''Bananas in Pyjamas'' is an Australian

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...

that first aired on 20 July 1992 on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

. It has since been syndicated in many countries and dubbed into other languages. In the United States, the "

Pyjamas Pajamas (American English) or pyjamas (Commonwealth English), sometimes colloquially shortened to PJs, jammies, jim-jams, or in South Asia, night suits, are several related types of clothing worn as nightwear or while lounging. Pajamas are s ...

" in the title was modified to reflect the American spelling ''pajamas''. It aired in syndication from 1995 to 1997 as a half-hour series, then became a 15-minute show paired with a short-lived 15-minute series '' The Crayon Box'', under a 30-minute block produced by Sachs Family Entertainment titled ''Bananas in Pajamas & The Crayon Box''. Additionally, the characters and a scene from the show were featured in the ''Kids for Character'' sequel titled ''Kids for Character: Choices Count''. The pilot episode was ''Pink Mug''. The concept was inspired by the success of the song ''Bananas in Pyjamas'', written by Carey Blyton in 1967, on '' Play School''. This song, which had become a regular item on ''Play School'', became the theme of the new series. The series was revamped in May 2011 as a CGI animated series created by

Southern Star Entertainment Endemol Australia, formerly known as Southern Star Group, Southern Star Productions, Southern Star/Hanna-Barbera Australia and Taft-Hardie Group Pty Ltd, was a major Australian independent television production, distribution, and syndication com ...

Summary

The main characters are two anthropomorphic

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

s named B1 and B2. Other characters include the three

teddy bear A teddy bear, or simply a teddy, is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. The teddy bear was named by Morris Michtom after the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt; it was developed apparently simultaneously in the first deca ...

s Amy, Lulu and Morgan, and Rat in a Hat. The bananas, the teddies and Rat in a Hat all live in the same neighbourhood, a

cul-de-sac A dead end, also known as a ''cul-de-sac'' (; , ), a no-through road or a no-exit road, is a street with only one combined inlet and outlet. Dead ends are added to roads in urban planning designs to limit traffic in residential areas. Some d ...

called "Cuddles Avenue". The bananas live next to the beach and serve as beach patrol. The teddies live next to and look after the park. Rat in a Hat works and lives at the community store. The characters enjoy eating "munchy honeycakes" and " yellow jelly".

Production

Inspiration

The characters were inspired by a 1969 song written for children by British composer Carey Blyton (nephew of renowned children's author

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have been tra ...

). The jaunty song describes (an unspecified number of) bananas in pyjamas chasing teddy bears, with a slight twist at the end where a musical sting emphasises that the bananas like to "catch them unawares". The song was shown on the Australian version of '' Play School'' for many years accompanied by an animation depicting pairs of bananas in blue-and-white striped

pyjamas Pajamas (American English) or pyjamas (Commonwealth English), sometimes colloquially shortened to PJs, jammies, jim-jams, or in South Asia, night suits, are several related types of clothing worn as nightwear or while lounging. Pajamas are s ...

. This led to a "banana"

plush toy A stuffed toy is a toy with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, lovies and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be called soft toys ...

being created as part of the "toy cast", which formed the basis of the physical appearance of B1 and B2.

Filming

Creator, producer and showrunner Helena Harris devised the content of the ABC program at

ABC Studios ABC Signature was a production arm of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a sub-division of the Disney Entertainment business segment and division of The Walt Disney Company. The studio's ...

. Two of the bear characters, Amy and Morgan, are named after Helena Harris' children. The show was performed using human actors in elaborate costumes, in the style of the British ''

Tweenies ''Tweenies'' is a British live action puppet children's television series created by Will Brenton and Iain Lauchlan, and produced by Tell-Tale Productions and the BBC. The programme was focused on four preschool-aged characters, known as the ...

'' and ''

Teletubbies ''Teletubbies'' is a British children's television series created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC. The programme focuses on four differently coloured characters known as the Teletubbies, named after the television screens on t ...

''. In the show's early days, the voices of the bananas were provided by the same actors as were inside the costume, but the original actors eventually gave up that aspect of the show and substitutes wore the hot, stuffy costumes. The show aired new episodes from its 1992 debut to its eventual run in syndication in 2002. The show aired approximately three hundred episodes as well as four specials. Its debut in the United States was in 1995. It made videos and other media from 1995 to 1999. A toy line, developed by

Tomy (trade name, trading as Takara Tomy in Asia and Tomy elsewhere) is a Japanese toy company. It was established in 1924 by Eiichirō Tomiyama as , became known for creating popular toys like the B-29 friction toy and luck-based game Pop-up Pi ...

, debuted in 1996.

Animated version

On 2 May 2011, a reboot of ''Bananas in Pyjamas'', produced by

in full CGI, was premiered on

ABC2 ABC Family is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of family and teen entertainment programming. The channel oper ...

in Australia; it was shown in other countries soon after that date. It contains new songs, stories, and characters, including Topsy the cheeky kangaroo, Charlie the inventive monkey and Bernard the wise old dog. Development of the new series commenced in 2009, and production started in early 2010. The new series contains 104 12-minute episodes.

Characters

Main characters

*B1 the ''Banana'': Duncan Wass (1992), Ken Radley (1993–2001), Michael James (2001), and then Stephen Shanahan (2011–13), Richard McCourt (2011–13) *B2 the ''Banana'': Nicholas Opolski (1992–2001), Benjamin Blaylock (2001), and then

Daniel Wyllie Daniel Wyllie (born 1970) is an Australian stage, film and television actor. Wyllie began acting in theatre. Early life Wyllie grew up on Sydney's North Shore. He attended North Sydney Demonstration School and North Sydney Boys High School wh ...

