# Madeline (TV series)

Madeline is an animated preschool television series produced by DIC Entertainment, L.P., as part of the Madeline media franchise. It began as a series of six television specials from 1988 to 1991, and then continued as Madeline and The New Adventures of Madeline from 1993 to 2001. The show is narrated by Christopher Plummer.

## Background

In 1960, the Madeline stories were adapted to a one-hour color episode for the NBC series The Shirley Temple Show. Madeline was played by Gina Gillespie, child actor Michel Petit played Pepito, and Imogene Coca portrayed Miss Clavel. The episode, as Madeline's first appearance on television, has been released to DVD.

## Characters

* Madeline (voiced by Tracey Lee Smythe in season 1 and Andrea Libman in seasons 2 & 3) is the central protagonist of the show. She is a kind, caring and adventurous redheaded French girl, and the bravest of her group—despite being the shortest. She lives in a girls' boarding school with eleven other girls and their instructor, Miss Clavel, in Paris, France.
* Miss Clavel (voiced by Louise Vallance in seasons 1 & 3) is an educator and headmistress that oversees the boarding school in which the girls live. She and her students say grace before every meal. She is seen as a caring and wise maternal figure to the girls, notably rushing Madeline to hospital in the middle of the night for an emergency appendectomy.
* The Eleven Little Girls are Anne, Chloé, Danielle, Ellie, Janine, Lulu, Monique, Nicole, Nona, Sylvie and Yvette, all resident students at the boarding school with Madeline. In addition to their schooling, the girls join Madeline on many adventures and escapades. During the first few seasons and specials, only Chloé, Danielle and Nicole had significant roles; by the third season, all the girls became more vocal, active, and displayed their own respective personalities.
** Chloe (voiced by Vanessa King in seasons 1 & 2 and Veronika Sztopa in season 3)
** Danielle (voiced by Kelly Sheridan in season 1, Tracey-Lee Smyth: season 2 and Chantal Strand in season 3)
** Nicole (voiced by Kristin Fairlie in season 1, Veronika Sztopa in season 2 and Britt Irvin in season 3)
* Pepito (voiced by A.J. Bond in season 1, David Morse in season 2, and Michael Heyward/Kyle Labine in season 3) is the young son of the Spanish ambassador to France whose family lives nextdoor to the girls' boarding school. Initially, he is seen as naughty, mean, and spoiled to Madeline and her friends; they soon become friends, and he develops a secret crush on Madeline.
* Genevieve (voiced by Louise Vallance) is the school's pet dog, once a stray. Madeline has the most affection for her, as Genevieve rescued her from drowning in the River Seine.
* Lord Cucuface (voiced by French Tickner) is the administrator of a chain of institutions that oversees the girls' school. He maintains a close friendship with Miss Clavel.
* The Narrator (voiced by Christopher Plummer in the specials, seasons 1 & 2 and Christopher Gaze in season 3) is present throughout each episode to describe each scenario, often reading passages from the books.

### Additional voices

* Long John Baldry
* Kathleen Barr
* Nigel Bennett
* Susan Blu
* Jay Brazeau
* Jim Byrnes
* Garry Chalk
* Caroline Chan
* Brent Chapman
* Babz Chula
* Joely Collins
* Jennifer Copping
* Ian James Corlett
* Brenda Crichlow
* Deborah Demille
* Alex Doduk
* Michael Donovan
* Justin Escabedo
* Andrew Francis
* Merrilyn Gann
* Christopher Gaze
* MacKenzie Gray
* Adam Harrison
* Phil Hayes
* Kirosha Hemmings
* Paige Heuser
* Mark Hildreth
* Pam Hyatt
* Hailey Jenkins
* Andrew Kavadas
* Peter Kelamis
* Corrine Koslo
* Marilyn Lightstone
* Norma MacMillan
* Sam Mancuso
* Blu Mankuma
* Brenda McDonald
* Danny McKinnon
* Don McManus
* Scott McNeil
* Maxine Miller
* Chris Molineux
* Wezley Morris
* Kathy Morse
* Jane Mortifee
* Richard Newman
* Luke Palmer
* Jayne Paterson
* Taylor-Anne Reid
* Robert O. Smith
* Tabitha St. Germain
* Denis Thatcher
* Jane Thompson
* Kaitlin Turner
* Carolyn Tweedle
* Samuel Vincent
* Mark Weatherly
* Peter Wilds
* Alec Willows
* Dale Wilson

