Hi-5 (Australia)

**Hi-5 (Australia)** is an Australian children's television program, was first shown on the Nine Network in 1999 and is based on the children's music group Hi-5. Hi-5 is a children's pop music group much like peer children's entertainers The Wiggles. Hi-5 has been shown in approximately 80 countries.

Each series has 45 episodes with nine weekly themes. In 2004 (Series 6), the show was marked by reduced 30 episodes than normal, with 30 episodes in six weekly themes due to the band concentrating more on touring. In 2012, no new series was filmed because there was only 3 members, Stevie Nicholson, Dayen Zheng and Lauren Brant, with a repeat of Series 13 being shown instead.

In 2009 was marked the beginning of the "second generation" of Hi-5, with all of the original members having departed in 2007-2008. The series was renewed for another five years with the new cast by the Nine Network, which would have the contract expire in 2013.

Harris and Graeme-Evans ended their involvement with the series in 2008 when the program was sold to Southern Star and the Nine Network. The final episode of *Hi-5* aired 16 December 2011 as a result of the Nine Network selling the property in 2012. A spin-off series, *Hi-5 House*, aired on Nick Jr. from 2013 to 2016, produced with no involvement from Nine.

Nine renewed its partnership in with the Hi-5 franchise in October 2016 and announced its plans to revive *Hi-5* with a new cast in 2017.

## Origins of the program

In 1998, Producer Helena Harris, creator of Bananas in Pyjamas, created "Hi-5" when her two children outgrew the Bananas. She and co-producer Posie Graeme-Evans decided the new show would be aimed at children of all ages, would include educational trends as fun and games, and would feature music and movement that would attract children's attention. *Hi-5* aims to cater to a wide range of young children with a wide range of cognitive abilities and learning styles.

Child-development experts work with writers on every script. Each show is built around a simple theme like colours, music, animals, or numbers. Each show is then divided into segments that teach the concept in different ways. Music is seen as the method of joining the segments of the program together as well as highlighting the concepts and themes of each program.

The auditions for the Australian hosts were held in 1998 and the first program was broadcast in 1999. Since then, the original Australian show won five ARIA Awards for "Best Children's Album" (as of 2005), won three consecutive Australian Logie Awards (the Australian awards for Television performance and production recognition) for "Most Outstanding Children's Preschool Program" as of 2005.

## Cast members

### Original series (1999-2011)

* Kellie Crawford (Series 1–10)
* Kathleen de Leon Jones (Series 1–8, with 3 guest appearances in Series 9)
* Nathan Foley (Series 1–10)
* Tim Harding (Series 1–9)
* Charli Robinson (Series 1–10)
* Sun Pezzimenti (Series 9–10)
* Stevie Nicholson (Series 10–13)
* Lauren Brant (Series 11–13)
* Casey Burgess (Series 11–13)
* Fely Irvine (Series 11–13)
* Tim Maddren (Series 11–13)

### Hi-5 House series (2013-2016)

* Stevie Nicholson (Series 14-16)
* Lauren Brant (Series 14)
* Dayen Zheng (Series 14-16)
* Mary Lascaris (Series 14-16)
* Ainsley Melham (Series 14-16)
* Tanika Anderson (Series 15-16)

### Revived series (2017–2019)

* Courtney Clarke (Series 17-18)
* Shay Clifford (Series 17-18)
* Lachie Dearing (Series 17-18)
* Joe Kalou (Series 17-18)
* Bailey Spalding (Series 17-18)

### Puppets

* **Chatterbox**
	+ Voiced by Charli Robinson (1999-2002)
	+ Voiced by Sophie Katinis (2003-2004)
	+ Voiced by Erin Marshall (2005-2006)
	+ Voiced by Noni McCallum (2007-2008)
	+ Voiced by Natalie Duarte (2008-2009)
	+ Voiced by Allyce Martins (2010)
	+ Voiced by Brianne Turk (2011)
* **Jup Jup**
	+ Voiced by Tim Harding (1999-2007)
	+ Voiced by Noni McCallum (2008)
	+ Voiced by Natalie Duarte (2009)
	+ Voiced by Allyce Martins (2010)
	+ Voiced by Brianne Turk (2011)

