Tweenies

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The Tweenies
Format Children's
Starring Coleen Daley
Justin Fletcher
Bob Golding
Sally Priesig
Emma Weaver
Sinead Rushe
Simon Grover
Jenny Hutchinson
Chris Beck
Alan Riley
Country of origin Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Language(s) originally English (see article for dubbings into other languages)
No. of episodes 390
Production
Executive
producer(s)		 Judy Whitfield
Clare Elstow
Producer(s) Kay Benbow
Robin Carr
Iain Lauchlan
Will Brenton
Running time 20 minutes approx.
Distributor BBC
Broadcast
Original channel BBC
Audio format Stereo
First shown in BBC
Original run 1999 – present
External links
[The Tweenies Official website]
IMDb profile

The Tweenies is a television programme aimed at young children, broadcast on the BBC. The programme is set in a nursery attended by the four Tweenies themselves: Milo, Jake, Bella and Fizz. They are supplemented by two adults, Max and Judy, and two dogs, Doodles and Izzles.

The original prototypes for the Tweenies characters were designed by Sally Preseig of Mimics Productions; they were later re-scaled into two sizes for the characters shown on the series. In addition, Sally also designed the character costumes and was co-constructor/developer for the Tweenies' full-size puppets. The costume fabric comes from the US and was imported and dyed into their present colours; it is about the same thickness as fleece jumpers.  [1]

The Tweenies are a production of Tell-Tale Productions (now owned by Entertainment Rights) 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 show includes a "Tweenie Clock", with five circular lights arranged in a pentagonal shape with the lights denoting "news time" (orange), "messy time" (blue: art, sticking, painting), "song time" (yellow: generally nursery rhymes or children's classics), "telly time" (green; in some later episodes, this is also used when they use the computer) and "story time" (red). "Surprise Time" is a special time determined when all five lights glow. A button at the centre of the clock is pressed to select the activity that will be undertaken next.

It is currently being shown on CBeebies, the BBC's children's channel for young children.

Like a number of other CBeebies programmes, a live stage version of the show has toured in the UK. The newest tour, Enchanted Toyshop, toured the British Isles during 2007. Between 2003 and 2006, there was also a live version of The Tweenies shown regularly at Alton Towers in the Cred Street section aimed at younger children, which was removed in favour of Bob the Builder.

In 2000, The Tweenies won two awards: Best Pre-School Educational Programme (Royal Television Society) and Best Live Action Pre-School Programme (BAFTA Awards).

The Tweenies were created by Will Brenton and Iain Lauchlan, a pair with a track record of being involoved in BBC children's programming. 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 Live of Toys.

Contents

[edit] Original cast

The Tweenies are played and voiced by different people. The actors that provide the voices also operate the animatronic parts of their heads.

Actors

Note: Max and Judy are rarely seen together on screen (exceptions being episode 288 - "No Words", and the Enchanted Toyshop DVD).

Voices

  • Fizz and Izzles - Coleen Daley
  • Jake and Doodles - Justin Fletcher
  • Max and Milo - Bob Golding
  • Bella - Sally Preisig (episodes 1-130)/Emma Weaver (episodes 131-390)
  • Judy - Sinead Rushe (Matthew Lyons in some later episodes)
  • Doo Dar - Mark Robson and Matthew Smith

Some of these voice actors are recognisable as actors from other BBC series. For example, Justin Fletcher is "Justin" from Tikkabilla, and Sally Preisig is "Peggy Patch" from Playdays.

[edit] The Tweenies abroad

In mid-2003, The Tweenies was introduced to US audiences via the cable channel Noggin, after briefly being shown on sister channel Nickelodeon. Similar to Bob the Builder, American-accented voices were used, and words specific to British English were changed (for example, "telly time" is renamed "video time" and "news time" is renamed "circle time"). However, by early 2004, due to pressure to introduce other new shows on the channel it was no longer shown daily and was only shown intermittently at a rather early 6 am EST. This greatly diminished its US viewership and on January 1, 2006 the show was permanently pulled from Noggin's line-up and thus is no longer shown in the United States; however, the Noggin web link is still active.

In Canada, the show has aired in both English and French on BBC Kids and Radio-Canada, respectively. Radio-Canada dropped regular broadcasts of the series in mid-August 2005, but aired 2 holiday episodes on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve 2005. In April 2006, Radio-Canada brought the series back on Sunday mornings as part of its La petite minute pre-school program block for the spring-summer 2006 season. In early June 2006, the network added weekday airings as well; however, the weekday shows were dropped later that month, returning to the line-up in mid-July. On August 31, 2006, the network aired two Tweenies episodes that day, one in its usual 6 am (Eastern) time slot and a second episode at 7 am. The Monday-Friday showings were ended on September 4, 2006, leaving the Thursday 7 am broadcast as the only weekday program. As of September 16, 2006, the weekend broadcast was moved to Saturdays at 6 am EST. The Saturday broadcast repeated the Thursday episode, delayed two weeks (with a few exceptions). During the 2006 holiday period, the Saturday programme was pre-empted for two weeks due to special holiday progamming, but picked up at the usual point when it returned. The episode "Christmas Morning" was broadcast December 21, 2006 and was replayed on Christmas Day 2006 with the regular rotation returning the following week. The Thursday and Saturday broadcasts ended on April 5 and 7, 2007 respectively. During the 2007 holiday season, "Christmas Morning" was rebroadcast on December 21st, 27th and 30th. As of January 7, 2008, Radio-Canada aired the series Mondays and Tuesdays at 6:01am Eastern; these broadcasts ended on April 8, 2008. As of April 14, 2008, the series airs Thursdays and Fridays at 6am Eastern. In early April 2008, BBC Kids also changed their time slot, moving the show from 8:15am ET to 6:35am ET.

