''Rupert'' is an animated

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 ...

based on the Mary Tourtel character ''

Rupert Bear Rupert Bear is an English children's comic strip character and franchise created by Herbert Tourtel and illustrated by his wife, the artist Mary Tourtel, first appearing in the ''Daily Express'' newspaper on 8 November 1920. Rupert's initi ...

'', which aired from 7 September 1991 to 19 June 1997 with 65 half-hour episodes produced. The series is produced by

Nelvana Nelvana Limited (; also known as Nelvana Enterprises, Nelvana International or Nelvana Digital; commonly known as Nelvana; stylized as "nelvana") is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment s ...

, in co-production with Ellipse Programme for the first three seasons, in association with YTV Canada, Inc. (seasons 1–3 and 5), and ITV franchisees TVS Television (season 1) and Scottish Television (seasons 2–5).

Synopsis

Rupert is a very intelligent and witty bear, and has many friends from every corner of the world. Although he lives in a small village called Nutwood, he enjoys traveling around the world, discovering new cultures, living great adventures, unraveling mysteries and unmasking villains. The visual style of the cartoon has many European and Nordic elements, with many castles, citadels and particular styles of dress, as well as myths like

elves An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda''. In medieval Germanic-speakin ...

and the

Loch Ness Monster The Loch Ness Monster (), known affectionately as Nessie, is a mythical creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protrud ...

. The landscapes of the Rupert Bear books, which inspired the series, were based on the regions of

Snowdonia Snowdonia, or Eryri (), is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales Welsh 3000s, over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon (), which i ...

and

Vale of Clwyd The Vale of Clwyd () is a tract of low-lying ground in the county of Denbighshire in north-east Wales. The Vale extends south-southwestwards from the coast of the Irish Sea for some 20 miles (about 30 km) forming a triangle of low ground bo ...

in the northern part of

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

Episodes

Characters

Rupert's family

is a considerate, smart, resourceful, brave, trusty, good-spirited bear who is extremely popular with all the residents in Nutwood. On occasion, he breaks the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...

in addressing his observations and making comments to the viewer. * Mr. Bear is Rupert's father. He is much more clumsy and forgetful compared to Rupert. He often smokes a pipe. It as revealed in the episode "Firebird" that both Mr. Bear and Podgy's father are part of the Nutwood Fire Brigade. * Mrs. Bear is Rupert's mother. Like her son, she is wise and often offers advice to Rupert who later uses it during his adventures.

Recurring characters

* Bill Badger is Rupert's best friend, who, unlike Rupert, often presents a lot of flaws, such as cowardice, impatience, clumsiness, a quick temper, and a horrible singing voice. He has a baby brother named Toby, who is fond of Bill's singing voice. * Podgy Pig is a jolly, yet greedy and not very bright pig with a large appetite. He is very friendly to others and appears not to see that his friends sometimes find him annoying. His appetite at times can lead him and his friends into trouble, but Rupert can look past this to go out of his way to help Podgy. * Pong Ping is a Pekingese from China who owns an elevator that can travel underground all the way to China. He has a wealth of knowledge of his culture including dragons and various magical objects. He's also good at math. * Tiger Lily is Rupert's female and Chinese friend. The only human student in school and the member of one of few human families in Nutwood. She and her family have a lot of knowledge on magical and mystical objects. * Algy Pug is Rupert's friend, a pug who often overestimates his abilities and takes a lot of pride in himself. Despite his flaws, he is shown to be a good and helpful friend for Rupert and others. * Edward Trunk is another friend of Rupert. An elephant, very kind, sensitive and strong. He is often seen helping his father who works in plumbing. * Gregory Guinea Pig is a very kind guinea pig and another friend of Rupert. Sometimes he can be nervous and scared, but he meets the challenges head on when his friends need help. * Ottoline Otter is Rupert's friend who is an otter of a Scottish descent who loves Shakespeare and lives in an old castle that belonged to her ancestors. The castle has many secret entrances hidden all over. Ottoline has vast knowledge of each entrances' location and will prefer to use them instead of the stairs. * Freddy and Ferdy Fox are two mischievous twin foxes who spread mischief around the village of Nutwood. * Constable Growler is a

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...