### Original and Former members' reasons for leaving

In order, first to last:

* Kathleen de Leon Jones: Left following the birth of her first child with former Savage Garden member Daniel Jones in July 2006, and permanent leaving in July 2007 to focus on raising her child named Mikayla.
* Tim Harding: Left following a serious motorcycle accident in 2007 where he fractured both legs and suffered a serious spinal injury that required intensive care and reconstruction.
* Charli Robinson: In February 2008 she left to pursue other interests in presenting work, and acting in film and television, in order to "challenge herself".
* Kellie Crawford: Left to explore other career opportunities and to settle down and start a family. Announced in October 2008 that her last show would be at Carols by Candlelight on December 24 2008 with Nathan and Sun.
* Nathan Foley: Left to concentrate on solo music career. Announced in November 2008 that his last show would be at Carols by Candlelight on December 24 2008 with Kellie and Sun.
* Sun Pezzimenti: Left prior to her marriage to Nathan Pezzimenti as she did not wish to be constantly leaving her husband to tour with Hi-5. Announced in December 2008 that her final performance would be at Carols by Candlelight with Kellie and Nathan.
* Fely Irvine: Left to pursue other acting opportunities. Her final performance was at the 2011 Carols by Candlelight.
* Tim Maddren: Left after getting a role in The Addams Family Broadway Musical. His final performance was in Cebu City, Philippines, on January 19 2013 with Casey.
* Casey Burgess: Left to pursue a solo music career. Her final performance was in Cebu City, Philippines, on January 19 2013 with Tim.

### Replacement of cast

In 2006, Kathleen de Leon Jones became pregnant and Sun Park was found to temporarily replace Kathleen while she went on maternity leave. The beginning of series 9 showed Kathleen introducing the audience to Sun and asking her to look after her space while she had the baby. Later in the series, Kathleen briefly returned to introduce everyone to her baby, Mikayla, but in July, she made the decision to permanently leave the group to focus on being a mother.

In 2007, Tim Harding was involved in a serious motorcycle accident which left him with injuries that required intensive care and rehabilitation. Just prior to this, Stevie Nicholson was hired as an understudy to Tim, so he took Tim's place when he decided he could no longer continue with the group.

In February 2008, Charli Robinson announced that she would be leaving Hi-5, having just completed filming series 10, and would stay with the group until a suitable replacement was found. Soon after, Casey Burgess (daughter of veteran Australian rocker Ray Burgess) was hired as Charli's replacement and began touring with the group. but in Series 10, Casey did not appear in this season,

In October 2008, Kellie Crawford (née Hoggart) announced that she would be leaving the group at the end of the year and a month later, She has to settle down and enjoy life Nathan Foley announced that he would be leaving with Kellie, Nathan left to concentrate on a Solo music career, thus causing rumours to swirl that the pair had been fired in favour of younger, cheaper alternatives. These rumours would never come to be confirmed or denied, but in December 2008, Sun stated that Nathan and Kellie had not been pressured to leave and announced that she too would be leaving at the end of the year. The trio's final performance was at the 2008 Carols by Candlelight.

Auditions were then held to find three new Hi-5 members, although the group now had no founding members. In February 2009, on Mornings with Kerri-Anne, the new line-up was revealed, with Lauren Brant, Tim Maddren and Fely Irvine joining the cast. The cast remained the same for three years until December 2011, when Fely left the group. Her final performance was at the 2011 Carols by Candlelight. Dayen Zheng replaced Fely and the group spent the year touring.

Then, in December 2012, Casey and Tim announced that the year's Carols by Candlelight would be their last with Hi-5 and they would be leaving the group early in the new year.

