About
Shoebox Zoo is an urban fantasy TV series made in a collaboration between BBC Scotland and various Canadian television companies. It is mostly live-action, but with CGI used for the animal figurines. The show centers on the story of a young girl named Marnie McBride, who is given a shoebox containing four toy animals by a mysterious old man at a junk shop, as a gift for her 11th birthday. These magical toys have the power to come alive on Marnie’s command, and they’re on a quest to find an ancient book that once belonged to a great and powerful wizard.
Cast
Vivien Endicott Douglas
as Marnie McBride
Simon Callow
as Wolfgang the Wolf (voice) / Hunter the Horse (voice)
Rik Mayall
as Edwin the Eagle (voice)
Alan Cumming
as Bruno the Bear (voice)
Siobhan Redmond
as Ailsa the Adder (voice)
Jason Connery
as Ross McBride
Peter Mullan
as Michael Scot
David McKay
as William McTaggart
Bill Paterson
as The Storyteller (voice)
Gordon Tootoosis
as Nathaniel Stone
Natascha Girgis
as Aurora Dexter
Tony Donaldson
as Juan Roberto Montoya de Toledo
Yudii Mercredi
as Kyle Stone
Paul Cœur
as Bobby Campbell
Valerie Pearson
as Dorothy Campbell
Kelsey Collins Keener
as Becky Dexter
Seasons
Season 1
On her 11th birthday, Marnie McBride goes to a junk shop with her father to pick out a present. There, the mysterious shopkeeper eagerly gifts her a shoebox containing four animal figurines, all of whom have the ability to magically spring to life. Marnie now has to deal with the struggles of balancing her life between adventuring with the collectively named “Shoebox Zoo” animals on a quest to find an ancient book of magic, and her day-to-day life as a schoolgirl, on top of having to deal with the grief stemming from the loss of her recently deceased mother.
Season 2
Marnie, with the Shoebox Zoo animals in tow, travels from Edinburgh to her hometown of Denver. Now accompanied by her best friend Kyle, the quest for the Book of Forbidden Knowledge continues as the two friends must piece together several clues in order to find the true location of the book, all the while having to once again stop the evil plans of Toledo, who is seemingly back from the dead as a ghostly apparition. Will Marnie and Kyle be able to find the book and turn the Shoebox Zoo back to their human forms? Or will the nefarious shapeshifter prevail?
Episodes
Season 1
The Magic Is Awakened
On her 11th birthday, still grieving over her recently deceased mother and uncomfortable with being moved from Colorado to Scotland, Marnie discovers that she is able to make a group of four old toy animals come alive.
Friend or Foe?
It's Marnie's first day of school at her new home in Scotland. She has an encounter with a bully but makes a new friend in Laura. Back home, she receives a package from America containing a necklace that belonged to her mother. She also discovers that her shoebox animal friends were once human, and that only a lost book can return them to their original form.
Echoes of the Past
When a mysterious problem causes school to be cancelled for the day, Marnie and Laura visit the nearby St. Giles’ Cathedral in order to find clues about the shoebox animals, as John Roberts said he saw a depiction of them on a stained glass window there.
A Guide for the Perplexed
Marnie manages to get the red book she was looking for from the library, after which a familiar old man appears before her and says that she must make use of a peculiar looking map that’s within the contents of the book.
The Inner Sanctum
Since Marnie's suggestion to go to Tantallon Castle was agreed on by majority vote, her class goes there for a field trip. While exploring the castle, Marnie goes off the beaten path and finds herself face to face with the great wizard Michael Scot.
A Strange Birthday Party
Marnie is reluctant to go to John Roberts' birthday party until she has a dream revealing that he was really the evil shapeshifter Toledo all along, and so she plans to confront him. However, things take a strange turn when Michael Scot appears at the party as a stage magician.
A Little Knowledge
Marnie leaves school in the middle of the day to try to get in touch with Michael Scot, while Toledo tries to convince Marnie's father that she needs to be brought in for therapy, as he plans to manipulate her into giving him the Book of Forbidden Knowledge while masquerading as the school psychologist.
Mother’s Footsteps
Marnie is on a class trip to visit a "stately home," and uses her new powers to defeat a bully, but the shoebox animals become separated from her and find themselves trapped in the basement.
Similar Shows
Shows like this one
Recommended for You
Based on this series
