Tweenies

Tweenies
Tweenies Logo
Format	Childrens Comedy
Created by	Will Brenton Iain Lauchlan
Developed by	Tell-Tale Productions for BBC Television
Starring	UK Body actors Samantha Dodd Simon Grover Jenny Hutchinson Angela Reynolds Voice/Animatronics Justin Fletcher Bob Golding Emma Weaver
Opening theme	"Hey, hey, are you ready to play"
Ending theme	"Hey, hey, are you ready to play" (version)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	originally English
No. of episodes	390
Production
Executive producer(s)	Judy Whitfield Clare Elstow
Producer(s)	Kay Benbow Robin Carr Iain Lauchlan Will Brenton Karl Woolley
Camera setup	Davy Johnson
Running time	20 minutes approx.
Distributor	BBC
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC
Picture format	Live
Audio format	Stereo
First shown in	CBBC
Original run	1999 – present
External links
Official website

Tweenies is a television programme aimed at young children, broadcast on the BBC.

Overview

The programme was created by Will Brenton and Iain Lauchlan, a pair with a track record of being involved 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 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 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 show includes a "Tweenie Clock", with five circular lights arranged in a pentagonal shape with the lights denoting "news time", "messy time", "song time", "telly time" and "story time". "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 channel for young children. 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 are also regulars on the annual CBeebies Live tours around the British Isles, because the BBC fail to make any new material for children to watch; hence why the Chuckle Brothers are still in Showbusiness. Between 2003 and 2006, there was also a live version of 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, Tweenies won two awards: Best Pre-School Educational Programme and Best Live Action Pre-School Programme.

The original prototypes for the Tweenies characters were designed by Sally Prickstick 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 UK and was imported and dyed into their present colours; it is about the same thickness as fleece jumpers.

Characters

The Tweenies are played by one set of actors, while the animatronics and voices are provided by other editors. Please note that unless otherwise indicated, all of the following actors and voice talent were in the show from 1999 to 2002.

Note: Max and Judy are rarely seen together on screen

Tweenies' instruments

• Fizz: cymbals, xylophone, snare drum, triangle, bass drum and bongos
• Jake: horn, tuba, trumpet, and trombone
• Milo: saxophone, flute, bassoon, contrabassoon, piccolo, oboe, clarinet and English horn
• Bella: harp, violin, viola, cello, double bass and piano

Albums

Data from AllMusicCharts.com

Singles

Data from AllMusicCharts.com

Films

• Song Time!(1999)
• Merry Tweenie Christmas(1999)
• Party Games, Laughs & Giggles(1999)
• Song Time is Fab-a-Rooney(1999)
• The Enchanted Toyshop(2000)
• Song Time 2(2000)
• Songs & Surprises(2000)
• Tweenies Live!(2000)
• Animal Friends(2001)
• Colours are Magic(2001)
• It's Messy Time(2001)
• Everybody Panto(2001)
• Doodles' New Friend(2002)
• Tweenies Live!: The Christmas Present(2002)
• Night-Time Magic(2002)
• Party Games, Laughs & Giggles(2002)
• Music is Pop-a-Rooney!(2003)
• Let's Play(2003)
• Jungle Adventure(2003)
• Let's All Make Music(2004)
• Fizz!(2005)
• It's Christmas(2005)
• Song Time: The Complete Collection(2006)
• The Ultimate Christmas Collection(2006)
• Messy Time Magic(2008)
• Tweenies Live!: Top of the Tots(2009)
• Tweenies: The Complete Hit Children's TV Series(2009)

Episodes

List of Tweenies episodes

References

External links

• Tweenies at bbc.co.uk.
• Tweenies at the Internet Movie Database