Peppa Pig’s Ten Best Non-Pig Characters

Peppa Pig is on a lot in my house… As such the adventures of this porcine princess (and potential bacon butty) and her family have become such a part of my daily life that I feel I know George, Mummy and Daddy more than I know my own friends and family.

While the calm Mummy, hapless and relatable daddy (who I now seem to bear an uncanny resemblance to) and the idiot savant that is George appear episode on episode there are those characters that appear every so often.

Madame Gazelle

The potentially immortal Madame Gazelle is the school teacher at Peppa’s nursery but also taught Peppas parents (who are it seems around 30) but still looks exactly the same as she did all those years ago Maybe it’s something to do with her healthy lifestyle of open water swimming and yodelling that assists in her staying young. However, while Gigi (for that is her real name) has quietened down in her later years and cleaned up her act her sordid rock and roll past sometimes does come back to haunt her as the hedonistic times in the ‘Rocking Gazelles’ is bought up a few times on the show. While there are no known actual recordings of the ‘Rocking Gazelles’ are known to exist their progressive style and innovative songwriting can still be heard throughout the show with classics such as the reworking of ‘Miss Polly had a Dolly’ and of course the ubiquitous ‘Bing Bong Song’  still having a huge following from fans and critics alike.

Pedro Pony

Pedro is in the same nursery class as Peppa, however (and let’s be a frank) is a bit of a rule breaker. Pedro ‘seems’ has the memory of a goldfish (actually Goldy the goldfish probably has more about him/her than Pedro does) and is obsessed with things being ‘Super’. Continually late, sleepy (he might have Narcolepsy?)  Forgetful, clumsy and non-attentive Pedro is a clinical psychologists dream or could it be something more?

Pedro seems to show a disregard for simple instructions whether its keeping hold of his train ticket or knowing what day it is, simple tasks and his grasp or reality is somewhat questionable – When its Pirate Day at Grampa Dogs place he comes as a cowboy or when it’s gym day at Grampy Rabbits he comes as a superhero there seems to be an anti-establishment motif in Pedros thinking.

I assume all these tactics are done on purpose and he is working an angle of sorts – a two-dimensional cartoon revolutionary or potential progressive artist (say a Pony version of Banksy)using his settings to make a statement on the complexities and conformities of life as an animated character or something like that.

Or it might be that really he is just a bit thick.

Edmond Elephant

The same age as Peppa’s little brother George Edmond seems to know everything about everything professing to be a ‘clever clogs’. Much more fluent and articulate than George (who frankly spends far too much time crying – wuss) his knowledge seems to revolve around space and dinosaurs and while these are important subjects to know about he seems to have absolutely no knowledge of geopolitics or acoustic engineering. Frankly, I don’t think Edmond is as smart as he says he is and while the polite animal-people of Peppa’s world also profess that he is indeed a clever clogs, he is essentially a little mouthy smart-arse.

Miss Rabbit

Not of course to be confused with Mummy Rabbit (they are identical sisters by the way) holds down nearly every job in Peppa-pig-ville (really I don’t know what the name of the place is…maybe the Pigverse, working as an ice-cream vendor, helicopter pilot,  fire-woman. She is the Auntie of the carrot obsessed Rebecca Rabbit. While Miss Rabbit appears a lot of episodes its always fun to see her occupation of the day or try to work out just how logistically she holds down so many positions  – is she self-employed, a freelancer or a temp, what are the tax implications for holding so many jobs..is she moonlighting, are the jobs all cash in hand etc…

Whatever the implications Miss Rabbit is well known for doing so much, so well-known in-fact that she is awarded a commendation from the queen – who happens to be the only human being in Peppa Pig’s world.

Note: The other reason Ms Rabbit is so awesome is that she is voiced by Sarah Ann Kennedy who is also the voice for Nanny Plum – the slightly batty nanny from Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom.

Delphine Donkey

Peppa’s French exchange friend Delphine comes over to England (Or the Pigverse equivalent to England) with a massive suitcase (containing things we have not got here like cheese bread and water) to improve on her English. While she learns a lot from Peppa and George she never really finds out from Dabby Pig whether English split infinitives are a form of irregular verb or past pro-noun. However, she does get to learn all of the words for the Bing-Bong-Song.

Mr Fox

The father of Freddy Fox Mr Fox sells everything – whether it out of his van or shop Mr Fox seems to magically stock everything you will ever need ever. In one episode he sells Peppa a giant Panda toy and in another, he tries to sell Daddy Pig four grandfather clocks and a machine that turns invisible (and plays CDs). A cross between Arthur Daley and Private Walker from Dads Army you have the feeling Mr Fox could get you anything you ever wanted…for the right price of course.

Mr Potato

A huge anthropomorphic potato who not only his own Detective series on television but also is children’s television presenter, gym owner and proprietor of Potato City (where the fun of vegetables never ends). For some reason he is French and for some other reason his is massive compared to everyone else and for some reason has no head. It’s never really explained whether he is a real potato or a man dressed in a potato suit or another animal dressed up in a potato suit.

Mr Bull

Mr Bull is a construction worker who, along with his gang seem to epitomise every construction worker everywhere in his obsession for digging up roads. He revels in heavy plant material, construction and creating roadworks. If there isn’t a hole he will dig one, if there is a hole he will dig it up and then re-fill it. In one episode he digs up the road to fit water pipes then fills it in, then digs it up again to fit in electrical cables – personally, I think every utility company everywhere has a Mr Bull policy when maintenance is required.

Grampy Rabbit

Finally, we come to the best occasional character ever. Grampy rabbit (who is of course voiced by BRIAN BLESSED). Adventurer, explorer and owner of not only a Dinosaur theme park but also a Lighthouse and a range of boats Grampy Rabbit is a part-time gym teacher, teller of stories (that nobody wants to hear) an aficionado of cheese and can play fantastic banjo song, usually based on the sea and the sky. Whether it’s wobbling like a jelly, being a human (rabbit?) foghorn or Tarzan impressions the appearance of the bombastic Grampy Rabbit is always a treat.

Dr Brown-Bear

Why Doctor Brown Bear gets a colour designation, as well as his species allocation for his name, is unknown, it might be because he is really posh and has a double-barrelled name – being a doctor and all this is quite plausible.

While Dr Brown Bear should technically be a vet as everyone who lives in Peppas world is an animal that actual role is taken by Doctor Hampster (and sounds uncannily like Mrs Merton) but nomenclature aside Doctor Brown Bears job doesn’t seem particularly taxing as at no point in the show have we seen him perform major surgery. I assume then that he may well just be the local GP as his biggest diagnosis usually revolves around spots infective coughs all of which involve the same remedy – dishing out medicine that tastes like carpet flavoured yoghurt.

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