## Television specials (1988–1991)

On November 7, 1988, HBO aired an animated television special titled Madeline. The teleplay was an adaption of the first book written by Ludwig Bemelmans. The later series was written by Judy Rothman who would become a writer, story editor, and lyricist for nearly all subsequent Madeline animated projects. The special was produced by DIC Enterprises and Cinar (now part of WildBrain). The special featured Christopher Plummer as the narrator, and featured original music and songs by veteran Sesame Street songwriter and composer Joe Raposo with lyrics by Rothman. The cast for all six specials is as follows:
* Marsha Moreau as Madeline
* Judith Orban as Miss Clavel
* Julian Bailey as Pepito
* Anik Matern as Chloe
* Liz MacRae as Danielle
* Sonja Ball as Nicole
The special was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (One Hour or Less). In 1990, the special was released onto VHS by Hi-Tops Video. The success of the special led to CINAR and France Animation producing an additional five specials, all adapted by Rothman from the other five original books, for The Family Channel. The cast of the original special and Plummer all returned for the subsequent specials. These specials featured music by Jeffrey Zahn, who replaced Raposo after his death in 1989. The theme song from the original special, "I'm Madeline", was reprised in each of the subsequent specials. The specials were released on video by Golden Book Video and Cinar/Sony Wonder in Canada.
| Ep | Episode title | Original release | Production code |
| 1 | Madeline | November 7, 1988 (1988-11-7) (U.S.) | 106 |
| 2 | Madeline's Christmas | November 22, 1990 (1990-11-22) (U.S.) December 21, 1990 (1990-12-21) (Canada) | 101 |
| 3 | Madeline's Rescue | June 1, 1991 (1991-6-1) (Canada) June 6, 1991 (1991-6-6) (U.S.) | 103 |
| 4 | Madeline and the Bad Hat | March 7, 1991 (1991-3-7) (U.S.) April 7, 1991 (1991-4-7) (Canada) | 102 |
| 5 | Madeline and the Gypsies | August 2, 1991 (1991-8-2) (Canada) October 14, 1991 (1991-10-14) (U.S.) | 104 |
| 6 | Madeline in London | October 9, 1991 (1991-10-9) (Canada) November 28, 1991 (1991-11-28) (U.S.) | 105 |

## Television series (1993–2001)

With the success of the specials, The Family Channel commissioned a television series by DIC, which had been involved in the first of the six specials. The first season aired a total of 20 produced episodes from 1993 to 1994. Christopher Plummer reprised his role as the narrator, but most of the voice actors from the specials were replaced. In addition, Jeffrey Zahn was replaced by Andy Street; compared to the previous specials, however, the series featured only one song per episode (a few of them with a reprise/finale) in addition to the opening theme "I'm Madeline".
In 1995, an additional 13 episodes were produced by DIC for ABC under the title The New Adventures of Madeline. A new theme song, called "Hats Off to Madeline", was used as the new opening theme, with the music by Andy Street and lyrics by Judy Rothman; some early airings of those episodes featured "I'm Madeline", but sung by the new voice cast. Most of the voices of the children characters were replaced, with Andrea Libman assuming the title role, while Plummer, Louise Vallance and French Tickner returned from the voice cast.
Shortly after its airing on ABC, both the network and DIC were acquired by The Walt Disney Company. The 39 produced episodes and specials began to air in reruns on the Playhouse Disney block of Disney Channel. In April 1998, DIC launched a direct-to-video division that produced films for Disney and distributed worldwide through Buena Vista Home Entertainment. The first film produced for this division, Madeline: Lost in Paris, was released in August 1999. Most of the cast members from the 1995 iteration returned with Lauren Bacall and Jason Alexander also voicing new roles. DIC afterwards produced 26 new episodes for Playhouse Disney. Christopher Gaze replaced Plummer as the show's narrator for budgetary reasons. The show won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Animated Program.
The two Christmas episodes called Madeline at the North Pole and Madeline at Santa showed Lord Cucuface bringing Miss Clavel and the girls to the North Pole when a winter heatwave strikes Paris and is scheduled to last through Christmas this year bring warm, spring like weather to France in December.
Two more films followed ahead: My Fair Madeline, which aired on Nickelodeon in November 2002 as part of the DIC Movie Toons series, and Madeline in Tahiti in 2005.
Madeline has continued to be shown in syndication. In the 2006-2007 season, the series was shown on CBS' KOL Secret Slumber Party Saturday morning block. Qubo also aired reruns of the series from October 6, 2018 to February 22, 2021. The series was also included in the On-Demand section of Sprout from 2015 to 2017, when the channel was rebranded to Universal Kids. As of September 2019, all broadcast and home video rights of Madeline are owned by WildBrain.

