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Tweenies

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Tweenies
File:Tweenies logo.JPG
Created byWill Brenton
Iain Lauchlan
Developed byTell-Tale Productions for BBC Worldwide
StarringSally Preisig
Justin Fletcher
Bob Golding
Colleen Daley
Emma Weaver
Opening theme"Are You Ready to Play?"
Ending theme"Are You Ready to Play?" (instrumental)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series7
No. of episodes390 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersJudy Whitfield
Clare Elstow
ProducersKay Benbow
Robin Carr
Iain Lauchlan
Will Brenton
Karl Woolley
Camera setupDavy Johnson
Running time18–20 minutes
Production companyTell-Tale Productions
Original release
NetworkBBC
CBBC
CBeebies
Release6 September 1999 (1999-09-06) –
24 July 2002 (2002-07-24)

Tweenies is a British live action children's television programme, originally broadcast on the BBC's CBBC programming block. The series first aired on 6 September 1999 and finished on 24 July 2002.

Overview and history

The idea for the programme came from Iain Lauchlan and Will Brenton, a pair with a track record of being involved in BBC children's programming. Together with Karl Woolley and Helen Cadwallader, they set up Tell-Tale Productions at Elstree Film Studios in Hertfordshire. Iain Lauchlan was a presenter on Play School, Fingermouse and Playdays, meeting Brenton, a director, writer and also a presenter, during the latter. Together they started producing two of the Playdays strands before forming their own production companies Tell-Tale Productions and, more recently, Wish Films. They also created The Fun Song Factory, Boo!, BB3B, Jim Jam and Sunny, Basil Hair The Squirrel and Entertainment Right's The Magical Lives of Toys.

Tweenies is a production of Tell-Tale Productions in association with the BBC. Animation for the show was produced by A Productions, an animation studio based in Bristol, England, with Ealing Animation providing some animation in a few early episodes. Computer animation for the series was provided by Clockwork Digital, with Ben Mars animating Mungo, the computer creature who appears in some later episodes.

The characters are well developed and children are able to predict what their responses might be. The mixture of story, song and creative activity provides excellent opportunities for children to learn through play. Music plays an important part in the programme and children are encouraged to join in with songs and actions.

The programme is set in a nursery attended by the four Tweenies themselves: Bella, Milo, Fizz and the youngest, Jake. They are in the care of two adults, Max and Judy, and two dogs – Doodles & Izzles.

The show includes a "Tweenie Clock", with five circular lights arranged in a pentagonal shape with the lights denoting "News Time" (Circle Time in United States) – Orange, "Messy Time" – Blue, "Song Time" – Yellow, "Telly Time" (Video Time in United States) – Green and "Story Time" – Red. "Surprise Time" is a special time determined when all five lights glow. A button at the centre of the clock (Purple) is pressed to select the activity that will be undertaken next.

It was formerly shown on CBeebies, from 11 February 2002 until 1 April 2016. Like a number of other CBeebies programmes, a live stage version of the show has toured in the UK. The most recent tour, Top of the Tots, toured the British Isles during 2009, the series' 10th anniversary. In addition, the tour also played several shows in Hong Kong in late September and early October 2009. The Tweenies were also regulars on the annual CBeebies Live tours around the British Isles. Between 2003 and 2005, there was also a Tweenies theme park, at Alton Towers in the Cred Street section aimed at younger children, which replaced the Barney section and then was removed in favour of Bob the Builder. In 2000, Tweenies won two awards: Best PreSchool Educational Program and Best Live Action PreSchool Programme.

The original prototypes for the Tweenies characters were designed by Sally Preisig of Mimics Productions; they were later re-scaled into two sizes for the characters shown on the series. In addition, Preisig also designed the character costumes and was co-constructor/developer for the Tweenies' full-size puppets. The costume fabric comes from the UK and was imported and dyed into their present colours; it is about the same thickness as fleece jumpers.

Characters

The Tweenies consist of Bella, Milo, Fizz, Jake, Doodles, Izzles, Max, Judy, and are sometimes joined by Max's sister Polly. Other characters have appeared occasionally, including Milo's uncle, Mickey, his father, Jake's mother, Fizz's mother and father and Bella's grandmother. There have also been several animated characters.

The four main characters appeared in the first episode Tweenie Band, which was filmed in 1998 at Elstree Studios & aired on 6 September in 1999.

The Tweenies were played by only one set of actors, while the voices were provided by other actors. Unless otherwise indicated, all the following actors and voice talent were in the show from 1999 until its last episode, What Makes Summer? in July 2002.

Bella

Bella (operated by Tamsin Heatley 1999-2000; Esther Collins 2000–02, voiced by Sally Preisig 1999-2000; Emma Weaver 2000-2002) is a five-year-old blue-skinned girl with blonde hair, usually accompanied with a red hair ribbon. As the oldest and tallest of the Tweenies, she has a very bossy attitude and likes her own way. Sometimes she causes things to go wrong with her overconfidence, but she apologises for her mistakes and can be helpful to the younger children.

Milo

Milo (operated by C.H. Beck 1999-2000; Kate Ryan 2000–2002, voiced by Bob Golding) is a four-year-old purple-skinned boy with black hair. He is energetic, friendly and cheerful, though sometimes impulsive. He has a brother. [1]

Fizz

Fizz (operated by Jenny Hutchinson 1999-2000; Angela Reynolds 2000; Francesca Anderson 2001–2002, voiced by Colleen Daley) is a four-year-old yellow-skinned girl with brown beaded hair. She is mild-mannered, but sometimes shy, and can get whiny and stroppy for the smallest reasons. Fizz's best friend is Bella. She loves ballet, dressing up, and playing with dolls.

