''Tweenies'' is a British

live action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...

puppet children's television series created by

Will Brenton William Brenton is a British Television writer, writer, Television producer, producer and Television director, director who has worked in many areas of television and theatre, primarily through his companies Tell-Tale productions and Wish Films ...

and Iain Lauchlan, and produced by Tell-Tale Productions and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. The programme was focused on four preschool-aged characters, known as the "Tweenies"; Jake, Fizz, Milo & Bella, whilst playing, singing, dancing and learning in a fictional playgroup in England. They are cared for by two adult Tweenies; Judy & Max and his dog; Doodles, and later another dog, Izzles. ''Tweenies'' first premiered on 6 September 1999 on the

's children's block and consisted of a total of 390 episodes, with the final episode airing on 25 July 2002. Repeated episodes of the series aired on

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content targeted for children aged six year ...

from 2002 to 2016. In 2000, the show won a

British Academy Television Award The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards, are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in 1 ...

for Best Pre-school Live Action Series, and singles featuring exclusive songs spent several weeks in the charts during the early 2000s. ''Tweenies'' also released music in the early 2000s and achieved five top 20 singles on the UK singles chart.

Overview and history

The idea for the programme came from

and Iain Lauchlan, a pair with a track record of being involved in children's programming for the BBC. Together they set up Tell-Tale Productions at

Elstree Studios Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...

in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, in 1994. Lauchlan was a presenter on '' Play School'', '' Fingermouse,'' and ''

Playdays ''Playdays'' (known as ''Playbus'' until December 1989) is a British pre-school television programme which ran from 1988 to 1997 on Children's BBC. The show was the successor to '' Play School'' and, like its predecessor, was designed as an ed ...

'', meeting Brenton, a

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

, writer and also

presenter Presenter may refer to: People * News presenter, person who presents news during a news program * Sports commentator, an announcer who presents analysis of a sporting event * Radio personality, presenter or announcer on a radio show * Television ...

, during the latter. Together they started producing two of the ''

'' strands before forming Tell-Tale Productions (later rebranded as Wish Films). They also created '' Fun Song Factory'', '' Boo!'', '' BB3B'', and ''

Jim Jam and Sunny ''Jim Jam and Sunny'' is a British children's television programme that aired on the CITV channel. It was first aired on November 20, 2006 and ended in June 27 2008. Premise Jim Jam is 3, and his older sister Sunny is 5. Whenever they enter t ...

''. ''Tweenies'' is a production of Tell-Tale Productions in association with the BBC. Animation for the show was produced by A Productions, an animation studio based in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, England, with Ealing Animation providing some animation in a few early episodes.

Computer animation Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating Film, moving images. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both still images and moving images, while computer animation refers to moving images. Virtu ...

for the series was provided by ''Clockwork Digital'', with Ben Mars animating Mungo, the computer creature who appears in some later episodes. Episodes consist of a mixture of story, song, and creative activity. Music plays an important part in the programme and children are encouraged to join in with songs and actions. The programme is set in a nursery in England attended by four puppet characters called The Tweenies: Jake, Fizz, Milo and Bella. They are in the care of two adult helpers, Max and Judy, and their dog, Doodles, later joined by another dog, Izzles. There was also meant to be a character called Syd/Sid, however he was axed by the BBC before production, leaving the four other Tweenies. The show includes a "Tweenie Clock", with five circular lights arranged in a

pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

al shape with the lights denoting "News Time" (Circle Time in the US) – Orange, "Messy Time" – Blue, "Song Time" – Yellow, "Telly Time" (Video Time in the US) – Green and "Story Time" – Red. "Surprise Time" is a special time determined when all five lights glow. A button at the centre of the clock (Purple) is pressed to select the activity that will be undertaken next. It was formerly shown and repeated on