In June 2012 the Nine Network announced that the Hi-5 brand has been sold in its entirety to Asian equity group, Asiasons, following Nine's ongoing financial difficulties. Hi-5 would no longer be produced by Nine and therefore the thirteenth series became the last. A spin-off series entitled Hi-5 House was created under new management to continue the Hi-5 concept with a refreshed appeal. The new series was produced independently from Nine and aired on Nick Jr. from 2013 to 2016.

The Nine Network renewed its partnership in with the Hi-5 franchise in October 2016 and announced its plans to revive Hi-5 with a new cast in 2017. Executive producer Julie Greene stated "we’re really excited to be working with Nine to develop a reinvigorated Hi-5 show".

### **Replacement of cast**

* Charli Robinson was replaced by Casey Burgess in 2008, who was then replaced by Mary Lascaris in 2013, who was then replaced by Bailey Spalding in 2016.
* Tim Harding was replaced by Stevie Nicholson in 2007, who was then replaced by Lachie Dearing in 2016.
* Kellie Crawford was replaced by Lauren Brant in 2009, who was then replaced by Tanika Anderson in 2014, who was then replaced by Courtney Clarke in 2016.
* Nathan Foley was replaced by Tim Maddren in 2009, who was then replaced by Ainsley Melham in 2013, who was then replaced by Gabe Brown, Chris White and Joe Kalou in 2016.
* Kathleen de Leon Jones was replaced by Sun Pezzimenti in 2006, who was then replaced by Fely Irvine in 2009, who was then replaced by Dayen Zheng in 2012, who was then replaced by Shay Clifford in 2016.

## Releases

### Videography

All Hi-5 videos and DVDs are released in Australia by Roadshow Entertainment. Each series of Hi-5 is edited and compiled into video and DVD releases. Usually, 3 titles are released for each titles. Series 5, in which only 7 feature songs and Series 6, in which only 2 feature songs were released; Series 10, in which only 2 titles DVDs were released; Series 12, in which 5 titles DVDs were released; and Series 13, in which 6 titles DVDs were released due to the lack of a new series in 2012 until 2017 from Asia.

### **Revived series DVD releases**

Those are five DVDs are five songs and 25 episodes of Series 17 are coming soon.

* COMING SOON!

### **Special releases**

* 2005 Dance Hits Volume 1 - Series 1 Songs of the Week
* 2005 Dance Hits Volume 2 - Series 2 Songs of the Week
* 2006 Dance Hits Volume 3 - Series 3 Songs of the Week
* 2009 Favourites - Celebrating The First 10 Years from Series 1-10
* 2010 Sharing Stories - All Songs of the Week, plus a selection of stories from Series 11
* 2011 Sharing Stories 2 - All Songs of the Week, plus a selection of stories from Series 12
* 2012 Sharing Stories 3 - All Songs of the Week, plus a selection of stories from Series 13

### **Live Tour releases**

* 2009 Hi-5 Live The Playtime! Concert - 2008 Live Tour (Casey's first appearance and last appearance with Kellie, Nathan, and Sun)
* 2010 Hi-5 Surprise! Live - 2009-2010 Live Tour (first appearance with Lauren, Tim M and Fely)
* 2012 Holiday! Live - 2012 Live Tour (Dayen's first appearance and Last Appearance with Casey and Tim M)

### **TV Shows DVD releases**

This Hi-5 original series DVDs have TV series start Series 1 this year, releases by Roadshow Entertainment is coming up soon in February 2018. This DVD menu walkthough of full episodes selection, karaoke songs and special features are bloopers (from series 2 to 12), Logies awards (from Series 2 to 6) and ARIA awards (from Series 1 to 5) on this DVDs.

* COMING SOON!

### **iTunes series releases**

Hi-5 original series (series 1 to 13) has the TV Seasons on iTunes in February 2018.

* COMING SOON!

### **Netflix channel release**

Hi-5 original series (series 1 to 13) has on Netflix in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and United States is coming up soon in March 2018.

