The Singing Ringing Tree (German: Das singende, klingende Bäumchen) was a children's television programme made by East German studio DEFA in 1957. It was a story in the style of the Brothers Grimm, directed by Francesco Stefani.

It was broadcast by the BBC in the 1960s and 70s as part of Tales from Europe, with an English-language voice-over track (not dubbed, however: the original soundtrack was simply faded up and down).

One reviewer (Roger Thomas at amazon.com) has summed it up thus:

Imagine a fairy tale conceived by Wagner and directed by Fritz Lang, with nods in the direction of 'The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari' and German expressionism, and you'd be close.

A Radio Times readers' poll in 2004 voted this programme the 20th spookiest TV show ever.

A spoof of the series was created as a sketch in the last season of The Fast Show, entitled The Singing Ringing Binging Plinging Tinging Plinking Plonking Boinging Tree. The musical bridge from the series played Gary Numan's Cars as the characters walked across it.

External links

• British fan site
• BBC page and link to half-hour radio programme

BBC children's television programmes | Children's television series | German television series