### Episodes
#### Season 1 (1993–1994)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | 1 | "Madeline and the Forty Thieves" | Martha Moran | September 19, 1993 (1993-09-19) |
| 2 | 2 | "Madeline and the Dog Show" | Betty Birney | September 12, 1993 (1993-09-12) |
| 3 | 3 | "Madeline and the Easter Bonnet" | Betty Birney | September 26, 1993 (1993-09-26) |
| 4 | 4 | "Madeline and the New House" | Story by : Judy Rothman Teleplay by : Martha Moran | October 3, 1993 (1993-10-03) |
| 5 | 5 | "Madeline and the Soccer Star" | Sandra Ryan | October 10, 1993 (1993-10-10) |
| 6 | 6 | "Madeline and the Toy Factory" | Janice Sonski | October 17, 1993 (1993-10-17) |
| 7 | 7 | "Madeline at Cooking School" | Susan Amerikaner | October 24, 1993 (1993-10-24) |
| 8 | 8 | "Madeline at the Ballet" | Betty Birney | October 31, 1993 (1993-10-31) |
| 9 | 9 | "Madeline and the Singing Dog" | Shelly Bennett | November 7, 1993 (1993-11-07) |
| 10 | 10 | "Madeline's Winter Vacation" | Susan Amerikaner | November 14, 1993 (1993-11-14) |
| 11 | 11 | "Madeline in Hollywood" | Rowby Goren | November 21, 1993 (1993-11-21) |
| 12 | 12 | "Madeline and the Pirates" | Betty Birney | November 28, 1993 (1993-11-28) |
| 13 | 13 | "Madeline's Birthday at the Zoo" | Shelley Bennett | December 5, 1993 (1993-12-05) |
| 14 | 14 | "Madeline at the Louvre" | Judy Rothman | December 12, 1993 (1993-12-12) |
| 15 | 15 | "Madeline and the Missing Clown" | Katie Shelly | December 19, 1993 (1993-12-19) |
| 16 | 16 | "Madeline and the Costume Party" | Martha Moran | December 26, 1993 (1993-12-26) |
| 17 | 17 | "Madeline and the Old Violin" | Betty Birney | January 2, 1994 (1994-01-02) |
| 18 | 18 | "Madeline and the Mean, Nasty, Horrible Hats" | Story by : Judy Rothman Teleplay by : Shelley Bennett | January 9, 1994 (1994-01-09) |
| 19 | 19 | "Madeline and the Talking Parrot" | Story by : Susan Amerikaner Teleplay by : Katie Shelly | January 16, 1994 (1994-01-16) |
| 20 | 20 | "Madeline in New York" | Judy Rothman | January 23, 1994 (1994-01-23) |