* COMING SOON!

### Discography

All Hi-5 CDs are released in Australia by Sony Music Australia. At least four of them gone platinum and gold and one of the top ten music in Australia. Hi-5 CDs are sold in Australia.

### **List of albums**

* 1999 - Jump And Jive With Hi-5
* 1999 - Santa Claus Is Coming! (1999 Single album)
* 2000 - It's A Party
* 2001 - Boom Boom Beat
* 2001 - It's A Hi-5 Christmas
* 2002 - Celebrate
* 2003 - Hi-5 Hits
* 2003 - Holiday
* 2004 - Holiday (re-album)
* 2004 - Jingle Jangle Jingle With Hi-5
* 2005 - Making Music
* 2006 - Wish Upon A Star
* 2007 - WOW!
* 2008 - Planet Earth
* 2008 - All The Best!
* 2009 - Spin Me 'Round
* 2010 - Turn The Music Up!
* 2011 - Sing It Loud!
* COMING SOON! - Best of Hi-5 is the album ion iTunes for Sony Music and new CD for ABC Kids Music the greatest hits of songs with Hi-5 original series (series 1-13) and Hi-5 House in February 2018.

## Tours

The band tours annually and have visited several countries in which they are popular, including Australia.

### **Main tours**

* 1999 *Jump and Jive with Hi-5*
* 2000 *It's A Party*
* 2001 *Hi-5 Alive!*
* 2002 *Celebrate*
* 2003 *Come On And Party*
* 2005 *Space Magic*
* 2006 *Live Action Heroes*
* 2007 *Hi-5 Circus Stage Show*
* 2008 *Hi-5 Playtime!*
* 2010 *Hi-5 Surprise!*
* 2011 *Turn the Music Up!*
* 2012 *Hi-5 Holiday!*

### **Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight**

Since 2000 until 2012, and since 2016, Hi-5 have performed annually at Vision Australia's Carols By Candlelight. For a few years, they held their own short concert before Carols by Candlelight, but they currently just perform as a part of the carols. Several cast have noted the Christmas Eve concerts as one of their highlights and because of this, it is often the last performance of departing members.

## Educational segments

Each presenter hosts an education-centric segment of the show. At times, they're assisted by their co-presenters to display social skills and group problem-solving skills. In Series 11, it was announced in the official site that the 4 new cast, except Stevie are 4 switching roles in their segment, except Puzzles and Patterns with Fely.

### Body Move

* Hosted by **Charli Robinson** (Series 1-10) and **Lauren Brant** (Series 11-13)

This segment encourages body co-ordination skill development through dancing, hopping, jumping and stepping.

### Making Music

* Hosted by **Tim Harding** (Series 1-9), **Stevie Nicholson** (Series 10), and **Tim Maddren** (Series 11-13)

This musical segment looks at concepts such as beat, rhythm, pitch and melody using pianos, guitars, bells and other instruments and items.

### Puzzles and Patterns

* Hosted by **Kathleen de Leon Jones** (Series 1-8), **Sun Pezzimenti** (Series 9-10), and **Fely Irvine** (Series 11-13)

This segment focuses on logical thinking and mathematics looking at numbers, puzzles, patterns and problem-solving. This segment also features Jup-Jup, an alien puppet who is not seen by Dayen, but constantly plays tricks on her.

### Shapes in Space

* Hosted by **Nathan Foley** (Series 1-10) and **Stevie Nicholson** (Series 11-13)

This segment explores shape, colour, texture and pattern using various kinds of learning aids including coloured boxes, balls and play-dough.

### Word Play

* Hosted by **Kellie Crawford** (Series 1-10) and **Casey Burgess** (Series 11-13)

This segment looks at language and sounds with the help of her puppet friend Chatterbox ("Chats").

