The WORST episodes of The Wind in the Willows
Every episode of The Wind in the Willows ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The Wind in the Willows!
Based on the novels by Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows is the classic story of the adventures of Mole, Badger, Rat and Toad of Toad Hall, set in Edwardian England of 1908. Mole sets out from his underground home to discover the world and is befriended by the river loving Water Rat who introduces him to the madcap aristocrat Mr. Toad. Together with Grandfatherly Badger they encounter the rascally Weasels, face the terrors of Wild Wood, and see Mr. Toad through a series of headlong escapades until they return once again to the peace of the English countryside.
#1 - Toad: Film Maker
Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 7/3/1990
Toad's new enthusiasm is film-making, but with Badger, Mole and Rat preparing for the winter he seeks other cast members. After the initial failure of a young hedgehog and of Billy Rabbit in the role of the orphan child, the heroine and her villainous father are replaced by the Assistant and Chief Weasel. The screening reveals a rough cut and, amid much hilarity, Mr. Toad's wedding to the Chief Weasel's Assistant. During the movie, Badger remarks to Mole that despite all of Toad's follies, he really had given everyone a little magic with his film. He also says that when they are gone, they will be preserved forever on a little strip of film, showing those in the future of what their lives were like in their time.
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#2 - Gadget Mad
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 3/11/1986
Toad invites his friends around for a big surprise after tea. He has spent the past weeks installing an electrical generator to power his newfound craze. Toad Hall's stairs are "not in use" thanks to his new elevator, a variety of other strange state-of-the-art appliances also make an appearance, much to the dismay of Mole who loses his best waistcoat to the suction cleansing device.
#3 - Mercury of the Motorbicycle
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/8/1987
Another motorcar crash turns Toad off motoring. He determines to purchase a motorbicycle, and his friends are unimpressed. Later, a caped motorcyclist is seen to narrowly miss Billy Rabbit, who falls into the canal. The motorcyclist causes havoc around the Riverbank. Badger, Rat and Mole decide to indicate their disapproval by ostracising Toad. Toad has a problem involving his motorbicycle and the Law, but receives little support from his friends. Billy Rabbit realises that the motorbicyclist was not Mr. Toad after all, and informs Mr. Toad that the culprit was a weasel. Toad tries to re-capture his machine but falls into difficulty. Thankfully, Badger, Rat and Mole come to the rescue and apologise to Toad for their assumptions.
#4 - Mr. Toad's Telephone
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/15/1987
Toad has bought a new telephone from the weasels, and is very excited about it. But there are a few problems: firstly, the kit has no wires (the weasels point out that he never asked for wires); secondly, no one else on the Riverbank owns a phone. Toad has to spend even more money connecting up his friends, and the situation quickly becomes more complicated than he expected.
#5 - Bricks and Mortar
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/6/1988
Toad Hall is in need of some renovation work. Badger tells Toad about his ancestor, Inigo, a great architect. Inspired, Toad decides to take up architecture himself, and re-design Toad Hall. As usual, his efforts are somewhat misguided – he thinks the west wing has been put on the wrong side of the hall – and the weasels see yet another opportunity to take advantage of him.
#6 - The Lost River
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/13/1988
One morning after the storm, Rat return home with Mole after being invited to breakfast, only to discover that the river has disappeared from its channel. Confused and distressed, he enlists the help of Mole, Badger and Toad, and they all set off to find out what happened. But Rat is not the only one to have lost something: on their search, he and Toad encounter a family of fieldmice whose caravan home has been flooded out. Toad is eventually persuaded to put them up at Toad Hall, but meanwhile the others may have found a clue to the disappearance of the river.
#7 - Toad's Harvest
Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/24/1988
It is autumn, and Rat, Mole and Badger are making preparations for winter, exchanging their home-made jams and preserves. Toad's garden supplies most of the fruits and vegetables for his friends, but Toad himself prefers to buy his own winter provisions in a hamper from London, much to Badger's distaste. Determined to impress them all, Toad buys a tinning machine imported from the USA. However, having refused to blanch the vegetables before putting them into the tins, the impression he makes when they are opened is not the sort he planned.
