winter Games", he points out the different winter sports equipment the characters are using, such as skis, monoskis, and snowboards. However, most of the time, he's Narrating the Obvious.
• Narrating the Obvious: Taken to extreme levels. Even after a character tells the audience what is going on, the narrator tells them all over again.
  Daddy Pig: Let's get some air into this paddling pool.
  Narrator: Daddy Pig is pumping up the paddling pool.
• Nearly Normal Animal: Mrs. Duck steals Peppa Pig's boots in "The Golden Boots", but otherwise behaves like a real duck.
• New Baby Episode: The episode "Mummy Rabbit's Bump" has the Pig family visit the Rabbit family and find out that Mrs. Rabbit is nine months pregnant. She then goes into labour and has twins named Rosie and Robbie.
• New Job as the Plot Demands: Miss Rabbit doing every random job going is a Running Gag — firefighter, supermarket checkout, museum shop, bus driver, train driver, Christmas tree salesperson, etc.
  • It's lampshaded in "Miss Rabbit's Day Off", in which everyone has to fill in for all her jobs, and in "The Queen", in which Miss Rabbit receives an award from the Queen for being "the Hardest Worker in the Land".
  • Apparently played with in the episode where she is about to give birth. It is revealed that in fact, Miss Rabbit is also a Nurse that works at the hospital and that her never-before-revealed sister, Mummy Rabbit, is the one that gives birth.
  • The book Peppa Pig and the Career Day has fun with it — Miss Rabbit goes up in front of Peppa's class five different times before, after, and in-between all of the other adults that present their jobs.
  • The game My Friend Peppa Pig also has fun with it by having her seemingly be everywhere even though it shouldn't be possible, i.e. she brings you by hot-air balloon to a snowy hill and then is handing out ice-skates at the ice-skating rink, yet is somehow waiting for you back at the balloon if you want to go back.
• New Year Has Come: The episode "Chinese New Year" features the playgroup learning about cultural traditions related to Chinese New Year, such as wearing red for luck, and the episode ends with a fireworks display near the school. As a bonus, the episode is first aired on Nickelodeon on the eve of the Lunar New Year, and the Channel 5 release occurs a day later, on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
• No Antagonist: It is unknown if there will be an antagonist of the show, as so far, most episodes fall under the Slice of Life genre and cover everyday events.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up:
  • Subtly subverted with the occasional birthday episodes.
  • But then, we see the 2012 episode "Snowy Mountain"'s events (Mummy Pig skiing into her house) portrayed as the previous year to the 2022 episode "Winter Games"'s events. The latter gradually becomes a follow-up to the former; this time, Mummy Pig skis through the house into the playgroup.
• Ocular Gushers: The infants (most often George) cry a shower of tears a lot in the show. Peppa gets in on the action after her golden boots are taken by a duck in the special "The Golden Boots".
• On Three: In "Grandpa Pig's Boat", Grandpa Pig and Granddad Dog have a race to see whose boat is faster. The latter gives the former a head start.
  Grandpa Pig: (starts his boat too) You started too soon!
• Parental Bonus: There's quite a few jokes which are too subtle to be picked up by children, but an adult can find it mildly humorous, mostly delivered by Daddy Pig and Grampy Rabbit.
  • In the episode "Daddy Pig's Office", the equation written on Daddy Pig's whiteboard is the quadratic formula.
• Picnic Episode: Season 1 Episode 15, aptly titled "Picnic".
• Pineapple Ruins Pizza: Played for Laughs. In the episode "Pizza! Pizza!", George is stated to like pineapple as a topping on his pizza. Daddy Pig acts horrified by this, claiming that There Should Be a Law against pineapple on pizza. Everyone laughs about this and moves on, while the narrator clarifies to the preschool audience that pineapple on pizza isn't actually illegal.
• Pluto Is Expendable: Pluto is excluded when the planets are mentioned at the museum.
• Power Outage Plot: Season 2 Episode 47, "The Powercut", revolves around this.
• Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue...: Daddy Pig's Valentine's Day card to Mummy Pig in the Valentine's Day Episode goes:
  Roses are red
  Violets are blue
  You are so lovely
  And I love you
• Running Gag:
  • George's obsession with dinosaurs.
    Peppa: George, you always say "dinosaur" for everything!
  • Jumping up and down in muddy puddles because "everybody loves jumping up and down in muddy puddles". Even the adults.
  • Daddy Pig climbing in trees to get something, then falling out of them. Lampshaded at least once by Mummy Pig.
  • Whenever the Pig family goes, there's inevitably going to be a gift shop run by Miss Rabbit. Whether it be a museum, a scenic spot, a decrepit run-down shack on an overgrown path to a pond with fish Daddy Pig visited as a child, even on the surface of the moon.
    • Subverted during the Pig family's trip to Italy, where Miss Rabbit works as an airport clerk and stewardess, but a goat (specifically, Gabriella Goat's aunt) runs a local gift shop.
  • On every leg of her family's vacation in Italy, Peppa leaves her teddy bear behind, and a police officer returns it to her (after Daddy Pig apologizes for "committing a crime", stating "he won't do it again").
  • Grampy Rabbit asks everyone if they want to hear a song. The adults say no, the kids say yes, then he sings it.
  • The adults' fear of glitter, so much so that Madame Gazelle locks the playgroup's glitter in a chamber.
  • Sometimes when an adult pays for something, they are shocked at the cost, with the person they are paying saying "It's all for a good cause".

S-Z

• Santa Claus: In "Peppa's Christmas", both Peppa and George get to meet Santa. The episode seems to imply that the only reason Santa goes up and down the chimney is because he never thought of simply using the door. The vocal credits for the episode list "Father Christmas as himself".
• Santa's Existence Clause: "Peppa's Christmas" has Peppa and George meeting Santa. The others believe in Santa but they initially don't believe that the two got to see him.
• School Play: Peppa's class acts out Little Red Riding Hood for the parents in the 52nd and final episode of Season 1, aptly titled "School Play". Then, as Pedro develops Performance Anxiety, Madame Gazelle joins him on stage.
• Sentient Vehicle: The titular car in "The Electric Car" turns out to be one. He introduces himself as Roger.
• Serious Business: Downplayed. Everyone in the whole world loves jumping up and down in muddy puddles. EVERYONE.
• Shaking the Rump: Grandpa Pig does this after getting a strike in "Bowling".
• Shout-Out:
  • The trip to Grampy Rabbit's Dinosaur park has Grampy Rabbit welcoming everyone in the manner of Richard Attenborough in Jurassic Park.
  • An extremely bizarre one: in "Peppa's Christmas", a bunch of cards hanging near the ceiling can be seen occasionally — and one of the cards blatantly has a picture of Haruhi Suzumiya, a Japanese character from the popular light novel and anime series with the same name.
  • When the Queen lands the bus on the edge of the bridge and it wobbles there, her line "Hang on a moment, lads, I’ve got an idea" is the final line of The Italian Job.
  • Peppa's Australian friend, Kylie Kangaroo, is named after one of the most famous people ever to come from Down Under.
  • Grampy Rabbit's hovercraft looks very similar to Zuma's rig from PAW Patrol.
  • In "Bedtime Story", the book Daddy Pig reads to Peppa and George features what looks like a picture of Ben and Holly from Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom.
  • In the episode "The Biggest Muddy Puddle in the World", Polly the parrot is shown flying with a branch in its beak once the flood ends.
• Sick Episode: Three of them, one for each of the first three seasons.
  • In "Not Very Well", Peppa gets an undefined rash.
  • In "George Catches a Cold", it's Exactly What It Says on the Tin, invoking Catch Your Death of Cold.
  • In "Pedro's Cough", everyone catches a cough that is instantly cured by a yucky pink liquid.
• Slapstick: At first, Daddy Pig would get into embarrassing situations due to his status as a Bumbling Dad. However, later episodes would have it happen to Mummy Pig on occasion. Daddy Pig would then lampshade that he thought it only happened to him.
