Löwenzahn

Ah yes ... Loewenzahn! If you can get past Peter Lustig's slightly condescending manner (e.g. telling viewers to switch the TV off when his programme is over), this is one of the most enjoyable shows ever to be broadcast on German television. Peter is the eccentric, ecologically-minded, healthy-living caravan dweller (it's no ordinary caravan either: the stairs up to the roof are made of a series of chairs fitted to the side of the caravan and there is a talking guitar as a motion detector) whose mission in life is to get us all to care more about the world around us. His neighbour, Mr Paschulke, is the stereotype German homeowner with an excessively neat garden where nothing much will grow except his lawn - manicured of course - who despairs at the wilderness around Peter's caravan. He doesn't understand that human beings need nature and is forever trying to tame it - and to prove his neighbour wrong!

Loewenzahn chooses themes that show how important it is to understand nature in order to live a good, healthy life. It increases awareness among the youngest television viewers while imparting some fascinating snippets of knowledge. Did you know, for instance, that if a fly gets into your drink and you manage to fish it out, you should cover it with plain old table salt which will absorb the liquid in the fly's breathing tubes and it won't die? I've tried it - it works!