Dominic Wood Dominic Simon "Dom" Wood (born 3 January 1977) is an English entertainer, magician, TV presenter and DJ. He is best known as one half of the double act Dick and Dom with Richard "Dick" McCourt, with whom he was won two British Academy Children ...

(2011–13) *Amy the ''Teddy Bear'': Sandie Lillingston (1992), Mary-Ann Henshaw (1993–2001), and then Isabella Dunwill (2011–13) *Lulu the ''Teddy Bear'': Taylor Owynns (1992–2001), Monica Trapaga (''Bananas in Pyjamas'' (album release)), Sandie Lillingston (Bumping and a-Jumping) and then Ines Vaz de Sousa (2011–13) *Morgan the ''Teddy Bear'': Jeremy Scrivener (1992–2001), and then Troy Planet (AU Version),

Sophie Aldred Sophie Aldred (born 20 August 1962) is an English actress and television presenter. She has worked extensively in children's television as a presenter and voice artist. She played the Seventh Doctor's companion, Ace, in the television series ''D ...

(UK Version) (2011–13) *Rat in a Hat the ''Rat'': Shane McNamara (1993–2013)

Recurring characters

*Bernard the ''Dog'': Keith Buckley (2011–13) *Charlie the ''Monkey'': Matthew Whittet (2011–13) *Kevin the ''Butterfly'': Mal Heap (1992–2001) *Maggie the ''Magpie'': Emma De Vries (1994–2001) *Mrs Rat the ''Rat'': Georgina Symes (2011–13) *Tolstoy the ''Tortoise'': Emma De Vries (1996–2001) and then John Leary (2011–13) *Tomasina the ''Turtle'': David Collins (1999–2001) and then Meaghan Davies (2011–13) *Topsy the ''Kangaroo'': Roslyn Oades (2011–13)

Farm animals

*''Farm Animals'' puppeteers: Mal Heap, Terry Ryan & Emma De Vries (2001) *Camembert the ''Cow'': Taylor Sweeney and then Eliza Logan (2011–2013) *Pedro the ''Pig'': Michael Phillips and then Anthony O'Donohue (2011–2013) *Gregory the ''Chicken'': Matthew Hudak *Peck the ''Duck'': Aaron Oberst-Horner *Dolly the ''Sheep'': Maura McGinley and then Olivia Pigeot (2011–2013) *Flash the ''Fish'': Jacob Matta

Episodes

Original series

Revived series

Home video releases

The series has been released to

home video Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...

, originally for

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

, later also for

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

. * Birthday Special (1992) * Show Business (1993) * Hiccups (1993) * Monster Bananas (1994) * Big Parade (1994) * Special Delivery (1994) * Surf's Up (1995) * Wish Fairies (1995) * It's Music Time (1996) * Singing Time (1997) * Dress Ups (1997) * Bumping and a-Jumping (1998) * Holiday Time (1998) * Fun Time (1999) * Surprise Party (1999) * It's Games Time (2000) * Story Time (2000) * Rock-A-Bye Bananas (2001) * Summertime (2001) * Dancing Daze (2002) * Celebration (2002) * Farm Adventure (2003) * Beat Box (2003)

Discography

*''Bananas in Pyjamas'' (1993) *''Live on Stage'' (1994) *''Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? Mix'' (1994) *''It's Singing Time!'' (1996) *''Bumping and a-Jumping'' (1997) *''Cuddles Avenue Christmas'' (1997) *''It's Show Time!'' (1998) *''Get Up and Dance!'' (2000) *''Banana Split Mix'' (2002) *''The Fun Collection'' (2002) *''Sing and Be Happy'' (2004) *''Welcome to Cuddlestown'' (2011) *''Playtime!'' (2012) *''Best Of: Classic'' (2015) *''50 Best Songs: 25 Years!'' (2017)

Charting singles

Cultural impact

The ''Bananas in Pyjamas'' were featured among other famous Australians during the parade of the 2000 Summer Olympics closing ceremony. In 2017, the

Royal Australian Mint The Royal Australian Mint is the national mint of Australia, and the primary production facility for the country’s circulating coins. The mint is a Commonwealth Government entity operating within the portfolio of the Treasury, and is situat ...

produced a commemorative set containing five-cent and 20-cent coins to mark the 25th anniversary of ''Bananas in Pyjamas''. The five-cent coin, which is coloured for the first time, depicts Rat-in-a-Hat, while the twenty-cent coin depicts B1 and B2.

Awards and nominations

APRA Music Awards

ARIA Music Awards

British Academy Children's Awards

Logie Awards

References

External links

''Bananas in Pyjamas'' – Original website''Bananas in Pyjamas'' – ABC TV
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bananas in Pyjamas 1992 Australian television series debuts 2001 Australian television series endings 2010s Australian animated television series 2011 animated television series debuts 2011 Australian television series debuts 2013 Australian television series endings 1990s preschool education television series 2000s preschool education television series 2010s preschool education television series Animated preschool education television series Animated television series reboots Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Australian children's animated television series Australian children's television series Australian children's musical groups Australian computer-animated television series Australian preschool education television series Australian television shows featuring puppetry Bananas in popular culture Australian English-language television shows Fruit and vegetable characters Television series by Endemol Shine Australia Australian television series with live action and animation Animated television series about bears Animated television series about mice and rats Musical groups established in 1992