Mr McHenry

Mr McHenry (Bonhomme Jouvence in the French version of the original series) is one of the residents in the Magic Garden where he is an elderly gardener who rides around in his tricycle.

Background[]

Personality[]

Mr McHenry is an optimistic and caring gardener who tends to his flowers in his garden or shed. He spends time with his friends in the Magic Garden such as Mr Rusty, Florence and Dougal where he helps them with all sorts. He is also very good at playing the bagpipes, though in one episode, the bagpipes were cut open to let rainwater come in so he can water his flowers.

In the French version of the original series, his personality is much more of a youthful character, hence his French name "Bonhomme Jouvence" which translates to "Mr Young". As a result, he also has a verbal tic (and catchphrase), "Hep, hep hep!", which somewhat translates to something speedy like "Go, go, go!". In the color episodes, he even has a female voice actor (Pascaline Priou).

Physical appearance[]

Mr McHenry is an elderly human with fair skin, green eyes, grey hair and beard.

In the original series, he wore a red sweater, trousers and sabot shoes underneath a blue apron and wore white gloves and a beige brimmed straw hat with a brown band.

Following his redesign in the revival series, he now wears a brown sweater underneath a green apron with a white front pocket that has a design of a small rake and a trowel on the front, blue trousers, magenta boots and a white brimmed hat.

Appearances (original series)[]

Series 1[]

TBA

Series 2[]

Part 1[]

The Rainbow, Part 1
The Rainbow, Part 2
Coloured Lettuce
Zahara’s Song
Glasses, Part 2
Plans for Rusty's House
Building Rusty's House
Rusty's House
Road Signs
Chimney Sweep
Dylan Plays the Bagpipes
Hide and Seek
Jumping Competition
Winds
Captured Storm
Flower in the Sun
Florence's Party
Mushroom
Dougal's Jam
Brian's Voice - silent cameo

Part 2[]

Special Convoy - silent cameo
Ermintrude's Vocation - cameo
Dylan, Sculptor - cameo
Tombola
Flying Saucer
Pancakes
Happy Birthday, Dylan
School for Birds
Ermintrude's Toothache (character doesn't appear, only his garden)
Picnic
The Lamp
Stiff-Necked Heliotropes - Blue Cat model introduced
Golf and Omelette

Series 3[]

Sugar Covered Walking Sticks
Parking Meters
Supermarket
Ermintrude’s Birthday
Ice Rink - cameo (doesn't appear in the French comic-book adaptation)
Ermintrude and the Iceburg - cameo
Going to the Moon
The Giant Broken Teapot
Chasing the Truck
Television Show
Backwards
Zebedee’s Wishing Machine
Boy Scout
Noisy Day - short cameo (doesn't appear in the French comic-book adaptation)

Series 4[]

TBA

Dougal and the Blue Cat[]

In the film, Mr McHenry first appears when Dougal is riding on the train to meet with Zebedee. The dog asks him if he heard anything strange the previous night, but the gardener says no, saying he has his garden to tend to. He later appears with Mr Rusty at Ermintrude's art exhibition, where they both tell everyone how worried they are about the sudden appearance of blue cactuses in the garden. Mr McHenry is also the last main character to meet Buxton right before the garden takeover, as he acknowledges the cat’s presence in the French version after greeting everyone. He and Mr Rusty end up the first two to be captured by Buxton's army, and taken prisoner in the factory's dungeon. He's chained between Dylan and Mr Rusty, with his tricycle parked behind one of the stalagmites. He later watches sadly as everyone else cries during Florence's sad song, before Dougal arrives, having come to rescue them, disguised as "Blue Peter". However, before the dog can do so, he and Buxton are sent by Madam Blue to conquer the moon, but there, Dougal's true identity is eventually revealed.

Later, Dougal returns to rescue the others, and Madam Blue strikes a lightning storm in the castle. A lightning bolt strikes through the chains around Mr McHenry's hands, making him the third of the gang to be freed, and causing him to spin back on his tricycle. At the gate, Mr McHenry arrives first, struggling to push it open, before fleeing back to the garden. Back in the garden, he cries over Brian's supposed death, but rejoices when the snail returns with Zebedee's mustache, which had been stolen by Buxton. The gardener then uses magic to make it snow around the garden, and joins his friends for a ride on the roundabout.

Trivia[]

He was one of the only main characters not to appear in the 2005 CGI film, being somewhat replaced with Mr Grimsdale. He returned (albeit with a redesign) for the reboot series. Unlike the original series though, the French dub of the reboot series uses his English name, instead of "Bonhomme Jouvence", while Mr Grimsdale has the gardener's French name instead.
In Eric Thompson's English version, whenever Mr McHenry speaks, Thompson doesn't use a specific voice for him, unlike the other characters (which he begins doing slowly for series 2, and then much more in Dougal and the Blue Cat and series 3). In Dougal and the Blue Cat only, Thompson gives him an Irish accent. In the Nigel Planer version, he's a Scottish character.