and local policeman who rides a

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

. He constantly says he needs to do "everything by the book, you know" and is always turned to by Rupert and his friends whenever they need help catching a criminal. * The Professor is a very friendly and eccentric human scientist who resides in an old castle tower in Nutwood, who invents many incredible devices during the series. Rupert often helps out with his experiments. Once the Professor starts an experiment, he never rests. He has the catchphrase, "Think of the possibilities, my boy(s)!" whenever he is explaining his experiments and all the benefits that can come from it to Rupert and his friends. * The Sage of Um is a jolly wizard who comes from the island of Um and flies in an upside-down umbrella. He is a friend of Tiger Lily's father; the Conjurer. * Odmedod is a talking friendly scarecrow that lives in Farmer Turbit's farm and a friend of Rupert. * Reika is a Swiss human girl who lives in Lapland looking after the reindeer of

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

and a friend of Rupert and Pong Ping.

Villains

* Billy Blizzard is an ambitious villain, who with the help of a magic whistle, plans to freeze the snow villagers of the North Pole as well as its ruler, King Frost and become the leader of the place. * Sir Humphrey Pumphrey is a greedy, ruthless explorer who tries to find or plunder riches for his own selfish desires.

Voice cast

* Ben Sandford as Rupert Bear (1991) * Julie Lemieux as Rupert Bear (1992–1997) * Guy Bannerman as Mr. Bear * Lally Cadeau as Mrs. Bear (1991–1992) * Valerie Boyle as Mrs. Bear (1992–1997) *

Torquil Campbell Torquil Campbell (born March 17, 1972) is the co-lead singer and a songwriter for the Montreal-based indie rock band Stars. In addition to singing, he also plays the melodica, trumpet, synthesizer, and tambourine. Campbell is also an actor and ...

as Bill Badger * Hadley Kay as Podgy Pig * Keith White as Algy Pug * Oscar Hsu as Pong Ping *

Stephanie Morgenstern Stephanie Morgenstern (born December 10, 1965) is a Canadian actress, filmmaker, and screenwriter for television and film. She has worked extensively on stage, film, and television in both English and French. Her most widely seen feature film ...

as Tiger Lily * Wayne Robson as Sage of Um * Colin Fox as Professor *

Chris Wiggins Christopher John Wiggins (January 13, 1931 – February 19, 2017) was a Canadian actor. Career Wiggins was born January 13, 1931, in Blackpool, England. He started out as a banker in his home country before he began his acting career in Canada ...

as Chinese Emperor; Chinese Conjuror; Captain Bill; additional voices * Ho Chow as Tung Lai * Jeremy Ratchford as Botkin * Peter Wildman as Mr. Ribbons; Captain Sir *

Dan Hennessey Daniel Robert Hennessey (September 11, 1942 – November 13, 2024) was an American-born Canadian voice actor. He was perhaps best known for voicing Brave Heart Lion in the ''Care Bears'' franchise. In addition to his well-received voice work ...

as Tom * Stephen Ouimette as additional voices * Kristin LeMunyon as Clarice * Allen Stewart-Coates as Cedric Pig; Constable Growler; additional voices * Keith Knight as Timid Snowman; Mr. Chimp; The Sandman; additional voices * Rick Jones as Yum *

Marla Lukofsky Marla Lukofsky is a Canadian-American stand-up comedian, actress, singer, writer, and keynote speaker. She's one of the pioneers of stand-up comedy in Canada and has performed in every major city in North America, the UK and the first female come ...

as Phoebe * Colin O'Meara as Billy Blizzard; additional voices

Production

The series was produced by Nelvana, Ellipse Programmé, and TVS for its first season, with

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

taking over for the second season onwards when TVS lost its franchise.

Broadcast

It was broadcast in syndication on YTV in Canada. In the United States, the series first aired on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

as part of the Nick Jr. block in 1995 before moving to

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

Saturday mornings in 1999. Repeats of the series came to

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

on the

Playhouse Disney Playhouse Disney was a brand of programming blocks and international cable and satellite television channels that were owned by the Disney Channels Worldwide unit (now Disney Branded Television) of The Walt Disney Company's Disney–ABC Tele ...

block,

Toon Disney Toon Disney was an American multinational pay television channel owned by Disney Branded Television, a subsidiary of Disney-ABC Television Group. The channel's target audience was children aged 7–11, and older children and adolescents aged 8� ...

