The Animal Shelf

The Animal Shelf is a British children's model animation series produced by Cosgrove Hall Films and based on the books written and illustrated by British writer Ivy Wallace. Aimed at a pre-school audience, it first aired on ITV running for four seasons and 52 episodes and ran from 1997 to 2000. It has also aired around world including the ABC in Australia, RTÉ2 in Ireland as part of their children's block The Den, Dubai 33 in the United Arab Emirates, the children's television network K-T.V. World and M-Net (as part of their series of children's lineup blocks K-T.V.) in South Africa, Premiere 12 (as part of their children's block Kidz Blitz) and Kids Central in Singapore and TVNZ 2 and TVNZ 6 in New Zealand as part of their children's block Kidzone.

Main characters

• Timothy is a young boy who is the owner of the animals. He is never actually seen on-screen, just his shadow. This is the same with all of the human characters apart from the pet-shop owner (whose face is never seen on screen).

Voiced by Susan Sheridan (UK) and Marc Donato (USA/Canada)

• Gumpa is a bear who often acts as the leader of the group. He is quite lazy and enjoys sleeping.

Voiced by Jimmy Hibbert (UK)

• Woeful is a monkey who wears a red fez and coat. He often tells jokes, which are often found rude by the other animals. He enjoys getting his own way, and is quite bossy, which sometimes annoys the other animals.

Voiced by Jimmy Hibbert (UK)

• Stripey is a woolen zebra and Getup's best friend. He seems to be quite wise, and it is revealed in the first episode, Stripey To The Rescue, that he and Getup are Timothy's oldest animals.

Voiced by Jimmy Hibbert (UK)

• Getup is a giraffe who often falls over, and is close friends with Stripey. The material on her hooves is worn, which means that she often loses stuffing through them. She speaks with a broad English accent.

Voiced by Susan Sheridan (UK)

• Little Mutt is a west highland white terrier dog. He wears a pink bow, and often ends up getting into difficult situations. He seems to be close friends with Gumpa. Some children may often mistaken Little Mutt as a girl due to the colour of the bow and his shrill voice.

Voiced by Susan Sheridan (UK) and Jill Frappier (USA/Canada)

• Mrs. Mole and her Baby Moles are a family of moles who live underground that only squeak instead of speak.

Voiced by Susan Sheridan (UK)

Episode guide

It's Itsy Bitsy Time

The series was also seen on an American children's wrapper programme called It's Itsy Bitsy Time along with several TV series from overseas and aired on FOX Family Channel in America and Treehouse TV in Canada in 1999 with the British voices being redubbed with American and Canadian voices. The voices were directed by Canadian voice actress Susan Roman who is best known for voicing Sailor Jupiter in the DIC version of the English dubbed anime Sailor Moon. Roman also directed the American and Canadian voices for another British children's animated television series seen on It's Itsy Bitsy Time Tom and Vicky.

Merchandise

The series later had tie in books from Ladybird Books and was also released on VHS in the UK and Australia by Walt Disney Home Video.

External links

• The Animal Shelf on IMDb