Alfie Atkins is a fictional character created by the author Gunilla Bergström from Sweden in 1972. Alfie Atkins appears in books and animated cartoons. In Swedish, he is known as Alfons Åberg. Alfie Atkins is a pretty ordinary guy, who lives with his father. When he is younger he has an imaginary friend named Malcolm (Mållgan in Swedish), that only he can see. Later, he gets real friends such as Milla and Victor (Viktor). He also has a cat named Puzzle (Pussel).
In the books Alfie experiences many ordinary everyday events that all kids can easily recognize. In his longing to grow up and be a big boy, Alfie often competes with his father on who can manage these events in the best way. Alfie's father is a positive male role model for Alfie; women, however, do not appear as frequently in the stories, although Alfie has both an aunt named Fifi (Fiffi) and a grandmother. Alfie and his father love each other very much and there is no mentioning of a wife or mother. Even though this family form is not the most common, parents of both sexes can identify themselves with Alfie's father.
The first book about Alfie, Goodnight, Alfie Atkins (Godnatt, Alfons Åberg), came out in 1972. There are 24 books in the Alfie series, along with seven other Alfie books for smaller children. The books have been translated into 29 different languages. The books are illustrated by Gunilla Bergström.
Alfie is called Alfons Åberg in Swedish and Danish, Willi Wiberg in German, Albert Åberg in Norwegian, Einar Áskell in Icelandic, Mikko Mallikas in Finnish and Ifan Bifan in Welsh.
The company that publishes the books is called Rabén & Sjögren.
In the late 70's-early 80's, a cartoon series was produced, containing adaptations of the books. The main director was Per Åhlin and the musical score was composed by Georg Riedel. The show was a co-production between Åhlin's company PennFilm, the Swedish Film Institute and the Nordic television channels SVT, NRK, DR and YLE. Between 1979 and 1982 13 episodes of approximately 10 minutes each was produced. In 1994, three additional shorts were produced.