''The Telebugs'' is a British animated children's television series featuring three robots.

Overview

The robots' names are C.H.I.P. (Coordinated Hexadecimal Information Processor), S.A.M.A.N.T.H.A. (Solar Activated Micro Automated Non-inTerference Hearing Apparatus) and B.U.G. (Binary Unmanned Gamma-camera) – who were accompanied by a flying video pack called M.I.C. (Mobile Independent Camera). They were invented by

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Brainstrain (who is also known as Pwofessor Bwainstwain, owing to his unfortunate

speech impediment Speech disorders, impairments, or impediments, are a type of communication disorder in which normal speech is disrupted. This can mean fluency disorders like stuttering and cluttering. Someone who is unable to speak due to a speech disorder is co ...

) to stop enemies such as

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

Bullybyte, Magna, Angel Brain, Z.U.D.O (Zero-failure Universal Data Optimizer) Bug and Arcadia, whilst working as

reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

s for a TV executive named Mr McStarch. A total of 3 seasons and 86 episodes were produced by Telebug Enterprises, subsequently renamed Telemagination. This was a subsidiary company of ITV regional franchise holder

Television South Television South (TVS) was the ITV (TV network), ITV franchise holder in the South East England, South and South East of England between 1 January 1982 at 9.25 am and 31 December 1992 at 11.59 pm. The company operated under various names, init ...

. It was broadcast on

Children's ITV 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 ...

in the United Kingdom from 1986 to 1987. It was the very first television series made and produced by Telemagination (the company later went onto make several other animated series for children such as '' The Animals of Farthing Wood'', ''

Noah's Island ''Noah's Island'' is a British animated television series for children made by the creators of '' The Animals of Farthing Wood'' and commissioned by the European Broadcasting Union. It was directed by Emile Bourget, Philippe LeClerc, Alan Simpson ...

'' and ''

The Cramp Twins ''The Cramp Twins'' is an animated television series created by British cartoonist Brian Wood based on his 1995 graphic novel of the same name. The show was produced by Sunbow Entertainment (in season 1), Telemagination (in season 2), and TV-Lo ...

''). It also aired on TV2 in New Zealand from 24 July 1987 to 7 March 1990, on ABC TV in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

from 6 July 1988 to 13 December 1991, on

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

in the Philippines, on RTB in Brunei, on TV1 in Malaysia, on

Italia 1 Italia 1 (Italian pronunciation ) is an Italian free-to-air television channel on the Mediaset network, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is aimed at both a young adult and adult audience. Italia 1 was launched on 3 January 1982 and, was or ...

in Italy, on Saudi 2 in Saudi Arabia and on

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, ...

in South Africa. The series was also noted for its closing theme song. An extended version of the opening theme had been used at the end of season 1. However, in season 2 the short song "I Have a Heart", written by American singer, pianist and songwriter

Mort Shuman Mortimer Shuman (12 November 1938 – 2 November 1991) was an American singer, pianist and songwriter, best known as co-writer of many 1960s rock and roll hits, including " Viva Las Vegas". He also wrote and sang many songs in French, such as ...

(who has lived in both the UK and France), sung by Suzy Westerby (as Samantha), and played out over a closing credit sequence featuring a still of Chip, Samantha and Bug, with Mic's face briefly appearing at the closeout, was used as the closing theme. This version was the best-known theme. An extended version of "I Have A Heart", sung by American disco singer

George McCrae George Warren McCrae Jr. (born October 19, 1944) is an American soul and disco singer who is most famous for his 1974 hit " Rock Your Baby". Biography and career McCrae was the second of nine children, born in West Palm Beach, Florida. He ...

and played out over a sequence showing Chip, Samantha and Bug orbiting the Earth and performing pirouettes, was used for the end of the original transmissions of the third, and final, season. However, as this version was almost three minutes long, it was considered too lengthy for such a short cartoon, and was replaced with the same extended version of the opening theme used at the end of season 1 for all future repeats of season 3. The series also aired on GBC TV in

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

, where it regularly served as a filler during children's programming in the 6:30 – 7:30pm slot during the mid to late 1980s. The series was also broadcast on cable and satellite television on

The Children's Channel The Children's Channel, also known as TCC, was a British-based pan-European children's television channel in Europe, Asia and Africa, which was owned by Flextech in London, England, UK. It began broadcasting on the original Eutelsat satellite ...