### Fit Bit Tips

* Hosted by **Nathan Foley** (Series 10), **Stevie Nicholson** (Series 10-12) and **Tim Maddren** (Series 11-12)

From Series 10-12 in this segment promoted children's leisure and exercise with the hosts taking part in activities such as soccer, table tennis, meditation, dancing, and others.

### Sharing Stories

This penultimate segment in all episodes includes all five presenters, who join together to present a story. This segment is to promote social skills and group problem-solving.

### Song of the Week

Not an educational segment as such, this segment appears at the beginning and the end of every episode with the cast performing a "Song of the Week".

## Episodes and series

In series 1-5 and series 7-13 there are nine feature songs, termed 'Songs of the Week' (the titles of which are shown below). Each series has run for nine weeks allowing five episodes to be shown a week (45 episodes) To date, there have been completed 570 episodes. Except for series 6 which had just 30 episodes. Accordingly the Series 6 was composed of 6 songs of the week and various segments which had been filmed in 2003. The lack of a new series in 2012 was also due to the same reason. Lauren, Stevie, and Dayen were the only members in 2012

Each section indicates the year in which each season aired, the title of the song on the album and the title used in the show. each song focuses on teaching the audience general common values in life and childhood, such as love, growth, imagination, fun, acceptance, adventure and more. Each week, there is a theme of the week that the song goes along with and it was sung at the beginning and the end of every episode. The theme is given in the beginning of each episode in animation.

From Series 1 -10 orange people participate in activities that goes along with the theme of that week.

From Series 11 -13, a dinosaur on wheels, a caterpillar on wheels, and a teddy bear participating in some activity that goes with the theme of the week.

The theme name appears in colourful letters and children's voices announce the theme and then the show begins.

## Logo History

### First Logo

**(Series 1-7)** In the first openings of Hi-5 Australian and the American version, the text Hi-5 had all the red outline and hand had a black outline. This logo was used for the Series 1-2 from US version of the programme.

### Second Logo

**(Series 8-10)** The logo alternated since Series 8 until Series 10 when a new opening occurs. Is the first 3D animated logo, the lines were almost invisible refitting, the hand that was purple, recolour in purple. This logo was used from time to time in the video for Holiday tour in 2012 and UK version of the programme.

### Third Logo

**(Series 11-13)** The third and final logo in 3D, the colour of the hand is now magenta, The white outline is added to the green contour. The dot next to the number 5 is crimson red.

### DVD and VCD intros

* Move Your Body: Hi-5 sing "We're Hi-5"
* Five Alive: Jup-Jup says "Hi-5 Alive!" (which is the name of the tour) and Kathleen is reminded about the show. She goes to Nathan's space. With Nathan (who was dribbling), she visits Tim, at space three (who was dusting). The trio visit Kellie's space at number four, where she is surfing. At Charli's, she is swinging, until Kathleen reminds her. The theme is an enclosed modified version with the lyrics:

"Hi-5 Alive, all jump together, Hi-5 Alive, run in any weather (in which Hi-5 are wearing wet weather costumes), Hi-5 alive, (a brief shot of the theme and the Hi-5 logo before a clip of a Hi-5 song) the party's on at your place, Hi-5 Alive, there's a smile on my face (the turning logo is replaced by the clip) Five, Five, Five, Five, five together (the clip continues), one, two, three, four, five alive, (the normal theme continues) one, two, three, four, five alive (a swirling background of stars replaces the fuchsia background) five, (the clip is continued until the end) Hi-5 alive, lets do it together, five alive!"

* Holiday: Dancing in a remixed version of "Five Senses"
* Action Heroes: Nathan Foley steps out of his helicopter to find his beeper ringing. Kathleen de Leon Jones practises karate until her beeper rings. Tim Harding plays tennis until his beeper rings. Charli Delaney finds her beeper ringing while cheerleading. Kellie Crawford is dancing when her beeper rings. The beepers are, in fact, a reminder for a water slide competition.
* Mix It Up: Hi-5 rap about making music.
* Sharing Wishes: Hi-5 tell the kids that you should get a toy because this is a "comforting" video. They then sing the lullaby from "Star Dreaming". (Note: Tim says his toy rabbit's name is Bouncer in this video)
* Have Some Fun: Hi-5 detective lurk around looking for fun
* Dance Hits 2: Hi-5 sing "Hi-5 Disco Dance".