• Slice of Life: Most of the episodes depict everyday events in Peppa's life, like going to the supermarket, making new friends at school, going on holiday abroad, and learning new things about life.
• Species Surname: All the characters' surname are their species, such as Peppa Pig, who is a pig.
• Spiritual Antithesis: Joe Brumm, creator of fellow Funny Animal show Bluey, was previously a staff member of Peppa Pig and conceived his series as an Australian "replica" of the UK one. However, the two differ in their portrayal of family dynamics, particularly in the role of father figures. Whereas Peppa Pig depicts Daddy Pig as a Bumbling Dad, Bluey intentionally depicts Bandit in a more proactive role, particularly in parent-child play.
• Stock Audio Clip: Justified Trope. Richard Rabbit and George are both two years old. They don't have much of a vocabulary.
• Suddenly Bilingual: In "Pen Pal", it suddenly becomes known for no particular reason that Mummy Pig can speak and understand French, and she uses her knowledge to help Peppa talk to her French pen pal Delphine. Her knowing French isn't mentioned again after the episode.
  • Although, it is possible that Mummy Pig is recalling some of her knowledge from school, as it is required that secondary school students in the UK learn at least one language, with French being the most common.
• Surprise Multiple Birth: In the episode "Mummy Rabbit's Bump", Mummy Rabbit becomes pregnant, and the kids spend the episode wondering if the baby is going to be a boy or a girl. At the end of the episode, it's revealed that Mummy Rabbit had twins, one boy and one girl, instead of the expected one baby.
• Surprise Party: One is held for Madame Gazelle in "Madame Gazelle's Leaving Party" as a leaving party for Madame Gazelle because she had said that she was leaving. The whole thing is a misunderstanding of Peppa's; Madame Gazelle is only going to be gone for a week for a holiday. She even said "no playgroup next week", but Peppa didn't understand. Everybody else believed her because Everyone Went to School Together and so they know Madame Gazelle might be at the point where she'd want to retire.
• Take That!:
  • In "International Day", the kids dress up like people from different countries. They start arguing. When Madame Gazelle asks if they think that actual countries behave like that, Peppa says, "Don't they?"
  • Several jabs at Italy occur in the Italian Holiday arc.
• Talk Like a Pirate: In "Danny's Pirate Party", Peppa and her friends attend a pirate-themed birthday party dressing up as pirates (except for the offbeat Pedro, who has dressed like a cowboy), and Granddad Dog gets in on the fun by dressing up as a pirate also and asking to be called "Dogbeard". However, when he talks like a pirate trying to explain a game he's made up, the kids can't understand him, forcing him to speak more normally.
  Dogbeard: Here be the plan. Time was, I had a heap of gold was mine by right, but I was hornswaggled by one Captain Hog.
  Suzy Sheep: What?
  Narrator: Pirate talk is a bit difficult to understand.
  Dogbeard: Captain Hog took my treasure.
  Kids: Oh.
• Tarzan Boy: Pedro Pony becomes one for his holiday to the jungle in "Around the World with Peppa".
• Technical Euphemism: In one episode, Grandpa Pig drives a wheeled, train-shaped vehicle. When people call it a toy train, he insists it's not a toy train but a "miniature locomotive", and he pronounces "miniature" as "minny-a-ture".
• Tempting Fate: Happens quite often.
  • For example, in "Pancakes", Daddy Pig gives Mummy Pig a hard time about flipping pancakes too low. When he gets his chance, a pancake gets stuck to the ceiling.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Every female character wears a dress. On the other hand, the boys have some sort of unspecified clothing... drawn as a simple round shape.
• "Test Your Strength" Game: One of these appears in the episode "Funfair". After Mr Bull, who is manning the game, makes a rude remark about Daddy Pig's weight, Mummy Pig (who has had sexist remarks doubting her skill made to her by characters manning fairground games) is pushed over the edge. In a fit of rage, she whacks the button so hard it hits the bell five times, winning her all the giant teddies at the fairground.