, from 11 February 2002 until 1 April 2016. Like several other

programmes, a live stage version of the show has toured in the UK. The final tour, ''Top of the Tots'', toured the UK during 2009 for the series' 10th anniversary. In addition, the tour also played several shows in Hong Kong in late September and early October 2009. The Tweenies were also regulars on the annual CBeebies Live tours around the British Isles. Between 2003 and 2005, there was also a ''Tweenies'' theme park, at

Alton Towers Alton Towers Resort ( ) (often shortened to Alton Towers) is a theme park and resort complex in Staffordshire, England, near the village of Alton, Staffordshire, Alton. The park is operated by Merlin Entertainments, Merlin Entertainments Group a ...

in the Cred Street section aimed at younger children, which replaced the ''

Barney & Friends ''Barney & Friends'' is an American children's television series created by Sheryl Leach targeted at children ages two to five. The flagship production of the ''Barney'' franchise, it originally aired on PBS under the PBS Kids brand from Ap ...

'' section and was then replaced by a ''

Bob the Builder ''Bob the Builder'' is a British animated children's television series created by Keith Chapman for HIT Entertainment which ran from to in the United Kingdom through the CBBC strand and later CBeebies. The series centres on the adventures ...

'' section. In 2000, ''Tweenies'' won two awards: Best Pre-School Educational Program and Best Live Action Pre-School Programme. The original prototypes for the Tweenies characters were designed by Sally Preisig of Mimics Productions; they were later re-scaled into two sizes for the characters shown in the series. In addition, Preisig also designed the character costumes and was co-constructor/developer for the Tweenies' full-size puppets. The costume fabric comes from the UK and was imported and dyed into their present colours; it is about the same thickness as fleece jumpers. Neal Scanlan Studios made the animatronic Tweenie heads.

Characters

Main

* Bella (operated by Tamsin Heatley, Emma Quintin, Esther Collins; voiced by Sally Preisig 1999–2000, Emma Weaver 2000–2002) – A five-year-old blue-skinned girl with blonde hair and a red hair bow. As the oldest and tallest of the Tweenies, Bella has a sense of superiority over her younger friends. She projects a bossy and boisterous attitude and likes to take the role of leadership in the Tweenies' games. Sometimes, she causes things to go wrong with her arrogance – for instance, in the episode 'It Wasn't Me', Bella accidentally breaks one of the strings from Max's marionette puppet despite everyone having been told not to play with it as it was "special", and she hides it in Doodles' bed and tries to blame him. Despite this, she always apologises for her wrongdoings eventually. Although Bella comes across as domineering, she has a caring heart and likes to help the younger Tweenies. She loves acting, dressing up, fairies and reading. Her favourite colour is red. Her best friend is Fizz. * Milo (operated by C.H. Beck 1999–2000, Matthew Lyons/Kate Ryan 2000–2002; voiced by Bob Golding) – A four-year-old purple-skinned boy with black hair. The loudmouth of the Tweenies, he is energetic and loves telling jokes and playing pranks. Sometimes his impulsiveness and hyperactivity may result in him upsetting the other Tweenies, but he is ultimately friendly and good-hearted. He is quick to argue with Bella due to their loud, clashing personalities. He often adds the suffix "-a-rooney" to words. He loves football and magic. His favourite colour is blue. His best friend is Jake. * Fizz (operated by Jenny Hutchinson 1999–2000, Angela Reynolds 2000, Francesca Anderson 2001–2002; voiced by Colleen Daley) – A four-year-old yellow-skinned girl with reddish brown beaded hair. She is usually mild-mannered and laidback but can become stroppy when she doesn't get her way. Fizz is somewhat introverted; when something upsets her, she often retreats to the playhouse for peace. She loves dancing (especially ballet), painting, singing and playing with dolls. Her favourite colour is pink. Her best friend is Bella. * Jake (operated by Samantha Dodd 1999–2002; voiced by Justin Fletcher) – A three-year-old orange-skinned boy with a yellow mohawk. Being the youngest of the Tweenies, he sometimes feels left out and excluded from the other Tweenies' games when he is not big enough to join in. He is the kindest of the Tweenies and has a close bond with Doodles, often turning to him for comfort or advice when unhappy. He is also very sensitive and is prone to tears when frustrated. He will sometimes get words mixed up. He loves playing pretend, using his imagination, and dressing up, especially as his superhero alter-ego, Dotman. His favourite colour is green. His best friend is Milo.