, and on

Qubo Qubo ( ; stylized as qubo) was an American television network for children between the ages of 5 and 14. Owned by Ion Media, it consisted of a 24-hour free-to-air television network often mentioned as the "Qubo channel" (available as a digital ...

from January 8, 2007, to July 25, 2020. The series was broadcast in the United Kingdom on

CITV CITV is a British children's morning programming block on ITV2 and formerly a free-to-air channel owned by ITV plc. CITV, then Children's ITV, launched on 3 January 1983 as a late afternoon programming block on the ITV network for children aged ...

, Tiny Pop, and

KidsCo KidsCo was an international children's television channel active from 2007 until 2014. It was a joint venture between Corus Entertainment, DIC Entertainment (later part of Cookie Jar Group) and NBCUniversal whose content was mainly commission ...

. In Portugal, the series was broadcast during the 1990s on the RTP channel. In Australia, the series was broadcast on ABC, and later on

Australia, as well as on TV2 in New Zealand. It aired on

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

in Ireland as part of their children's block ''

The Den The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in Bermondsey, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club. The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at , and a quarter-of-a-mile from the Old Den, whic ...

''. In South America, the series was broadcast in Brazil by

TV Cultura TV Cultura, or simply Cultura, is a free Brazilian non-commercial public television network headquartered in São Paulo and a part of Father Anchieta Foundation, a non-profit foundation funded by the São Paulo State Government. It focuses on ...

from February 2, 1998 to 2006, with audience peaks between 2002 and 2004, according to the '' Folha de São Paulo'' portal. In South Africa, the series was broadcast on both Bop TV and

M-Net M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

as part of their wrapper programme for children, '' K-T.V.'' In Zimbabwe, the series aired on both ZBC and ZTV. In Kenya, it aired on KBC. The series was also played in Namibia on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. ''Rupert'' also aired in the United Arab Emirates; it was broadcast on the English free-for-air channel

Dubai 33 Dubai Channel 33 (originally branded as Ch33) was a national television channel transmitting terrestrially out of Dubai in English, targeting the expat community in the U.A.E. It was founded in 1977. Up until the late 1980s, it was a 12-hour cha ...

. The series was also broadcast on RTB in Brunei. In

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

, the series was screened on

KUAM-LP KUAM-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Hagåtña (Agana), Guam, serving the U.S. territory as an affiliate of NBC and CBS. Owned by Pacific Telestations, LLC, it is sister to the local public access cable channel Local 2. KUAM-TV's ...

. In Saudi Arabia, the series was played on the country's English-speaking channel Saudi 2, and in the Arab world, it aired on Spacetoon from 2000 to 2014 in Arabic.

Theme and closing song

Both the theme and closing song were composed by Milan Kymlicka. They are based on

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

's '' The Happy Farmer, Returning from Work in F major, Op. 68, No. 10''. When the series aired on Nickelodeon in the US, a different theme song was used, with lyrics and vocals in the intro, and an instrumental of that same tune in the outro. This composition, ''Rupert's Number One'', was co-penned by Sheree Jeacocke and Gerry Mosby.

Feature film version

According to

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, Nelvana made plans in 2000 to produce a Hollywood feature film based on the Rupert property, but the project was not implemented. The film would have been released possibly between 2001 and 2002.

References

External links

*
''Rupert''
at CITV (archived)
Nelvana's ''Rupert'' page
(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rupert (TV series) 1991 animated television series debuts 1991 British television series debuts 1991 Canadian television series debuts 1991 French television series debuts 1997 British television series endings 1997 Canadian television series endings 1997 French television series endings 1990s British animated television series 1990s British children's television series 1990s Canadian animated television series 1990s Canadian children's television series 1990s French animated television series 1990s preschool education television series Animated preschool education television series Animated television series about bears Animated television series about children Animated television series about families Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming British children's animated action television series British children's animated adventure television series British children's animated drama television series British children's animated fantasy television series British preschool education television series Canadian children's animated action television series Canadian children's animated adventure television series Canadian children's animated drama television series Canadian children's animated fantasy television series Canadian preschool education television series French children's animated action television series French children's animated adventure television series French children's animated drama television series French children's animated fantasy television series French preschool education television series French-language television programming in Canada Television shows set in forests ITV children's television shows Nick Jr. original programming Rupert Bear Television series by Nelvana Television shows based on comic strips Television shows based on British comics Television shows produced by Scottish Television Television shows produced by Television South (TVS) Television shows set in the United Kingdom YTV (Canadian TV channel) original programming ITV animated television series Children's television series about talking animals mos:TV