Rubbadubbers

The Rubbadubbers is a British stop motion animation children's show from Hot Animation which is owned by HIT Entertainment.

Plot

The television show features characters who are animated bath toys. They often excitedly announce that the children are about to take a bath.

Format

Each episode begins with the Rubbadubbers in the bathroom. The show attempts to teach children, in an entertaining fashion, about the difficult realities of life, and the negative aspects of dreaming about a better world. After a short while, one of the characters uses the phrase "if only" followed by what they wish (e.g. "if only I could have all the bubbles in the world"). The character is then transported to a dream-world where that "if only" is true. It always turns out that the "if only" goes wrong (e.g. having all the bubbles in the world is actually a bad idea) and the character wishes another "if only" that takes them back from the dream world to the bathroom. Everyone is happy again. It ends with Reg announcing that the children will arrive.

Dream Sequences items

In the dream sequences, all the props and scenery are cleverly made from bathroom paraphernalia (toothbrushes, cotton buds, soap dishes etc.)

Airings

It ran on Nick Jr. (block) from 2003 to 2005^{[citation needed]}, on BBC Two from 2002 to 2004, and on CBeebies in 2004. It is currently being repeated on the Tiny Pop channel. On August 24, 2009, the program came to PBS KIDS Sprout as part of "The Good Night Show". TVNZ 6

Characters

• Tubb, a male anthropomorphic pink frog with a Scottish accent; de facto leader of the Rubbadubbers and has a cotton swab for his prize possession. Catchphrase: "Swim-MIN'!" In the hiccups episode it reveals his underarms are ticklish when Terence tickled his underarms with the feather duster while Tubb laughed.
• Terence, a male green bubble-bath-container crocodile; can blow bubbles from his nostrils; has only one tooth; wears a collar and necktie. Intensely dislikes getting wet and has a red tooth brush. In the episode where Tubb had hiccups Terence said for tubb to have his arms up (which tubb did as he was told.)and afterwards Terence began tickling Tubb under the arms (which made him laugh)with the feather duster he had.
• Finbar, a male cyan clockwork shark; always describes himself in third person as "The MIGHTY Shark" often accompanied by a pirate-esque "Ar,Ar,Ar!". in the episode where Tubb had hiccups he said that laughter's the best medicine. When Tubb said his catchphrase Finbar said "Don't you dare ar ar ar me." After Tubb mocked him while making a chattyface with his hand and sticking his tongue out Finbar said "Ar ar ar." the scene changes to tubb who said the same thing while doing the same chattyface.
• Winona, a female purple rubber whale; squeaks unintelligibly instead of talking. However the other characters helpfully interpret her squeaks. She's the only character who doesn't use "If only" wishes.
• Reg, a male orange mechanical robot; speaks with stylised stammer. Announces children's imminent arrival: "Rubbadubbers - the children are approach... the children are approach... they're coming!" Reg is actually a bedroom toy but prefers to play with the bathroom toys.
• Amelia, a female blue, yellow and red plastic submarine-plane hybrid; can fly in the air as well as travelling on and under the bath water.
• Sploshy, a female magenta starfish-shaped sponge; has suction cups behind her "hands" and "feet". Sploshy is known for her hot-temper and she gets annoyed very easily.

The children "Benjy" and "Sis" are often referred to by the characters but are never seen.

Actors

Voices are provided by John Gordon Sinclair, Sean Hughes and Maria Darling.

See also

• Hot Animation
• Carelows Productions Inc.
• The Curiosity Company
• Frederator Studios
• Bob the Builder