In addition, the show has been dubbed into German, Welsh, Swedish, Estonian, Arabic, Russian, Indonesian, and Slovak, among others. The Spanish version of the series appears in two versions: a Madrid-dubbed version for Spain and a Chile-dubbed version for Latin America.

[edit] Current international broadcasters

[edit] Dubbing casts

US dub (source: IMDB)

  • Bella - Alyson Court
  • Fizz - Lisa Yamanaka, Stephanie Rothenburg (singing voice)
  • Jake - Dieter Jansen
  • Milo - Tracey Moore

French dub

  • Bella - Sylvie Jacob
  • Fizz - Fily Keita
  • Jake - Guillaume Lebon
  • Judy and Izzles - Marie-Martine
  • Max and Doodles - Bernard Tiphaine
  • Milo - Yann Le Madic

Spanish (Latin America dub)
Where two names are listed, first name is dialogue and second is vocals.

  • Bella - Amaya Forch Barry
  • Doodles - Jaime Lillo
  • Fizz - Gianina Tolloni/Margarita M.
  • Jake - Rosario Dawson/Andrea Perez
  • Judy - Sara Pantoja
  • Max - Omar
  • Milo - Pablo Ausensi/Oscar Urrejola

Spanish (Spain dub)

  • Bella - Maria del Mar Jorcano
  • Fizz - Pilar Martin
  • Jake - Sara Vivas
  • Judy - Yolanda Perez Segoviano
  • Max and Doodles - Juan Luis Rovira
  • Milo - Margarita Ponce

Welsh dub

  • Judy - Jennifer Vaughan
  • Max and Doodles - John Ogwen

Dutch dub

  • Bella - Brigitte Nijman (season 1), Lizemijn Libgott (remainder)
  • Doodles - Reinder van der Naald
  • Fizz - Anneke Beukman
  • Jake - Dieter Jansen
  • Judy - Karin von As
  • Max - Rik Hoogendoorn (season 1), Bartho Braat (remainder)
  • Milo - Dennis Kivit

Polish dub

  • Bella- Lucyna Malec
  • Doodles- Jarosław Boberek
  • Fizz- Katarzyna Łaska
  • Jake- Mateusz Narloch
  • Judy- Joanna Węgrzynowska
  • Max- Marek Barbaciewicz
  • Milo- Kuba Molęda

Swedish dub

Voice cast: Anders Öjebo, Lizette Pålsson, Michael Blomquist, Sofia Caiman

Estonian dub

  • Bella- Evelin Pang
  • Jake- Karol Kuntsel
  • Milo- Priit Vőigemast

Additional voice cast: Elisabet Tamm, Alo Kőrve, Carita Vaikjärv

[edit] Videos/DVDs

  • Song Time! (1999)
  • Ready to Play/Song Time! (combined DVD, 2000)
  • Merry Tweenie Christmas (2000)
  • Party Games, Laughs & Giggles (2000)
  • Song Time is Fab-a-Rooney (2001)
  • Songtime is Fab-a-Rooney/Song Time 2 (combined DVD, 2001)
  • Enchanted Toyshop (2001)
  • Song Time 2 (2001)
  • Songs & Surprises (2001)
  • Tweenies Live! (2001)
  • Animal Friends (2001)
  • Animal Friends/Party Games, Laughs & Giggles (combined DVD, 2002)
  • Colours are Magic (2002)
  • It's Messy Time (2002)
  • Everybody Panto (2002)
  • Doodles' New Friend (2002)
  • Tweenies Live!: The Christmas Present (2002)
  • Night-Time Magic (2002)
  • Party Games, Laughs & Giggles (2002; special edition for Marks & Spencer with added footage)
  • Music is Pop-a-Rooney! (2003)
  • Let's Play (2003)
  • Party Games, Laughs & Giggles/Let's Play (combined DVD, 2003)
  • Jungle Adventure (2004)
  • Let's All Make Music (2004)
  • Fizz! (2005)
  • It's Christmas (2005; combined DVD of Enchanted Toyshop and Everybody Panto)
  • Song Time: The Ultimate Collection (2006; combined DVD of Song Time!, Song Time 2, Songtime is Fab-a-Rooney and Songs & Surprises)
  • Ultimate Christmas Collection (2006; combined DVD of Enchanted Toyshop, Merry Tweenie Christmas, Tweenies Live!: The Christmas Present and Everybody Panto, with special Christmas material added)

Many of the videos/DVDs on the list have also been dubbed into other languages as well.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Tweenies episodes

[edit] External links

Languages