Tweenies

Tweenies
Tweenies Logo
Format	Children's
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	"Are you ready to play?"
Ending theme	"Are you ready to play?" (Instrumental version with something)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	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
Distributor	BBC
Broadcast
Original channel	CBBC, CBeebies (2002-) (Canada), Nick Jr (2011), Noggin (2003-2006), CBeebies (2011-) (United States)
Picture format	Live
Audio format	Stereo
First shown in	CBBC
Original run	September 6, 1998 (1998-09-06) – September 24, 2003 (2003-09-24)
External links
Website

Tweenies was a television programme aimed at young children, broadcast on the BBC's Cbeebies channel.

Overview

The programme was created by Iain Lauchlan and Will Brenton, 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 was 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 no longer in production however merchendise can still be bought from retailers, DVDs of the programme are available too.

The programme is set in a nursery ('play-group') attended by the four Tweenies themselves: 4-5-year-old Bella, Milo age 4, Fizz age 3-4 and the youngest Jake, 2-3. They are in the care of two adults, Max and Judy, and two dogs, Doodles age 6 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. 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 Preisig 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 1998 to 2003.

Original UK cast

Character	Description	Actor	Voice/Animatronics
The children
Bella	Blue-skinned with yellow hair which is usually accompanied with a red hair ribbon. — the tallest Tweenie[1]	Tamsin Heatley	Sally Preisig (1998–2000) Emma Weaver (2000–2003)
Fizz	Yellow-skinned with red hair	Jenny Hutchinson (1998–2000) Angela Reynolds (2000) Francesca Anderson (2001–2003)	Coleen Daley Niamh Walker
Jake	Oranged-skinned with a yellow mohawk - the youngest and shortest Tweenie[1]	Samantha Dodd (1998-2001) Esther Collins (2001–2003)	Justin Fletcher
Milo	Purple-skinned with black hair	C.H. Beck Matthew Lyons	Bob Golding
The adults
Judith (Judy)	Pale green-skinned with purple hair, originated from Ireland	Simon Grover	Sinead Rushe
Maxwell (Max)	Dark pink-skinned, with white hair	Simon Grover	Bob Golding
The animals
Doodles	Dog (red and yellow)	Alan Riley	Justin Fletcher
Izzles	Dog (purple and yellow)	Fiona Watkins	Coleen Daley

Albums

Data from AllMusicCharts.com

Title	Entered Chart (UK)	Peak Position (UK)	Weeks on Chart (UK)
Friends Forever	25 November 2000	56	4
The Christmas Album	1 December 2001	34	5
Everybody Dance	--	--	--
Greatest Hits (double CD)	--	--	--

The Families

Bella's Family

• Bella (daughter)
• Mella (Bella's sister)
• Juliette (Bella's mother)
• Marcus (Bells's father)

Fizz's Family

• Fizz (daughter)
• Fizz's Brother (son)
• Samantha (Fizz's mother)
• Wayne (Fizz's father)

Jake's family

• Jake (son)
• Ross (Jake's father)
• Mitzi (Jake's mother)

Milo's family

• Milo (son)
• Dean (Milo's brother)
• Cameron (Milo's brother)
• Donald (Milo's Father)
• Elaine (Milo's mother)

Singles

Data from AllMusicCharts.com

Title	Entered chart (UK)	Peak position (UK)	Weeks on Chart (UK)
No. 1	11 November 2000	4	23
Best Friends Forever	31 March 2001	12	10
Do The Lollipop	4 August 2001	17	8
I Believe In Christmas	15 December 2001	9	6
Have Fun Go Mad	14 September 2002	20	7

DVDs

• 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)
• Milo 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)

Many of the above videos have also been re-dubbed into other languages as well. In addition, several of the Tweenies videos were produced in special versions for retailers with additional footage (for example, the "Party Games, Laughs & Giggles" video distributed at Marks & Spencer stores carried 2 additional segments, adding 10 minutes to the video's running time).

Awards

• BAFTA Children's Awards 2000

• Nominated and won Best Pre-School Live Action^[2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Revealed in episode #147 Giraffes
2. ^ "Past Winners and Nominees - Children's - Awards - 2000". BAFTA. http://www.bafta.org/awards/childrens/nominations/?year=2000. Retrieved 3 July 2010. 

External links

• Tweenies at BBC Online
• Tweenies at the Internet Movie Database
• Tweenies at TV.com
• "Tweenies" at MiloPOV.