Rubbadubbers

Rubbadubbers
Genre	Children's television series
Created by	Peter Curtis
Voices of	John Gordon Sinclair Sean Hughes Maria Darling
Theme music composer	Kick
Composer(s)	Kick
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	48
Production
Running time	21 minutes
Production company(s)	HIT Entertainment
Distributor	HIT Entertainment MTV Networks (US)
Release
Original network	BBC (UK) Nickelodeon (US)
Original release	8 July 2002 – 9 October 2004

Rubbadubbers is a British stop-motion children's television series produced by HIT Entertainment. The series aired on the BBC in the United Kingdom, ABC Television and ABC2 (11 August 2003 - 30 July 2008) in Australia and Nickelodeon in the United States (as part of the Nick Jr. block).^[1]

Plot

Seven friendly and fictional bath toys come to life whenever children Benjie and Sis leave their bathroom.

Characters

• Tubb, a male frog with a Scottish accent, is the leader of the Rubbadubbers. He has green eyes, pink skin, and he always wears patterned trousers, and a shirt with short traffic-light coloured sleeves. He enjoys playing with the other toys, cleaning anything with his cotton bud, and lying on a green lily-pad. Tubb is voiced by John Gordon Sinclair.
• Terence, a male crocodile with a British accent, can blow bubbles through his nose. He has only one tooth, yellow eyes, wears a collar and a red necktie, has green skin, and a yellow stomach. He dislikes getting splashed, and has a red toothbrush for cleaning his tooth with. Terence also has several spots on his tail. Terence is voiced by John Gordon Sinclair.
• Finbar, a male shark with a Welsh accent, who has white and blue skin, oval-shaped eyes, and he can cool things down by moving his tail from side to side. Finbar also has 2 wheels, 3 fins, and 1 white clockwork wheel. Finbar is voiced by Sean Hughes.
• Winona, a female rubber whale who squeaks to communicate instead of speaking. She is the only character who doesn't use "If only" wishes. She has purple skin, two wheels on her underside, a small blow-hole, two small eyes, and a black mouth. She seems to like the bath water quite a lot, and she enjoys sitting around in it and making waves with her blow-hole.
• Reg, a male metal mechanical robot who dislikes getting wet and enjoys playing with the other bath toys inside the bathroom. He has orange skin, green eyes, a diamond-shaped hole, a blue stammer for a mouth, and a volume control on his back. At the end of every episode, he announces the children's arrival: "Rubbadubbers, Rubbadubbers, the children are coming! It's Bath Time Scramble!" Reg is voiced by John Gordon Sinclair.
• Amelia, a female submarine with an English accent, can fly high up in the air as well as travelling on and under the bath water. She has 2 red wings, a red nose, a red mouth, blue eyes, a red propeller and 4 red wheels. Amelia is voiced by Maria Darling.
• Sploshy, a female starfish-shaped sponge with a Cockney accent, has 5 suction cups behind her hands, feet, and head. Sploshy has magenta skin, 5 triangular arms, 2 small, pink eyebrows, 2 yellow eyes, and an odd-shaped mouth. She enjoys sunbathing on the surface of the bath water. Sploshy is voiced by Maria Darling.
• The children, Benjie and Sis, are often referred to by the characters, but they are never seen.

Episodes

Season 1

• 1. Drip!
• 2. Sploshy of the Arctic
• 3. Hide and Seek
• 4. Scary Finbar
• 5. High Noon in the Bathroom
• 6. Amelia the Monster
• 7. Reg the Monster
• 8. Terence's Double Trouble
• 9. Sploshybird
• 10. Little Red Riding Tubb
• 11. Reg in Square World
• 12. Terence of Arabia
• 13. Sheriff Terence
• 14. Sploshy the Stone-Seeker
• 15. Spaceman Reg
• 16. Deep Sea Reg
• 17. Train Driver Tubb
• 18. Tubb the Pirate
• 19. Terence the Shop Keeper
• 20. Silly Sploshy
• 21. Speedy Terence
• 22. Sploshy's Tail
• 23. Finbar's Important Part
• 24. Rocket Sled Reg

Season 2

• 25. Amelia and the Detectives
• 26. Terence the Spy
• 27. Terence's Bubble Trouble
• 28. Tubb the Magician
• 29. Amelia the Diver
• 30. Amelia the Babysitter
• 31. Tubb the Frog Prince
• 32. Finbar and the Ghosts
• 33. Sploshy's Wishes
• 34. The House That Tubb Built
• 35. Finbar and the Green Hat Gang
• 36. Terence the Monster Hunter
• 37. Lighthouse Keeper Reg
• 38. Finbar's Rescuers
• 39. Copy Sploshy
• 40. Terence's Ties
• 41. Finbar the Mighty Movie Star
• 42. Reg's Game Plan
• 43. Doctor Terence
• 44. Farmer Sploshy
• 45. Princess Amelia
• 46. Super Amelia
• 47. Muddy Finbar
• 48. Footballer Tubb

Format

Not every episode begins with the Rubbadubbers inside the bathroom. Some episodes start with the Rubbadubbers inside the bathroom, and in other episodes, the Rubbadubbers are found inside the hallway, either on the chest of drawers or on the window-sill. After a short while, one of the characters says "if only" followed by what they wish, for example, "If only I could have all the bubbles in the world". That character is then automatically escorted to the outdoor world where that "if only" comes true. It always turns out that if the "if only" goes wrong, for example, having all the bubbles in the world is actually a bad idea, then the character wishes another "if only" that automatically escorts them back from the outdoor world to the bathroom. Every episode ends with Reg announcing that the children, Benjie and Sis, are arriving for their bath.

Dream sequence items

In the outdoor world locations, all the props and the scenery are made entirely from bathroom stuff, toothbrushes, cotton buds, soap dishes, floor tiles, sponges, shower curtains, towels, mats, radiators, fans, heating vents, and so on.

Broadcast

The programme aired on CBeebies every day at varying times between 2001 and 2006.

Commercial availability

Rubbadubbers was released on DVD and VHS from 2003 by Hit Entertainment and owned by Hot Animation.

References