''Engie Benjy'' is a British stop motion pre-school children's television show, broadcast on
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
's children's strand,
CITV. Engie Benjy is a blue-haired mechanic who fixes problems with the help of his friends and an assortment of living magic and vehicles. He owns a dog named Jollop and drives a breakdown van named Dan the Van. Other characters include Driver Dottie, Astronaut Al and Farmer Fred. The vehicles included in the show are Dan The Breakdown Van, Bus, Bike, Plane, Spaceship, Boat, Tractor and Big Rig The Truck.
The main character voices were provided by television double act,
Anthony McPartlin and
Declan Donnelly. In the first series, Dec voiced the title role of Engie Benjy while Ant provided the vocal effects for his dog, Jollop. In the third series after a pay dispute, another character was added for Ant to voice: Trucker Troy, Engie Benjy's cousin.
Astronaut Al and Pilot Pete were voiced by ''
Family Fortunes'' presenter,
Les Dennis, Driver Dottie by
Teresa Gallagher (who also originally voiced Engie prior to Dec providing the voice), and Fisherman Fin, Farmer Fred, and Messenger Mo by
David Holt.
The theme tune was composed and sung by
Clint Boon, the keyboard player with the
Inspiral Carpets, with character voices by Ant and Dec.
The show was created by Bridget Appleby at
Cosgrove Hall Films, and first shown on
CITV,
and it is also seen on
Nick Jr.
Four series of 13 episodes were made, with first broadcasts from 2002 to 2004.
It has been sold in over 80 territories worldwide.
In
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, the show was aired on
ABC (Australia),
Sveriges Television
Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...
in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
,
France 5 in
France,
YLE in
Finland,
NRK in
Norway,
Discovery Kids (Latin American TV channel) in
Latin America,
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal in
Portugal,
NPO Zappelin in The
Netherlands,
Çufo and
Top Channel in
Albania,
KIKA and
ZDF in
Germany,
Alter Channel in
Greece,
Hop! Channel
Hop! Channel (Hebrew: , ''Arutz Hop!'') is an Israeli children's television channel intended entirely for preschool children. The channel caters for children between the ages of zero and seven years old, presenting programs specifically tailored f ...
in
Israel,
Educational Broadcasting System in
South Korea,
Telewizja Polska in
Poland,
Radio Television of Serbia
Radio Television of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, Радио-телевизија Србије, sr-Lat, Radio-televizija Srbije, italics=yes; abbr. RTS/PTC) is Serbia's public broadcaster. It broadcasts and produces news, drama, and sports programming thro ...
in
Serbia,
Radio and Television of Slovakia in
Slovakia,
Discovery Kids (Latin American TV channel) in
Latin America,
Radiotelevizija Slovenija in
Slovenia,
Stöð 2
Stöð 2 (literally Station 2) is an Icelandic subscription television channel, owned and operated by Sýn. Founded in 1986, it was the first privately owned television station in Iceland following the lifting of the state monopoly on televisi ...
in
Iceland and
Sunflower TV
The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus '' Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), ...
in
Ukraine.
In 2009, Engie Benjy along with several other well known children's characters appeared on ''
The Official BBC Children in Need Medley'' by
Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band. The final episode aired on 29 November 2004. The show Reruns of the series aired on
ITVBe's children's block LittleBe Between September 2018 and July 2021.
Episodes
Series 1 (2002)
Series 2 (2003)
Series 3 (2004)
Series 4 (2004)
Home releases
Six
VHS tapes and
DVDs of all the episodes were issued between 2003 and 2005 by
VCI and Granada Ventures.
References
External links
*
*
*
*{{cite web
, url=http://www.worldscreen.com/featuresarchive.php?filename=1002animators.txt
, title=Minding the Muses, last=Westcott, first=Tim
, publisher=WorldScreen.com
, date=26 September 2007, access-date=2 March 2014
, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927000414/http://www.worldscreen.com/featuresarchive.php?filename=1002animators.txt
, archive-date=27 September 2007
2000s British children's television series
Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming
British children's animated adventure television series
English-language television shows
ITV children's television shows
British stop-motion animated television series
British computer-animated television series
British preschool education television series
Animated preschool education television series
2000s preschool education television series
Fictional mechanics
2000s British animated television series
2002 British television series debuts
2004 British television series endings
Television series by Cosgrove Hall Films