#8 - Monster of the Wild Wood
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/2/1988
With only a few days to Halloween, the riverbank youngsters are brimming with excitement. Meanwhile, Toad is planning a party for the youngsters and is planning to make the best Halloween mask and costume. Billy Rabbit and the others venture into the Wild Wood to go play trick-or-treat, and they are scared by a monster. When the youngsters come running to his house for help, Toad determines to investigate (After Billy and the others have to help him remove his mask which has become glued to his face). In the Wild Wood, his nerves get the better of him, and terror ensues when the monster reappears, hot on the tail of the weasels. The following day Toad has taken to his bed in fright and Badger explains that the "monster" is, in fact, a steam traction engine, part of the construction effort in the Wild Wood. Toad feels silly and pretends to Badger he knew it was not a monster after all.
#9 - Remember, Remember
Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 3/9/1988
It is nearing 5 November, Bonfire Night, and the riverbankers decide to celebrate as a welcome distraction from the construction of the railway in the Wild Wood. Toad determines to have fireworks, and after trying his hand at firework-making without success, he heads to London to buy a luxury box. The display is in peril when the weasels steal the wood for the bonfire and the fireworks, but the riverbankers have a merry gathering nevertheless. Seeing the fireworks being let off from the Wild Woods, the riverbankers notice that the woods are on fire. While tending to the injured weasels, Badger offers them asylum in Mr. Toad's outhouses. He makes an impassioned speech for unity in the face of the builders.
#10 - Tunnels and Tremors
Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 3/16/1988
Toad is planning a Christmas party starring the great magician 'Il Mysterioso' (who looks an awful lot like Toad). Meanwhile, Mole End is struck by an earth tremor. Mole and Rat rescue the trapped Billy Rabbit. Toad's performance eventually goes ahead, but Badger is concerned about the cause of the tremor.
#11 - Happy New Year
Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired 3/23/1988
The New Year brings little cheer for the riverbankers, as the approaching railway threatens to destroy everyone's homes, and even Badger seems to have given up hope. Despite this, Toad insists on holding a New Year's celebration at the Hall, and on providing the entertainment himself (by playing the bagpipes very badly and reading with an exaggerated accent from the poetry of Rabbie Burns). Mole's cousin Auberon is in attendance. During the evening two messengers bring news to the group: the first concerning the weasels and a stolen traction engine; the second concerning new developments on the railway.
#12 - The Chief's Return
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 3/27/1990
After being arrested and thrown in jail over the business in "A Tale of Two Toads". The Chief weasel and his Henchman send some weasels to Toad Hall with a message saying the Chief wants Toad to be the weasels new leader and arrange a meeting in his prison cell. Gullible Toad believes them and visits the Chief. The Chief and his Henchman trick Toad, escape and take over Toad Hall. When Badger, Mole and Rat find out they do some "Prison Visiting" and set Toad free. Then they think of the perfect "cure" for getting the Chief (who is pretending to be Toad ill in bed) and his henchman (posing as a nurse)out of Toad Hall. Enter " Doctor MacSporran".
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#13 - Midsummer Night's Disaster
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/10/1990
Toad decides to produce the Summer Entertainment, after Badger, who usually does the job, decides to take a year off. Toad decides to do a drastically re-written version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The show includes Oberon, the Fairy Characters- Oberon, the King- who turns out to be Robin Hood in disguise- Titania and her attendants, but it also includes D'Artagnan, Ophelia from Hamlet, and most of the cast of Robin Hood. Mole plays Friar Tuck, and Ratty is the Sheriff of Nottingham, but the Chief Weasel and his bumbling henchman are out to sabotage the production. They make scenery and then steal from Toad Hall during the production, but they are spotted as they make their getaway.
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#14 - Toad in Love
Season 5 - Episode 12 - Aired 6/19/1990
Toad has a new craze "filming" and has ordered a film camera, and decide's to visit a music hall to see a show. Toad falls in love with a singer he sees at the music hall, Lottie D'Urbeville (who never actually appears) which puts him off filming,food and even motoring!. Badger discovers that Lettuce Pommefrite (her real name) is married to a "tightrope walker" – how can he break it to Toad gently?