. In the 1990s the show was sold to

HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (stylised as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Sophie Turn ...

but this time, the name was changed to ''The Gigglebytes''. The series with the name change was also broadcast in Singapore on Prime 12 as part of their lineup of children's programming ''Kidz Blitz''. At least one full-size working model of Samantha was made to publicise the show, making appearances in

advertising and continuity, and on the Saturday morning show No. 73 in 1986 and 1987. The model could move its arms and head, and roll along the floor. Its TV head contained a

cathode-ray tube A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms on an oscilloscope, a ...

monitor capable of displaying facial expressions and other graphics. Both photographic and film footage of the prop is very rare and hard to come by, with the exception of three YouTube clips that both feature footage of its CITV appearance with host

Matthew Kelly Matthew Kelly (born David Allan Kelly, 9 May 1950) is an English actor and television presenter. Having been trained as a theatre actor, he first came to public prominence as a television sitcom actor, game-show panellist and television prese ...

, and some episodes from series 7 of No.73. While the same prop was featured in both shows, the No. 73 appearances featured a different voice actress with electronic distortion, and would in the final episodes, wear an apron around its torso. The recent upload of the episodes and the inclusion of the prop, has sparked some intrigue from a small number of fans of both the show and Telebugs itself, with inquiries as to the state and whereabouts of the prop; especially by collectors of memorabilia.

Voice cast

All the

male Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...

characters were voiced by

Ron Moody Ron Moody (born Ronald Moodnick; 8 January 1924 – 11 June 2015) was an English actor, composer, singer and writer. He was best known for his portrayal of Fagin in '' Oliver!'' (1968) and its 1983 Broadway revival. Moody earned a Golden Glob ...

(except for Bug) and the

female An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...

characters (also including Bug) were voiced by London-based actress Suzy Westerby. The model of Samantha was voiced by

Kate Copstick Kate Copstick is a Scottish actress, television presenter, writer, critic, director and producer. Early life She was born in Glasgow, Scotland and studied for a law degree at the University of Glasgow. Career As a comedy actor, Copstick app ...

for appearances on No. 73.

Transmission guide

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Crew and Credits

Series 1 (1986)

*Voices:

, Suzy Westerby *Music: Andy Murray *Scripts: Gwyneth Jones, Bernie Kaye *Animation: Mike Pocock, Tony Guy, Dave Unwin, Alan Green, Ray Kelly, Ramon Modiano, Gary McCarver, Alan Simpson, Janet Nunn, Joanne Gooding, Gary Blatchford, Margot Allen *Assistants: Claire Bramwell, Nicola Mander, Helen Kincaid *Storyboard and Layout: Dave Elvin, Peter See *Backgrounds: Russell Pierman, Kevin Smith *Trace and Paint: Aubery Hammond, Frankie Convertry, A.M Films, Hierographics, Ann Kotch, Andrew Ryder *Rostrum: Can Productions, Filmflex Animation Services *Film Editors: Alan Waller, Jim Hubbard, John Delfgou *Dubbing Mixer: Danny Curtis *Voice Recording: Brian Cresse *Production Manager: Dennis Gardiner *Production Co-Ordinator: Shellie Smith *Production Accountant: Patricia Harvey *Executive Producer:

Anna Home Anna Margaret Home ( ; born 13 January 1938) is an English television producer and executive who worked for most of her career at the BBC. Early career After graduating from Oxford University, where she read Modern History at St Anne's Colle ...

*Produced and Directed by: John M. Mills and Elphin Lloyd-Jones *A Telebug Enterprises Production *Copyright Reserved Telebug Enterprises LTD. 1984

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Telebugs, The 1980s British animated television series 1980s British children's television series 1980s British science fiction television series 1986 British television series debuts 1987 British television series endings British children's animated space adventure television series British children's animated science fiction television series British English-language television shows ITV children's television shows Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming TVNZ 2 original programming Fictional humanoid robots Television shows produced by Television South (TVS) Television series by Mattel Television ITV animated television series