#### Season 2 (1995)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original release date |
| 21 | 1 | "Madeline and the Lost Crown" | September 9, 1995 (1995-09-09) |
| 22 | 2 | "Madeline on the Orient Express" | September 16, 1995 (1995-09-16) |
| 23 | 3 | "Madeline and the Dinosaur Bone" | September 23, 1995 (1995-09-23) |
| 24 | 4 | "Madeline and the Magic Carpet" | September 30, 1995 (1995-09-30) |
| 25 | 5 | "Madeline and the Treasure Hunt" | October 7, 1995 (1995-10-07) |
| 26 | 6 | "Madeline and the Mummy" | October 14, 1995 (1995-10-14) |
| 27 | 7 | "Madeline's Detective School" | October 21, 1995 (1995-10-21) |
| 28 | 8 | "Madeline and the Hunchback of Notre Dame" | October 28, 1995 (1995-10-28) |
| 29 | 9 | "Madeline and the Big Cheese" | November 4, 1995 (1995-11-04) |
| 30 | 10 | "Madeline and the Science Project" | November 11, 1995 (1995-11-11) |
| 31 | 11 | "Madeline and the Haunted Castle" | November 18, 1995 (1995-11-18) |
| 32 | 12 | "Madeline and the Wild West" | November 25, 1995 (1995-11-25) |
| 33 | 13 | "Madeline's Holiday with Mr. Grump" | December 2, 1995 (1995-12-02) |

#### Season 3 (2000–2001)

| Ep | Episode title | Original air date |
| 1 | Madeline at the Hotel Riche | September 8, 2000 |
| 2 | Madeline's Halloween | September 15, 2000 |
| 3 | Madeline and the Spider Lady | September 22, 2000 |
| 4 | Madeline and the Can Can Cliques | September 29, 2000 |
| 5 | Madeline in Cannes | October 6, 2000 |
| 6 | Madeline and the Show Off | October 13, 2000 |
| 7 | Madeline and the Wedding | October 20, 2000 |
| 8 | Madeline on Safari | October 27, 2000 |
| 9 | Madeline at the North Pole | November 3, 2000 |
| 10 | Madeline and Santa | November 10, 2000 |
| 11 | Madeline and the New Girl | November 17, 2000 |
| 12 | Madeline at Versailles | November 24, 2000 |
| 13 | Madeline on Stage | December 1, 2000 |
| 14 | Madeline and the Marionettes | December 8, 2000 |
| 15 | Madeline and the Ice Skates | December 15, 2000 |
| 16 | Madeline and the Giants | December 23, 2000 |
| 17 | Madeline and the Fashion Show | December 30, 2000 |
| 18 | Madeline's Manners | January 3, 2001 |
| 19 | Madeline and the Magic Show | January 10, 2001 |
| 20 | Madeline's Valentine | January 17, 2001 |
| 21 | Madeline and the Perfume Factory | January 24, 2001 |
| 22 | Madeline at the Eiffel Tower | January 31, 2001 |
| 23 | Madeline and the Tea Party | February 7, 2001 |
| 24 | Madeline and the Dog Who Cried Wolf | February 14, 2001 |
| 25 | Madeline and the White Lie | February 21, 2001 |
| 26 | Madeline at the Flea Market | February 28, 2001 |

## Films (1999–2005)
### Madeline: Lost in Paris (1999)

On August 3, 1999, Buena Vista Home Video through Walt Disney Home Video released the feature-length film Madeline: Lost in Paris, featuring Madeline being drawn into a scam by her supposed "Uncle" Horst and finding the true meaning to the word "family". As with Season 2 and eventually Season 3 of the series, Andrea Libman reprised her role as Madeline.
The film was later re-released on DVD on April 3, 2010, by Shout! Factory.

### My Fair Madeline (2002)

In 2002, as a part of the DIC Movie Toons series of television films, DIC produced a film, titled My Fair Madeline, where Madeline is falsely accused of misbehavior on a trip to the Louvre and is sent to a London Finishing School, while attempting to foil the plot of two thieves. The voice cast was almost entirely replaced for the film, with Chantal Strand voicing Madeline and Whoopi Goldberg as Miss Clavel. Coincidentally, Goldberg played Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act, who is also a nun character.
The film was originally aired on November 17, 2002, on Nickelodeon and was later released onto VHS and DVD by MGM Home Entertainment, followed on with international airings on Disney Channel, Toon Disney and Playhouse Disney.