Supporting

* Doodles (operated by Alan Riley and John Tobias; voiced by Justin Fletcher) – A red-and-yellow male dog. Doodles is very friendly, relaxed and calm. His favourite colour is yellow. His voice is based on that of

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American media franchise owned by Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Entertainment and created in 1969 by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears through their animated series, ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'', for Hanna-Barbera (which wa ...

. He loves going for walks with Max and can often be seen looking out for Jake. * Izzles (operated by Fiona Watkins; voiced by Colleen Daley) – A purple-and-white female dog, who was first introduced in 2001. Unlike Doodles, she is a puppy and therefore much younger and very energetic. Her favourite colour is purple. At first, her antics were not to the Tweenies' liking, more so Jake but she later calms down and settles in. The girls often like to dress her up in fancy accessories. She is also a companion for Doodles. She was originally going to be called Squiggles until it was realised that someone already had the rights to that name and that small children find it hard to say 'SQU'. * Max (operated by Simon Grover/Matthew Lyons (some episodes); voiced by Bob Golding) – A 65-year-old pink-skinned man who is one of the two workers of the playgroup of the Tweenies. He speaks with a

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

accent. He loves animals, trains, fixing different things around the playgroup, and exploring the outside world. * Judy (operated by Simon Grover/Sinead Rushe (outside); voiced by Sinead Rushe) – A 35-year-old green-skinned woman who is the other of the playgroup workers. She speaks with an Irish accent. She loves reading, gardening, being creative and giving good advice to the Tweenies.

Episodes

The ''Tweenies'' aired its first episode ''Tweenie Band'' on 6 September 1999 on its original programme block

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

and last aired on 25 July 2002 with ''What Makes Summer?'' on its former channel

. In total, there are 390 episodes. There have been special episodes, such as a series of ''Be Safe with the Tweenies'' and expanded forty-minute episodes. Episode 252, ''Favourite Songs'' (first aired in March 2001) was withdrawn from further airing in January 2013, after the

received 216 complaints about a scene within the episode, themed as a parody of an episode of ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'' where Max appears dressed as disgraced host

Jimmy Savile Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English media personality and DJ. He was known for his eccentric image, charitable work, and hosting the BBC shows ''Top of the Pops'' and ''Jim'll Fix It''. A ...

, and even uses some of his catchphrases. The episode aired three months after claims of

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is re ...

committed by Savile came to light. The

removed ''Tweenies'' from the

schedule altogether for four months. The episodes then came back to the schedule from June 2013 until April 2016.

Worldwide success

From the show's debut in 1999, the series enjoyed international success in France, Spain, Italy, Canada, Singapore and Australia. In the U.S., ''Tweenies'' originally 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 ...

's Nick Jr. block from 7 April to 25 September 2003. It was repeated on Noggin from 2003 to 2005.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Live shows

The ''Tweenies'' have had huge success in live performances from when they first premiered to the mid-2000s.

Television

In November 2000, the Tweenies appeared on a few episodes of the show ''

'', performing their single ''No. 1''. In December 2000, the Tweenies starred in their dedicated special of the series which featured more of their singles like ''Do The Lollipop'' and ''Have Fun Go Mad!''. This episode was later released on VHS and DVD as ''Music is Pop-a-Rooney!'' in July 2002, with new wrap-around segments recorded in the Playgroup.

