The Queen's Nose (TV series)



The Queen's Nose is a 1995 CBBC television series, it was originally adapted by Steve Attridge from the novel The Queen's Nose (written by Dick King-Smith) and ran for seven series.

Series Summary
It is about a girl called Harmony Parker who is given a magical 50p coin (as a gift) by her Uncle Ginger. This coin grants wishes every time the nose on the face of Queen Elizabeth II is rubbed. After the third series Harmony threw the coin into a lake in order to give another child a chance to find it and use its powers.

Relation to the book
The novel was adapted into three television series by the BBC which were broadcast during the CBBC slot between 1995 and 1998. The stories remained faithful to the book, with the same ten wishes being granted upon rubppbing the coin.

The first series by Steve Attridge, directed by Carol Wiseman and edited by Sue Robinson, won the Royal Television Society 1996 award for best Children's Drama and the third series, also by Steve Attridge, won the Indie Awards 1999 prize for Digital Cinematography.

In 2000, the BBC revived the series with new stories, but without the main character Harmony, with a further four series being made between 2000 and 2003. Many viewers felt that the departure from the novels and the loss of the main character, played by Victoria Shalet, diminished the series.

The later series did however still feature other members of the Parker family in various roles. Harmony's sister Melody, played by Heather-Jay Jones, stayed on until the penultimate series. As of 2010, The Queen's Nose was no longer repeated on the CBBC Channel.

The Queen's Nose has also been broadcast in Germany, under the name Die Magische Münze (The Magic Coin).