### Madeline in Tahiti (2005)

In 2005, DIC produced another film, titled Madeline in Tahiti, which is the final Madeline production to have been created. The film features Madeline and her friends going on a vacation to Tahiti to stop Miss Clavel from retiring, with Pepito sneaking along, as well as stopping a villainous plot to erupt the Tahiti-nui volcano. Chantal Strand reprised her role as Madeline while other characters were recast or reprised their roles from My Fair Madeline; most notably, Ashleigh Ball voiced both Danielle and Nona.
The film was originally going to be released on DVD in the United States by Walt Disney Home Entertainment in 2006, but this release never saw the light of the day. It was, however, released on DVD in some regions in 2007 through other distributors, and was eventually released in the United States on iTunes and Amazon Video in 2015 and YouTube in 2019.

## Home media releases

The 1993 series was originally released by Golden Book Video on all single VHS volumes, and Sony Wonder on both VHS and DVD. The DVD versions contained 2 episodes each, sometimes with the original specials.
The 2000 series was released by Lions Gate Home Entertainment and Trimark Home Video in 2001 and 2002 on all VHS and DVD sets. In these DVD sets, the theme song was changed to a different song titled "Our Madeline" to match the Sing-a-Long versions.
In 2008, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released 2 DVDs titled "Next Stop, America" and "Meet Me in Paris", each containing 3 episodes.
In 2010, Shout! Factory released 5 single-disc collections of the series.
In September 2013, Mill Creek Entertainment released 3 single disc collections featuring content from the animated series as well as the original TV specials. The New Adventures of Madeline - Adventures in Paris contains 6 episodes from the 2000 series, while Madeline's Merry Musical Melodies features various musical interludes from the animated series. Bonjour Madeline contains all 6 original TV specials. Later in May 2014, Mill Creek re-released the three single disc collections together in one three-pack set, followed by Madeline: The Complete Collection on DVD in Region 1 for the first time in August 2015. This six-disc collection features all six original specials produced by DIC Entertainment and CINAR between 1988 and 1991, as well as all 59 episodes from the Madeline TV series (1993, 1995, 2000–2001).
| DVD/VHS name | Episodes | Distributor | Release date |
| Madeline Manners | Madeline's Manners Madeline and the Show Off Madeline's Sing-a-Long (DVD only) | Lions Gate Home Entertainment Trimark Home Video | September 25, 2001 |
| Madeline's Halloween Spooktacular (VHS only) | Madeline's Halloween Madeline and the Spider Lady | Lions Gate Home Entertainment Trimark Home Video | September 25, 2001 |
| Madeline's Sing-a-Long (VHS only) | Madeline's Sing-a-Long | Lions Gate Home Entertainment Trimark Home Video | September 25, 2001 |
| Madeline at the North Pole | Madeline at the North Pole Madeline and Santa Madeline and the Ice Skates (DVD only) | Lions Gate Home Entertainment Trimark Home Video | October 16, 2001 |
| Madeline's Best Manners | Madeline's Manners Madeline and the Show Off Madeline and the Ice Skates Madeline and the Tea Party | Lions Gate Home Entertainment Trimark Home Video | March 26, 2002 |
| Madeline at the Eiffel Tower | Madeline at the Eiffel Tower Madeline at Versailles Madeline and the White Lie (DVD only) | Lions Gate Home Entertainment Trimark Home Video | March 26, 2002 |
| Sing-a-Long Around the World with Madeline | Sing-a-Long Around the World with Madeline Madeline's Sing-a-Long (DVD only) | Lions Gate Home Entertainment Trimark Home Video | March 26, 2002 |
