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A very long time ago, possibly late 70s or early 80s, I remember seeing a one-off science fiction drama on British BBC TV. It was about an expedition to an alien planet to get help for a space station which was running out of oxygen.

The alien planet was, of course, Earth. The crew were about a centimetre high. It was all live action and I suspect the programme was a showcase for miniature photography. They land their shuttle (which looks very much like a courgette) in someone's garden, and there are various adventures. The ones I remember are:

  • encountering some dropped jelly babies and thinking they're idols made by the natives.
  • flying around on weirdly insectile flying bikes.
  • discovering a discarded battery in a puddle and getting into trouble from the chemicals.
  • I think they get attacked by a rat at some point?

Eventually they discover that there's a light-resistent coating on their courgette-ship, and if it gets stripped off then it will generate its own oxygen. They take off to take the good news home, and the programme ended with them approaching the station, floating in space --- which is a tree.

Does anyone know what this is?

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    Excellent first question. Upvote from me. If there are any other details you can remember, share them. It will make it easier for people to track down the show you are interested in. I know of an American show called "Land of the Giants" (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_the_Giants) which fits some of the the criteria, but I don't think it is exactly what you are after.
    – James Sheridan
    Jan 25, 2015 at 13:34
  • Could this have been a kids educational show, like for example Maths In A Box?
    – Daniel Roseman
    Jan 25, 2015 at 13:42
  • Well, the other thing I wanted to know was what happens if you drop a Niven stasis field into a black hole, so it's probably a good thing I asked this question instead. But there's plenty of other obscure TV --- a really low-budget series about some children with a talking home-made laser, for example...
    – David Given
    Jan 25, 2015 at 21:21

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This is The Galactic Garden

It's a BBC show from the mid-80s, and I remember watching it when it was broadcast - I'm not sure that it was ever repeated.

I do remember that their spaceship was a silver-painted courgette, and now that you mention the ending with them approaching a tree, but I can't recall anything else (and I'm impressed you can, considering it's been thirty years!)

The main reason I can remember this at all is that it starred Andrew Sachs, and I was young enough to be very confused because he didn't have a Spanish accent.

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    Apparently it's on Youtube at youtube.com/show/thegalacticgarden! Accessible only from the United Kingdom! Which I'm not in any more! Despite still paying my UK TV license! So I'm going to try to chase this down and check to see if it's the thing I remember and get back to you.
    – David Given
    Jan 25, 2015 at 21:19
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    Chased down, watched. Yes, this is the one. Thanks very much!
    – David Given
    Jan 8, 2018 at 13:29

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