Budgie the Little Helicopter

Budgie the Little Helicopter is a British animated television series, relating to a fictional helicopter and his friends, based on a series of children's books. The characters were based on the books by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. The show was co-produced by Fred Wolf Films Dublin, The Sleepy Kids Company and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York for HTV West and Scottish Television, and originally aired on British television in 1994 on CITV, where it ran for 39 episodes. A range of videos, books, and toys were released under the Budgie label.

The show aired in the United States on FOX as part of the Fox Cubhouse programming block from 1995 to 1996, and moved to the Fox Family Channel in 1998 as part of It's Itsy Bitsy Time. The series was redubbed with North American voices for It’s Itsy Bitsy Time. In Canada, it also aired on Family Channel from 1994-97 and on Treehouse TV from 1999-2003.

On release of the very first book, Sarah was accused by the media of copying the idea for the series from an out-of-print 1960 book Hector the Helicopter'', by A.W. Baldwin, which she denied.

The series is legally available on Ferguson's official YouTube channel.

Main characters

Aircraft
Budgie (voiced by Richard Pearce) is the title character who resembles a Bell 206 with a large yellow cap covering his whole airframe and a small tuft of brown hair underneath it. A white teddy bear named Snowy is nearly always seen carried in a pocket on Budgie's starboard side. He lives and works at Harefield Airfield, and is best friends with Pippa. His catchphrase is "Rocketing rotors!"
Pippa (voiced by Abigail MacVean) is a single-engined monoplane with a tuft of hair and a large bow attached to her roof. When she first arrives at Harefield, she and Budgie compete over who is the better and fastest aircraft, but soon become best friends.
Chuck (voiced by Kerry Shale) is the largest aircraft at Harefield and is tasked with most of the heavy lifting. An American Boeing CH-47 Chinook, he wears a cap with a visible crew cut underneath.
Lionel (voiced by Jeremy Nicholas) is the senior helicopter in the series and is in charge of the aircraft at Harefield. Resembling a Westland Lynx, he sports a modern-era pilot's cap, moustache, and a collar. His catchphrase is "Juddering joysticks!"

Non-aircraft/ground characters
Dell the baggage cart tow truck (voiced by Jeff Rawle, who also serves as the narrator)
Smokey the airfield fire engine
Don the stairs lorry
Ernest the tractor
Nosey the driller
Backhoe the backhoe loader
Smashit the bulldozer

Human characters
The control tower operator (unseen)
Ben and Lucy Kitchen, twin brother and sister
Mrs. Nancy Kitchen, the twins' mother
Ken Wrench the mechanic
Mike Sprocket the mechanic

Episodes

Season 1 (1994)

Season 2 (1995)

Season 3 (1996)

Home video releases

United Kingdom
The series was released on VHS in the United Kingdom by First Independent Films.

In 2004, Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (Through the Universal Columbia Alliance venture) released "The Air Show" on DVD, containing the same episodes as the VHS counterpart.

In 2006, Right Entertainment and Universal Pictures Video released a single DVD titled "Pippa Arrives", containing five assorted episodes from the first series.

Internationally
In 1997, UAV Entertainment released some episodes of the series on individual VHS tapes in the United States.

In 2007, Jigsaw Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Australia and New Zealand.

References

External links
Toonhound

First episode at YouTube
Image of front cover of the original book

1994 British television series debuts
1996 British television series endings
1990s British animated television series
1990s British children's television series
Aviation television series
Animated television series about children
British children's animated adventure television series
British children's animated fantasy television series
British television shows based on children's books
English-language television shows
ITV children's television shows
Television series by ITV Studios
Television shows produced by Harlech Television
Television shows produced by Scottish Television