| Madeline – Volume 1 | Madeline and the Ballet Madeline in New York | Sony Wonder/Classic Media | May 28, 2002 |
| Madeline – Volume 2 | Madeline and the 40 Thieves Madeline and the New House | Sony Wonder/Classic Media | May 28, 2002 |
| Madeline's Winter Vacation | Madeline's Winter Vacation Madeline in London | Sony Wonder/Classic Media | September 24, 2002 |
| Madeline's Christmas | Madeline's Christmas Madeline and the Toy Factory | Sony Wonder/Classic Media | September 24, 2002 |
| Madeline's Easter | Madeline and the Easter Bonnet Madeline and the Bad Hat | Sony Wonder/Classic Media | February 11, 2003 |
| Madeline the Star | Madeline in Hollywood Madeline and the Soccer Star | Sony Wonder/Classic Media | February 11, 2003 |
| Madeline's Dog Stories | Madeline and the Dog Show Madeline's Rescue | Sony Wonder/Classic Media | June 3, 2003 |
| Madeline's Adventures | Madeline and the Pirates Madeline and the Gypsies | Sony Wonder/Classic Media | June 3, 2003 |
| Madeline – Meet Me in Paris | Madeline at the Eiffel Tower Madeline at the Louvre Madeline at Cannes | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment | February 11, 2008 |
| Madeline – Next Stop, America | Madeline in New York Madeline in Hollywood Madeline in the Wild West | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment | February 11, 2008 |
| Madeline's Great Adventures | Madeline and the Magic Carpet Madeline on Safari Madeline and the Lost Crown Madeline and the Gypsies Madeline and the Pirates Madeline and the Forty Thieves | Shout! Factory | June 29, 2010 |
| Madeline's Halloween and other Spooky Tales | Madeline's Halloween Madeline and the Mean, Nasty, Horrible Hats Madeline and the Mummy Madeline And The Haunted Castle Madeline And The Spider Lady | Shout! Factory | August 17, 2010 |
| Madeline's Christmas and other Wintery Tales | Madeline's Winter Vacation Madeline and Santa Madeline at the North Pole Madeline's Holiday with Mr. Grump Madeline and the Ice Skates | Shout! Factory | October 19, 2010 |
| Madeline on the Town | Madeline and the Wedding Madeline on Stage Madeline and the Fashion Show Madeline at the Ballet Madeline at the Costume Party Madeline’s Birthday at the Zoo | Shout! Factory | March 8, 2011 |
| Madeline and her Friends | Madeline and the Soccer Star Madeline and the Singing Dog Madeline and the Missing Clown Madeline and the Talking Parrot Madeline and the Big Cheese Madeline’s Rescue | Shout! Factory | June 7, 2011 |
| Bonjour Madeline – The Original Specials | Madeline Madeline's Christmas Madeline's Rescue Madeline and the Bad Hat Madeline and the Gypsies Madeline in London | Mill Creek Entertainment | September 10, 2013 |
| The New Adventures of Madeline – Adventures in Paris | Madeline and the Marionettes Madeline and the Ice Skates Madeline and the Can Can Cliques Madeline and the Fashion Show Madeline at the Eiffel Tower Madeline and the Perfume Factory | Mill Creek Entertainment | September 10, 2013 |
| Madeline's Merry Musical Melodies | Sing-a-Long Around the World with Madeline Madeline's Sing-a-Long | Mill Creek Entertainment | September 10, 2013 |
| Madeline – The Complete Collection | All 59 episodes and 6 specials | Mill Creek Entertainment | August 4, 2015 |

### Sing-a-Longs

In 2001, DIC produced two direct-to-video releases which featured songs and clips from season 3 of the television series akin to Disney's Sing-Along Songs series, which were titled Sing-a-Long with Madeline and her Friends and Sing-a-Long Around the World with Madeline.
They were originally released by Lions Gate Home Entertainment and Trimark Home Video on September 25, 2001, and March 25, 2002, respectively, and later reissued together by Mill Creek Entertainment as Madeline's Merry Musical Melodies on September 10, 2013, as well as being available for digital download.