Arena tours

Beginning in 2001, the first ''Tweenies Live!'' show went on tour around arenas around the United Kingdom, produced by Tell-Tale Productions and BBC Worldwide, the show featured the Tweenies singing their favourite songs. A live recording of this tour from the London Arena was released on VHS in July 2001. A follow-up show – ''Tweenies Live! 2: The Fab-a-Rooney Tour'', toured from February–July 2002 and featured the live debut of Izzles. In December 2001, a follow-up show titled ''Tweenies Live! The Christmas Present'' was presented at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

for the Christmas period and was later given a wide arena tour from December 2003 to January 2004, where Izzles joined the cast. A recording of the 2001 version was released on VHS in November 2002 and was later released on DVD in November 2006 as part of the ''Tweenies: The Ultimate Christmas Collection'' DVD compilation. The fourth tour – ''No Sleep 'til Bedtime'', toured the UK from March to May 2005. This tour was notable for featuring covers of licensed tracks sung by the Tweenies. The fifth tour – ''The Enchanted Toyshop'' toured the UK in the Spring and Summer of 2007. It was the first Tweenies live tour to be solely produced by BBC Worldwide and the first to be shown in theatres instead of arenas. The most recent tour – ''Top of the Tots'', toured the UK in Early 2009 to celebrate the show's 10th Anniversary.

Alton Towers

From 2003 to 2005, the Cred Street Theatre was renamed The Tweenies Theatre where the characters spent three seasons performing live shows daily. There was also a Tweenies themed playground area.

Merchandise

DVDs and videos

A variety of Tweenies episodes were released on

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 ...

and

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 ...

from 1999 up to 2008, featuring themed compilations and special episodes. These were released by

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetised BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

and some various DVDs are still available in retailers today, including; ''Ready to Play with the Tweenies'' (1999), ''Tweenies: Night-Time Magic'' (2003) &''Tweenies - Let's all Make Music'' (2004). Many of the home releases were dubbed into other languages and released abroad. In addition, several of the ''Tweenies'' videos were produced in special versions for retailers with additional footage (for example, the "Party Games, Laughs & Giggles" video distributed at

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

stores carried two additional segments, adding ten minutes to the video's running time). Many of the above videos were also released on DVD under different names. In 2010,

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

released a ''Best of Tweenies Volume 1'' which consisted of the first six episodes of the first series. All of the ''Tweenies'' music releases were made available in retailers via cassette and CD.

Additional products

From the show's debut in 1999 to 2008, a range of ''Tweenies'' storybooks were published, primarily based on aired episodes. Additional merchandise included soft toys, playsets, collectible figures, bedding, board games, puzzles, clothing, talking toys and yearly hardback annuals released between 2001 and 2006. Several computer and video games were also produced, including ''Tweenies: Doodles' Bones'' for

Game Boy Color The (GBC or CGB) is an 8-bit handheld game console developed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color features a color TFT scre ...

and ''Tweenies: Game Time'' for

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

, along with many other related products.

Game Time

''Tweenies: Game Time'' is an

educational Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education also fol ...

kids

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

released in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

on 30 March 2001 for

, published by BBC Multimedia. It takes the form of a minigame collection. The player controls Milo, Jake, Fizz and Bella through a series of 4 scenarios inspired by the show, one for each character. The game was developed by Intelligent Games. The direction of the game was partially based on research by

of children who watched the Television show, which found that "singing and dancing are major factors in the success of the show". according to a BBC article from before the game launched.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{Noggin shows 1990s British children's television series 2000s British children's television series 1999 British television series debuts 2002 British television series endings 1990s preschool education television series 2000s preschool education television series British children's comedy television series British children's musical television series British preschool education television series British television shows featuring puppetry British television series with live action and animation Television shows adapted into video games BAFTA winners (television series) British English-language television shows BBC children's television shows CBeebies Noggin (brand) original programming E.tv original programming TVNZ 2 original programming Television series about children Fictional quartets Television shows about dogs Works about friendship Television shows set in England Television shows shot at Elstree Film Studios Television series by BBC Studios British children's musical groups American children's musical groups