Jake

Jake (operated by Samantha Dodd 1999-2002; voiced by Justin Fletcher) is a two-year-old orange-skinned boy with a blonde mohican. Being the youngest Tweenie, he sometimes feels left out and excluded from the other Tweenies' games when he is not big enough to join in. He is sweet and has a close bond with Doodles, but he sometimes shows signs of being homesick and is prone to temper tantrums when frustrated. He often gets words mixed up.

Max

Max (operated by Simon Grover; voiced by Bob Golding) is a pink-skinned, middle-aged man who is one of the two managers of the playgroup of the Tweenies. He speaks with a slight Yorkshire accent.

Judy

Judy (operated by Simon Grover; voiced by Sinead Rushe) is a green-skinned woman who is the other of the playgroup managers. She speaks with a Northern Irish accent.

Doodles

Doodles (operated by Alan Riley; voiced by Justin Fletcher) is a red and yellow male dog.

Izzles

Izzles (operated by Fiona Watkins; voiced by Colleen Daley) is a purple and white female dog, who was first introduced in 2001, as a companion for Doodles.

Episodes

Main article: List of Tweenies episodes

The Tweenies aired its first episode Tweenie Band on 6 September 1999 on its original programme block CBBC and last aired on 24 July 2002 with What Makes Summer? on its former channel CBeebies. In total, there are 390 episodes. There have been special episodes, such as a series of Be Safe With The Tweenies and expanded 40 minute episodes.

Episode 252, Favourite Songs, which first aired in March 2001 was banned by the BBC in January 2013 after the corporation received 216 complaints about a scene where Max appears dressed as disgraced TV presenter Jimmy Savile. The BBC had stopped the Tweenies from being repeated on CBeebies for four months due to the controversy. The episodes then started repeating again from June 2013 until April 2016.[2]

Discography

Albums

Data from AllMusicCharts.com

Title Entered chart (UK) Peak position (UK) Weeks on chart (UK)
Friends Forever 25 November 2000 56 4
The Christmas Album 1 December 2001 34 5
Everybody Dance -- -- --
Greatest Hits
(double CD) 		-- -- --

Singles

Data from AllMusicCharts.com

Title Entered chart (UK) Peak position (UK) Weeks on chart (UK) Sent to CBeebies Album
"No. 1" 11 November 2000 5 23 Yes
"Best Friends Forever" 31 March 2001 12 10 Yes
"Do the Lollipop" 4 August 2001 17 8 No
"I Believe in Christmas" 15 December 2001 9 6 No
"Have Fun, Go Mad" 14 September 2002 20 7 Yes

Broadcast

  • CBBC (UK) – 6 September 1999 – 10 February 2002
  • CBeebies (UK) – 11 February 2002 – 1 April 2016
  • BBC2 (UK) – 1999 – 2009
  • Noggin (United States) – 7 April 2003 – 1 January 2006
  • Nick Jr (United States) – 14 July – 29 August 2003
  • ABC (Australia) – 4 July 2000 – 27 June 2003
  • TV Asahi (Japan) – 2000 – 2007
  • Boomerang (Thailand) – 2002 – 2005
  • Russia1 (Russia) – 2002 – 2004
  • Network 2 (The Den) (Ireland)
  • TV2 (New Zealand)
  • Prime (New Zealand)
  • SVT Barnkanalen (Sweden)

Live Shows

The Tweenies went live on various occasions during the height of the programmes success from 1999 until 2003. They made their first live show debut in 1999 after the shows release, then again in 2000 and in 2002 for the Christmas special. These live appearances also include Top Of The Pops specials with them performing their singles, including No.1, Do The Lollipop and Have Fun Go Mad!.

Merchandise

DVDs and videos

These were released by BBC Worldwide and some various DVDs are still available in retailers.

Many of the above videos have also been dubbed into other languages. In addition, several of the Tweenies videos were produced in special versions for retailers with additional footage (for example, the "Party Games, Laughs & Giggles" video distributed at Marks & Spencer stores carried two additional segments, adding ten minutes to the video's running time). Many of the above videos were also released as DVDs under different names. iTunes has released a Best of Tweenies volume 1 which consists of the first six episodes of the series.[citation needed]

Books

From 1999 until 2006, various books were released from Tweenies, based on the episodes that were mostly aired. There were also annuals that were released from 2001–2006 and other books, based on each character from Tweenies.

Toys and games

From the late 90s into the early 2000s, the Tweenies were one of the most popular set of children's TV characters at the time, which led to a wide range merchandise being sold. Many toys were sold in various retailers, such as Toys "R" Us, Argos, & Woolworths. Merchandise included soft toys, playsets, collectible figures, board games, jigsaws and puzzles, talking toys, the video games Tweenies: Doodles' Bones and Tweenies: Game Time, and many other products.

Kiddie rides

Two kiddie rides were made by Amutec. They created a Tweenie rocket ride in 2001 and a Doodles ride in 2002.

Awards

Year Award Category Outcome
2000 BAFTA Children's Awards[3] "Best Pre-School Live Action" Won
2002 BAFTA Children's Awards "Best Pre-School Live Action" Nominated

References

  1. ^ In the episode "Kissing", Milo states that his brother tripped him up when they were playing football.
  2. ^ "BBC receives 216 complaints for Tweenies Jimmy Savile spoof". BBC News. 21 January 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  3. ^ "Past Winners and Nominees - Children's - Awards - 2000". BAFTA. Retrieved 3 July 2010.
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