## Change of the set through history

### Stage

**Series 1-2** At the start of the TV show, the set was in blue walls and poles, with a giant white hand with multicolour hands in it. In Series 2, the cheering of the audience has changed.

**Series 3-6** In Series 3, the Hi-5 set changed. It featured a large Hi-5 logo on the stage inside a yellow circle. Three large blocks were piled on each side.

**Series 7-10** The set was changed again. Now it has a large hi-5 logo inside a bigger circle with colourful patterns. Three large blocks were also put but the design was different.

**Series 11-13** The set stayed the same except for in each song there are brand new backgrounds that were not used with the original cast. Also, the cheering of the audience has changed and you hear the cast cheering along with the children.

### Body Movement segment

**Series 1-2** At the segment, the set was similar to the stage except there are no poles.

**Series 3-9** In Series 3, the set changed. It featured large blocks.

**Series 10** The set stayed the same but the different colours: pink, magenta, orange, and green.

**Series 11-13** The set stayed the same except there are more props (for some episodes), and the design of the blocks is different.

### Making Music segment

**Series 1-2** At the segment, it featured a green staff with yellow notes at the back.

**Series 3-9** In Series 3, the set changed. It featured a blue staff with large blue musical notes at the back.

**Series 10-13** The set changed again. It featured multi-coloured blocks and a multicoloured staff with multi-coloured musical notes at the back. It also has instruments at the side.

### Word Play segment

**Series 1-3** At the segment, it featured large balls and balloons at the back. In Series 2, the balloons was only used at the back.

**Series 4-8** In Series 4, the set changed. It featured a large decoration at the back.

**Series 9-10** The set changed again. It featured a blue decoration with yellow circles lighted at the back.

**Series 11-13** The set stayed the same except the circles won't light anymore.

### Shapes in Space segment

**Series 1** At the start of the segment, it featured green shapes and a unicorn puzzle at the side.

**Series 2** The set stayed the same except the puzzle is multicoloured and there is a large decoration at the back.

**Series 3-6** The set stayed the same except the shapes are multicoloured.

**Series 7** The set stayed the same except instead of the puzzle, it was multicoloured squares and rectangles. The large decoration was not there.

**Series 8-10** The set stayed the same except there is a large decoration at the back.

**Series 11-13** The set stayed the same except the colour of the shapes are lighter. The large decoration was not there.

### Puzzles and Patterns segment

**Series 1** At the segment, the set was a semi-circle with a white background, a red roof, a bar (for some episodes) and green hands and cabinets.

**Series 2** The set stayed the same except there was a coloured background, a pink roof, and a multicoloured cabinets and hands.

**Series 3-8** In Series 3, the set changed. It featured a big blue window, a bar (for some episodes),and multi-coloured cabinets.

**Series 9-10** The set stayed the same except the window is colour purple.

**Series 11** The set changed again. It featured a bar (for some episodes),and multi-coloured cabinets. It also has a garden.

**Series 12-13** The set stayed the same except there is a pink window at the back.

### Sharing Stories

**Series 1-2** At the Sharing Stories Segment, the set was similar to the stage. In Series 2, the circle was a bit different without a white large hand, it only contained multicolour hands.

**Series 3-7** In Series 3, the Hi-5 set changed. It was similar to the stage but there was a yellow circle with red outline on the stage.

**Series 8** The set stayed the same except there were new colours on the poles and a blue circle instead of yellow.

**Series 9-11** The set stayed the same except the circle was yellow with a purple outline.

**Series 12-13** The set was changed again. Instead of poles, it is a green door and window.