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#15 - A Toad in Time
Season 5 - Episode 11 - Aired 6/5/1990
Toad decides to build a "time travelling machine". His friends think that his latest project is doomed to failure. Undaunted, Toad sets to work. He falls asleep and dreams of being "Robin Hood", and then "Julius Caesar". His friends wake him up, but he is convinced he really did go back in time.
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#16 - Happy Birthday!
Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired 5/29/1990
28 November is coming. It is a special day for Toad, and though all his friends know it, they are not letting on. Ignoring all his hints, they move the conversation round to astrological signstar signs and astrology, and soon Toad becomes fascinated and decides to become an "astrologer". He even dreams of a mention in the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom New Year's Honours List. His fortunes take a turn for the worse when the weasels steal his "pocket watch", but the dawn of 28 November holds some more pleasant surprises…
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#17 - Hip-Hip Soiree!
Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 5/22/1990
Bored by Badger's intellectual slide show, Toad decides to hold a soirée at Toad Hall. He starts with a game of charades, but when his opening charade (The Three Musketeers) goes wrong, he calls a halt and suggest they play Pin the Tail on the Donkey instead. This plan goes awry when a blindfolded host falls down a flight of stairs. Badger suggests an impressions game, but Ratty's impression of Toad offends him, and he storms off to bed, vowing never to speak to them again. He then has a strange dream.
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#19 - Piano-Roll Toad
Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/8/1990
Toad inherits a pianola, and decides to impress his friends by pretending that he can play a real piano, in a grand recital at Toad Hall. When the pedal action proves too much of a strain for him, he enlists the help of Billy Rabbit and a modified bicycle. However, once the weasels learn of the trick, they plan an act of sabotage.
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#21 - Mr. Toad of 'The Times'
Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 4/24/1990
Annoyed that there is no mention of his speech in the local newspaper, Toad decides to write his own. He interviews his friends, but this does not work out. Mole has nothing exciting to tell Toad – his most exciting experience is winning second-prize at a flower show – and Toad is bored by Badger's account of his travels around the world. He attempts to photograph a fake boating accident with Ratty, but this ends in disaster. However, Toad finally gets the paper together and sets out to make copies of it with his new printing press. Will it work out? The action of this episode is interspersed with Toad's fantasies about when his newspaper is a success – a semi-regular character, a young rabbit named Billy, is seen shouting "Read all about it!", as he attempts to sell "The Toad Hall Times".
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#22 - The Compleat Bungler
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/17/1990
Toad takes up fishing. Badger, unusually, encourages this obsession, and offers to give him a lesson in fly fishing. Toad refuses, and goes to London to buy the finest fishing tackle money can buy. With Toad Hall unattended, the weasels decide to steal Toad's motorbike. Will Toad's attempts at fishing be up to scratch?
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#23 - Oarsman Toad
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/3/1990
Toad decides to enter the "Home-Made Boat Competition" in the River Bank Regatta. However, he can't be bothered to build a boat, and therefore decides to buy one and attempt to pass it off as his own. This plan fails, and he decides to build a boat just to spite the cynical Badger. His first attempt at building a boat fails, but the Weasels offer to help him build another one. But can they be trusted?
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#24 - Hall For Sale
Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/17/1988
Disguised as representatives of the railway company, the weasels talk Toad into selling Toad Hall to them. Toad plans to travel the world with the proceeds, until Badger gets wind of the deal and reads the fraudulent contract.
#25 - Fighting Fit
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/10/1988
Badger, Rat and Mole are preoccupied with the progress of the railway, which looks set to encroach on the Wild Wood and Riverbank. Toad almost collapses at the end of the long walk, and is rather cross when the others brand him overweight and unfit. He orders an array of expensive exercise equipment, which turns out to be quite beyond his capabilities. As Toad cavorts into a cabinet in front of Rat and Mole, a stack of letters is revealed. They refer to a consultation period for those affected by the railway, but Toad has failed to object in time.