• Through a Face Full of Fur: Rebecca Rabbit's face goes really red when blushing despite her fur, and she does it all the time.
• Toilet Training Plot: Season 7 Episode 19, "Potty Training", revolves around George being potty-trained.
• Token Human: There are at least two humans in Peppa's world: Santa Claus and Queen Elizabeth II.
• Toilet Training Plot: "Potty Training" revolves around George learning to use the potty chair and learning how to avoid potty accidents.
• TV Telephone Etiquette: In possibly the most well-known scene on the Internet for the series, Peppa, unable to whistle, hangs up on Suzy Sheep when she whistles on a phone call despite claiming not to even know what whistling is.
  Suzy: Hello?! Peppa?
• Unnamed Parent: All of Peppa's adult relatives are like this. So, almost everyone calls Peppa's father "Daddy Pig", even his wife, his coworkers and his own father-in-law. However, people who don't know him or only know him professionally call him "Mr. Pig".
• Valentine's Day Episode: Season 6 Episode 27, "Valentine's Day", features everyone making and giving their loved ones Valentine's Day cards, though primarily of the platonic variant.
• Verbal Tic: Everyone. The Pigs snort after every other sentence, while friends of other species sometimes emit their best known sound.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Grandpa Pig and Grandad Dog. They're always bickering saying that each other's boats are old and rusty for a few seconds, but in the end they make up with the Narrator saying "Grandad Dog and Grandpa Pig are very best friends".
• Wacky Cravings: In "Mummy Rabbit's Bump", a pregnant Mummy Rabbit asks for potatoes with jelly, cheese, and strawberry jam. Peppa and friends are appropriately disgusted.
  Narrator: A potato with jelly, cheese, and strawberry jam? What a funny mixture of food!
• Wham Line: "Mummy Rabbit's Bump":
  Mr. Rabbit: Is it a boy or a girl?
  Mummy Rabbit: Both! (lifts up two crying babies) We've got baby twins!
• What Are Records?: Averted. When Peppa and George find a record player in Granny and Grandpa's attic, both seem to immediately recognize what it's for and Peppa asks them to play the record that they found with it.
• Who Wants to Be "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?": In "Mr. Potato's Fruit and Vegetable Quiz", as Peppa and Suzy argue over a question about whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable, Mr. Potato takes out a mobile phone and suggests that they "Call A Friend". Answering the call (and the question) is no other than Edmond.
• A Wizard Did It:
  • Played with near the end of "Shopping". A chocolate cake is scanned, and it turns out it wasn't on the list. Daddy Pig confesses to getting it off-screen despite it not being clearly shown in the cart.
  • In "TV Land", Miss Rabbit gives a description on how television works, simplifying it by saying, "It's magic!"
• World of Funny Animals: Most of the animals on this show are anthropomorphic, resulting in the show having a history of portraying events anyways which are variously realistic for humans in the interest of portraying an outcome more favorable than an animal would have in the same situation^note such as Pedro's leg healing after it breaks instead of his suffering from a diminished quality of life or portraying events in a human's life at the pace they unfold for an animal^note in one case, justifying Mummy Rabbit going into labor and giving birth to twins in the span of a couple of minutes.
• World of Ham: Downplayed. The world is pretty calm, but several of the adult characters are blatant Large Hams, especially seeing as Grampy Rabbit is voiced by BRIAN BLESSED. Also, episodes frequently end with everyone laughing hysterically and falling to the ground.
• You Talk Too Much!: Doctor Brown Bear implies this about Grandpa Rabbit. When he's called up because Grandpa Rabbit lost his voice, he first asks if that's a bad thing. Additionally, in "Chatterbox", when Suzy Sheep wants to tell Peppa about her day, but Peppa just keeps talking and talking instead, she tells Peppa, "You talk too much. You go 'blah blah blah blah blah'. Just like that. 'Blah blah blah.'"
• Zebras Are Just Striped Horses: Zoe. She's a zebra but makes horse sounds instead of barking like a real zebra.

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