''Little Robots''

Little Robots is a stop-motion animated children's TV series, produced by Cosgrove Hall Films for Create TV & Film and broadcast on CBeebies (the BBC's children's channel). The fiction series was based on the eponymous book by Mike Brownlow in 1999, published by Ragged Bears Publishing. It is distributed by BBC Worldwide to over 60 countries.

Cast list (UK/AUS/NZ/Canada dub)

• Morwenna Banks
• Hayley Carmichael
• Emma Chambers
• Martin Clunes
• Mel Giedroyc
• Mike Hayley
• Lenny Henry
• Jimmy Hibbert
• Sue Perkins
• Su Pollard

Cast List (US dub)

• Jimmy Hibbert
• Mike Hayley
• Tom Clarke-Hill
• Jules de Jongh
• Maria Darling
• Laurel Lefkow
• Paul Mitchell-Jones
• Lizzie Waterworth
• Joanna Ruiz
• Adam Sims

Crew list

• Franc Vose, producer
• Bridget Appleby, Art Director
• Vanessa Chapman, Executive Producer
• Michael Carrington, Executive Producer
• Theresa Plummer-Andrews, Executive Producer
• Bob Heatlie, composer
• Hilary Baverstock, Script Editor
• Mellie Buse, writer
• Jimmy Hibbert, writer
• Neil Arksey, writer

Cast and characters^[1]

(In order they were mentioned in the opening)

• Tiny – Hayley Carmichael: The central character of the show. He is turquoise, has a pink antenna on top of his head, and a pink button on his belly which opens the lid of his head, uncovering a couple of tools which he uses for fixing machines and robots. He is also responsible for pulling the Day-Night Lever at the right times. Tiny lives on the Nut and Bolt Tree, right next to the Day-Night Lever. He is also the smallest of the Little Robots. He always has a positive view on things, and always tries to help his friends to live in peace and harmony together. Tiny is very mature for his age. Although what everyone doesn't know in the series that Tiny was mayor of the robot world despite being one of the younger Little Robots. And as the series continued he has taken part of other jobs like fixing robots. Putting his discy lift under inspection and even saving robots from the scrap.
• Messy – Jimmy Hibbert, but vocal effects provided by Frank Welker: The robot dog of the Little Robots' world, he loves things dirty and messy. Scary teaches him tricks and makes shows with him, where he's known as "Messy the Wonderhound". It may be possible that a few of Messy's vocal effects may have been recycled from the character Bumpy Dog; from one of Cosgrove Hall's previous shows: Noddy's Toyland Adventures, which Hibbert also voiced characters in.
• Sporty – Lenny Henry: The strongest and fittest of the Little Robots. he's constantly running, playing games and sports, and never gets tired of making himself stronger and fitter. Sporty has his own, private gym with a trampoline and a conveyor belt.
• Stretchy – Jimmy Hibbert: A very organized and efficient dark blue Little Robot. He's in charge of sorting the junk that comes from the chute on the junkyard. He's blue, tall and thin and has a long, flexible neck. Though his main worry is to keep the junkyard organized so his friends can use, his workaholism and obsession for organisation sometimes causes problems – on one occasion, he accidentally tied a knot on his neck due to overwork! He lives in the junkyard, inside an abandoned radiator.
• Rusty – Morwenna Banks: A feminine and sensitive Little Robot who gets nervous at times. She has a red dress which is made of painted rusty metal and wears a funnel-like hat on top of her head. She lives in an old, rusty bucket, and she constantly has new ideas on how to improve and decorate it. She's very impulsive and accidentally prone, though, and tense situations or anything that causes her to get overexcited can make her overheat and release puffs of steam from her funnel. She has a childish crush on Sporty.
• Stripy – Martin Clunes: A big Little Robot made with colored stripes of metal, he's practically the complete opposite of Sporty: moves and talks slowly, but he's a deep and introspective thinker, also a specialist in flowers and storytelling. His best friend is Teddy, his metallic teddy bear, and his favourite activities are taking care of his garden, telling stories to his friends and playing games that require little agility and lots of skill. He is the largest of the Little Robots.
• Noisy – Su Pollard: A red Little Robot who speaks loudly, has a trumpet for a nose, plays instruments, writes and sings songs, and loves whatever kind of noise she can produce. Her house is an old drum, with a xylophone-themed entryway. Her passion for loud music and noise can often be bothersome for her friends, but she's also a great entertainer. Her laughter is unforgettable, too.
• Spotty – Emma Chambers: A round, heavy, yellow, Little Robot covered in coloured spots, wears specs, and can retract all her limbs and roll around like a ball for fast locomotion. She has a strong personality, likes rules and orders, and tends to give orders to her friends (often causing conflicts with her friends). In some episodes of the show she has a glassy front which means that there is a reflection of a studio member and camera throughout the series
• Scary – Mike Hayley: A purple Little Robot with a black cape. Scary is a great actor with a Donald Sinden-esque voice and likes to scare his friends (though he's often not successful) and stage shows to entertain his friends. He has his own stage, which is also his house.
• Flappy the Bat – Jimmy Hibbert: a character from the show who is Scary's bat.
• The Sparky Twins – Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins: A debatably greenish blue Little Robot couple with different coloured belly buttons. The twins are almost identical, are full of energy, love dancing, and doing practical jokes on other robots. Sparky One has a pink spot on her belly and Sparky Two has a yellow spot on her belly. They are able to communicate over distances by exchanging electrical rays through the antennae on their heads, and their catch phrase is Gimmie Three, Sparkee! They live in a pair of speakers by an old record turntable. The Sparky Twins often hang out with Tiny (thinking that he might be their favourite Little Robot).
• Other characters are the Robo-Birds (who are also voiced by Jimmy Hibbert), who often play important roles on the show.

Episode list

Distribution

BBC Worldwide distributes the series, and licensed it in over 60 countries. In the U.S., Little Robots was part of Cartoon Network's Tickle-U programming block and premiered 2 years after it aired in the UK, in 2005, the Cartoon Network version used American voice actors and was released on DVD by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. It is also aired on TVOKids in Ontario, Canada and used the original UK dub, on Okto in Singapore, and on Nick Jr. in Australia (formerly for a short time on Nickelodeon). The BBC website lists further customers: Germany (ZDF and KiKa), Canada (TVOntario, SCN and The Knowledge Network), Norway (NRK), Finland (YLE), Denmark (TV2), Iceland (RUV), Italy (RAI 3), Portugal (RTP), Malta (MEBC), Russia (RTR Kultura) and South Africa (SABC), Mexico (Discovery Kids), Slovenia (TV Slovenia), Japan (NHK and Disney Junior).^[2] Poland (CBeebies), Greece (NERIT), Middle East and North Africa (Spacetoon and Basmah).

Duplo

In 2003−04 a number of construction toy sets based on the TV series were released by Lego Explore. In this theme were introduced new elements, including pieces for character minifigures. Each of the sets consist only one minifigure, except "7439 Stretchy's Junk Yard" (Stretchy, Sporty) and "7441 Tiny & Friends" (Tiny, Stretchy, and exclusive minifigures of Noisy and Messy). Also were made character plush toys. Most of the sets had limited release and were available only for online shopping in countries where the TV series was screened^[3].

References

External links

• Official website
• Little Robots on IMDb