''The Transporters'' is a 2006 children's animated TV series produced by Catalyst Pictures Limited designed to help children with

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

aged between two and eight years old to recognise and understand emotions. It was developed by the Autism Research Centre at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

by a team led by Professor

Simon Baron-Cohen Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen (born 15 August 1958) is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of ...

and including Dr. Ofer Golan. ''The Transporters'' is based on the idea that children with

may find human faces confusing since they are unpredictable due to the fact that the autistic brains cannot cope with unpredictability. In Baron-Cohen's theory, children with autism are strong "systemisers" and faces are hard to systemise. In contrast, children with autism have a preference for predictable systems. Therefore, ''The Transporters'' focuses on mechanical vehicles that only move along fixed tracks, as they are highly predictable systems. Grafted onto these animated scale model vehicles are real human faces, so that social skills teaching takes place in an autism friendly format.

Evaluation

A study published in the ''Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders'' found that after watching the DVD for 15 minutes a day for four weeks, most children with ASC (autistic spectrum condition) caught up with typically developing children in their ability to recognise emotions on four different tasks Later replications of the study found similar results cross culturally.

The series

''The Transporters''

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 ...

release(s) consists of 15 five-minute episodes, each featuring a key emotion. There are also 30 interactive quizzes and an accompanying booklet to reinforce learning. In 2007, the series was nominated for a

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

award. The series features eight animated toy vehicles owned by a boy called Jamie. Each of them has an actual human face so that viewers learn to recognize real rather than cartoon expressions. All of the expressions were verified by an independent panel before they were included in the series. There are two versions of the DVD, with different accents and vocabulary. The North American version is voiced by

Kerry Shale Kerry Shale (born 4 June 1952) is a Canadian actor based in London, England. His BBC Radio 4 comedy-drama ''The Kubrick Test'' was broadcast in 2020. He is the co-host of ''Is It Rolling, Bob? Talking Dylan'', a podcast about Bob Dylan ...

and the British English version is voiced by

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

. ''The Transporters'' was originally commissioned by Culture Online, which was part of the UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Characters

* Barney the Tractor * Charlie the Tram * Dan the Cable Car * Jennie the Tram * Nigel the Bus * Oliver the Funicular * Sally the Cable Car * William the Ferry

Episodes with key emotions

#"The Transporters' Happy Day" #"Sally's Sad Day" #"Nigel's Slow Day" #"Charlie Saves the Day" #"A Very Exciting Day" #"Jennie's Smelly Adventure" #"Barney's Special Day" #"William's Scrapyard Nightmare" #"Charlie's Missed School Run" #"Oliver the Kind Funicular" #"Slow Down, Nigel!" #"The Great Race" #"Why Can't I Be Somebody Else?" #"Playing Around" #"Jennie's Difficult Day"

Voice cast

as the Narrator (UK) *

as the Narrator (USA)

References