Directed and produced in part by Astley Baker Davies, this British preschool show airs in five-minute episodes featuring Peppa the pig and her anthropomorphic friends and family. The show began airing in May 2004 and has continued its run through 2019. Peppa is a four-year-old character and was originally voiced by a four-year-old Lily Snowden-Fine.
Producer Phil Davies and co-creator Mark Baker draw on childhood memories and the antics of the children in their own lives to create the episodes. The very first storyline revolves around Peppa and friends jumping in mud puddles. The simplistic animation has a sort of wholesome charm that super-CGI cartoons with its constant visual stimulation often lack. The show airs in Australia, the UK, the US, and 177 other territories. It’s now in its sixth season, and as of February 2020, 297 episodes of Peppa Pig have aired.
While Percy Pig is arguably just as cute as Peppa, the two are related neither in concept nor in character. Percy may have subconsciously inspired some part of Peppa’s creation, or it could just be that alliteration is pretty popular. Percy Pig is a British brand of pig-faced gummies with fruit flavors and color-accented ears. Though it’s been around since 1992, it recently exploded in popularity. Originally made with pork-derived gelatine, Marks & Spencer (M&S) devised a vegetarian variety with green ears in 2011. As of 2019, all versions of Percy Pig are now gelatine free, freeing the candy from all pork-derived associations. Percy’s original flavor was raspberry and grape.
Percy Pig is a recognizable brand in its own right, with added characters coming along at different times. 2002 saw the addition of cola cow and sheep of strawberry and orange to the brand line. He met his wife, Penny Pig, a lemon-vanilla piggy, in 2013. Later, he meets Timmy tiger (mango-flavoured) and Poppy panda (which tastes of blackcurrant). He goes on to have piglets in a variety of flavours, and even has special holiday Percy Pig editions for Halloween and Christmas.
It’s certainly understandable that one may wonder if these two piggies are related. Now you know that unless you nibble on some Percy Pig candies while enjoying an episode of Peppa Pig, the two are very unlikely to meet.
