Tweenies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Tweenies | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Children's |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Running time | 20 minutes approx. |
| Producer(s) | Kay Benbow Robin Carr Iain Lauchlan Will Brenton |
| Executive producer(s) | Judy Whitfield Clare Elstow |
| Starring | Coleen Daley Justin Fletcher Bob Golding Sally Priesig Emma Weaver Sinead Rushe |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English; Welsh |
| Original channel | BBC One; BBC Two |
| [The Tweenies Official website] | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Tweenies is a television programme aimed at children, broadcast on the BBC. The programme is set at a daycare centre, and the four Tweenies themselves are Milo and Jake (both boys) and Bella and Fizz (both girls), played by actors inside suits made from the same material as fleece jumpers (the same thickness too) in a style reminiscent of the Teletubbies, only geared towards a slightly older audience. The regular cast includes two adults, Max and Judy, and two dogs, Doodles and (less frequently, and in the later episodes) Izzles, all in similar suits. Max and Judy are the same person, and when they are seen together they are superimposed onto the screen.
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) 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.
In addition to the regular "Tweenies" programme occasional five-minute slots called "Play Safe with the Tweenies" are also broadcast. These give safety tips, such as telling children to stay away from the edge of ponds, not to use scissors or knives without an adult present, not to tamper with electrical plugs and so on.
In mid-2003, The Tweenies was introduced to U.S. audiences via the cable channel Noggin(after briefly being shown on sister channel Nickelodeon). Like with the more well-known across-the-Atlantic transplant of Bob the Builder, the episodes were re-dubbed with American-accented voices to make them easier for American children to follow 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 an extremely early morning hour (ranging from 6am on the east coast to 3am on the west coast). This diminished its US viewership greatly and on January 1, 2006 the show was permanently pulled from Noggin's schedule and thus is no longer shown in the United States (however, the Noggin web link shown below is still up (though you cannot otherwise get to it from the Noggin site itself; whether this was just an oversight or a sign the show may return to American TV is not known)).
In Canada, the show has aired in both English (BBC Kids) and French (Radio-Canada). 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 schedule in mid-July. On August 31, 2006, the network aired 2 Tweenies episodes that day, one in its usual 6am (Eastern) time slot and a second episode at 7am. The Monday-Friday showings were ended on September 4, 2006, leaving the Thursday 7am broadcast as the only weekday program. As of September 16, 2006, the weekend broadcast was moved to Saturdays at 6am (Eastern). The Saturday broadcast currently replays the Thursday episode, delayed 2 weeks (with a few exceptions).
In addition to those languages, the show has been dubbed into German, Estonian, Arabic, Russian, Indonesian, and Slovak, among others. The Spanish version of the series appears in 2 versions: a Madrid-dubbed version for Spain and a dubbed-in-Chile version for Latin America.
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, is scheduled for 2007. From 2003 to 2006, there was also a live version of The Tweenies shown regularly at Alton Towers in the Cred Street section aimed at younger children.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
"Tweenies" (preschool children):
- Bella - female, the oldest and most confident but with bossy tendencies. She has blue skin, and yellow hair with a bow.
- Milo - male, boisterous but friendly. He adds "-aroony!" to words to show approval. Purple skin and short spiked hair.
- Fizz - female (with her favourite colour being pink). Stereotypically feminine, but practical. Yellow skin, long brown braided hair.
- Jake - male, the youngest of the group, and prone to malapropisms or spoonerisms. Skin is orange, hair is a yellow "mohican quiff".
Other characters:
- Max - adult male with a Yorkshire accent; avuncular and workmanlike but prone to flights of fancy; used to play bass guitar in a band. Pink skin, balding white hair.
- Judy - adult female with an Irish accent; sympathetic and sensible. Green skin, purple hair.
- Doodles - canine, male, breed unknown, often wiser than the Tweenies but misunderstood. Red and yellow fur.
- Izzles - canine, female, resembles Afghan Hound, friend of Doodles. Purple and yellow fur.
[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
- Bella - Tamsin Heatley
- Fizz - Jenny Hutchinson/Angela Reynolds/Francesca Anderson(In that order)
- Milo - C H Beck/Matthew Lyons/Kate Ryan
- Jake - Samantha Dodd/Esther Collins
- Max and Judy - Simon Grover (Matthew Lyons in some episodes)
- Doodles - Alan Riley
- Judy (outside) - Sinead Rushe
- Izzles - Fiona Watkins
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
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] Dubbing casts
US dub
- Bella - Alyson Court
- Fizz - Stephanie Rothenburg
- Milo - Melba Farrell-Sibrel
- Jake - Dieter Jansen (Source - IMDB)
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
[edit] Music
The Tweenies released records on the BBC's music label, and had a UK chart success with "Number 1", which hit #5 in October 2000. This was followed by four more singles: "Best Friends Forever", "Do The Lollipop", "I Believe In Christmas" and "Have Fun Go Mad". They released two albums and one greatest hits album: Friends Forever, The Christmas Album and Greatest Hits. The Christmas Album was the only one that charted, going in at #34. In addition, Friends Forever was remixed into German as Beste Freunde.
[edit] Videos/DVDs
- Ready to Play (1999)
- Song Time! (1999)
- Ready to Play/Song Time! (combined DVD, 2000)
- Merry Tweenie Christmas (2000)
- Party Games, Laughs & Giggles (2000)
- 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
[edit] Current international broadcasters
As of October 2006:
- In the British Isles on CBeebies, BBC2 and RTÉ2 (English)
- In Canada on BBC Kids (English) and Radio-Canada (French)
- In the Netherlands on PeuterTV (children's block on Nederland 3; Dutch)
- In France on TF1 and TFOU (French)
- In Belgium on VRT Ketnet (Dutch)
- In the United Arab Emirates on E-Junior (English and Arabic; station offers 2 feeds)
- In Europe, Africa and the Middle East on BBC Prime (English)
- In Hungary and Eastern Europe on Duna TV (Hungarian; show titled Tweeniék)
- In Italy on RAISat Ragazzi (Italian)
- In the Middle East on MBC3 (Arabic)
