Who Shall Wear the Crown?

"Who Shall Wear the Crown?"
The animals mourning the loss of Fox
Episode Information
Series	1
Episode no.	6
UK airdate	10 February 1993
Written by	Valerie Georgeson
Episode Chronology
Preceded by	Snare for the Unwary
Succeeded by	New Friends, Old Enemies

Who Shall Wear the Crown? is the sixth episode of the first series of The Animals of Farthing Wood. It was originally broadcast in the UK on 10 February 1993.

Plot

Shortly after Fox and Badger are swept away by the debris, Badger is spotted tangled in some reeds down the river. Toad, Hare, Hedgehog and Weasel quickly rescue him and help him back to dry land. Toad and Mole go swimming in the river, but Toad spots a pike and they only just escape in time. Meanwhile Kestrel attempts to find Fox and sees him floating down the river on some driftwood, but she loses sight of him as he goes under a bridge. Kestrel tells the other animals of Fox's disappearance and Badger takes on leadership of the party and decides that they should continue their journey.

The animals continue on their way but Toad becomes unsure of which way to go and Owl discovers that they are walking around in circles. She tells them this is because Toad's homing instinct is leading him back to Farthing Wood and suggests that she and Kestrel should scout ahead to help him remember the way. Toad remembers the way and they begin to set off but Badger receives news that there has been a "happy event", meaning that Mrs Fieldmouse has given birth to some baby mice, so the animals look for cover and rest for the night, Mole suggests that the Fieldmice stay behind, But Badger refuses stating, "Look what happened to the Newts!".

Meanwhile Fox is travelling down the river in a small boat and is seen by humans as he arrives at a town.

Trivia

• This episode marks the birth and first appearance of the baby fieldmice, and the only appearance of the pike.
• The first two shots were cut from the "From Copse to Quarry" VHS to overlap from the previous episode, but part of the dialogue from the second shot does overlaps with the previous episode's penultimate shot. The scene where Owl says she should be the leader and the scene with the pike are also cut.
• This episode is the only one where Fox does not speak.
• On the "From Copse to Quarry" VHS, the final shot is frozen and then edited with a fade-into-black effect so that it blends more neatly into the next episode.

Goofs

• Because of the scenes from this episode and the previous episode being cut, viewers watching the "From Copse to Quarry" VHS would be confused by the scene where Owl is teased by Adder about losing her role of leadership to Badger (which still remained on the video release) and not know what the snake was taking about.