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Bob the Builder
Created by	Keith Chapman
Directed by	Liz Whitaker (Ep 1) Sarah Ball Brian Little
Voices of	Neil Morrissey, Rob Rackstraw, Kate Harbour, Rupert Degas, Colin McFarlane, Maria Darling, Emma Tate, Richard Briers, June Whitfield, Richard Herman, Wayne Forester
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Kate Fawkes Theresa Plummer-Andrews
Producer	Jackie Cockle
Production location	United Kingdom
Original release
Network	BBC
Release	April 12, 1999 (1999-04-12) – Present
Related
Handy Manny

Bob the Builder is a children's television character created by Keith Chapman. Bob appears as a building contractor specialising in masonry in a stop motion animated programme with his colleague Wendy, various neighbours and friends, and their gang of anthropomorphised work-vehicles and equipment (all made of clay). The show is broadcast in many countries, but originates from the United Kingdom where Bob is voiced by British actor Neil Morrissey.

In each episode, Bob and his gang help with renovations, construction, and repairs and with other projects as needed. The show emphasizes conflict resolution, co-operation, socialization and various learning skills. Bob's catchphrase is "Can we fix it?", to which the other characters respond with "Yes we can!". This phrase is also the title of the show's theme song, which was a million-selling number one hit in the UK.

Characters

Main article: List of Bob the Builder Characters

Project Build-It

In the second season, a sort of spin-off series was created titled "Project: Build-It". Bob hears of a contest to build a new community in a remote area called Sunflower Valley, outside of Bobsville. He moves from Bobsville (supposedly temporarily) with Wendy and the team and builds a new yard there. Bob convinces his father, Robert, to come out of retirement and take over the Bobsville building business. It is not known whether Bob will return to Bobsville or not.

For the US version of the Project Build-It series, different actors were found to do the voices for many of the human characters, including casting Greg Proops as the new voice of Bob, and Neil Morrissey, who played the original Bob, to be the voices of Spud the Scarecrow and Mr. Bentley. The show also added recycling and being environmentally friendly to its lessons, emphasising the phrase "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle".

International versions

Bob the Builder is shown in more than thirty countries, and versions are available in English, French, Spanish, Slovenian, German, Italian, Dutch, Hebrew, Hindi and Croatian, among other languages. It is shown on CBeebies on BBC television in the UK. Voice actors who have contributed to the original British version include Neil Morrissey, Rob Rackstraw, Kate Harbour, Rupert Degas, Colin McFarlane, Maria Darling, Emma Tate, Richard Briers, June Whitfield, Richard Herman, Wayne Forester

Australia

Bob the Builder is shown with the ABC Kids programming in Australia.

Brazil

"Bob, o Construtor" is aired in Brazil on Discovery Kids.

Canada, Quebec

In the province of Quebec, the series is entitled "Bob le Bricoleur" and airs on Télé-Québec.

Czech Republic

"Bořek stavitel" is aired on Česká televize, the national public television.

Finland

"Puuha-Pete" is aired in Finland on Nelonen on Wednesday at 7.50 AM.

France

Beginning October 22, 2005, "Bob le Bricoleur" has been airing on France 5 in France. This is the second season (called "Project: Build It" in English): "Mission Nature".

Germany

Beginning February 2, 2001, "Bob der Baumeister" has been airing on Super RTL in Germany. Since then, 157 episodes have been aired.

Great Britain (non-English languages)

The Welsh language version is called "Bob Y Bildar" and began airing on S4C in October 2006, as part of the Planed Plant Bach lunchtime segment between 12.30 and 1.30pm. The show has been dubbed into the Welsh language by record label Sain, which had previously provided Welsh dialogue for children's series Thomas the Tank Engine.

Hungary

In 2007, beginning November 20 till the end of the year, “Bob, a mester” was aired every weekday (from 16:15) on Channel m1 of Hungarian Television. The names of the characters are either translated in a more or less literal way (Farmer Pickles, Pilchard, Lofty, Roley), left untranslated (Bob, Wendy), or replaced to a phonetically similar word (Muck became Muki, this similar-sounding word is semantically unrelated); in some cases, entirely new names were given, unrelated to the original ones both semantically and phonetically (Dizzy has become Trixi, Scoop has become Márkus, and Spud has become Piff, neither of these new names has any meaning in Hungarian). Bird is given a new name as well, a word meaning “short” in a countryside dialect (infiltrated into youth slang as well); but the choice may be motivated also by its onomatopoetic sounding. Not only the broadcast episodes have been translated, but also the 2006 Annual.

India

The name is still "Bob the Builder" and it is broadcast on Zee TV. It is dubbed in Hindi.

Japan

When being exported to Japan, it was reported that characters of Bob the Builder would be doctored to have five fingers instead of the original four. This was because of a practice among the Yakuza, the famed Japanese mafia, where members would "cut off their little fingers as a sign they can be trusted and have strength of character, and will stay through.".

Latin America

In the Spanish talking part of Latin America, the show is called "Bob, el Constructor" (literal translation of the title) and is aired by several public TV channels as well as by Discovery Kids. It was dubbed in México and some of the voice actors are: 'Arturo Mercado' (Bob), 'María Fernanda Morales' (Wendy) and 'Jesús "Chucho" Barrero' (Spud).

Malaysia

The name of the program remains unchanged, however the program has been dubbed into Malay. The programme originally premiered on TV3 in Malaysia in January 2000. Shortly after, Astro picked it up for its Astro Ria in-house channel. The version aired on Astro RIA is dubbed into Malay, with the original British English soundtrack is also available by using the audio language button on the satellite decoder's remote. TV3 stopped airing the programme in 2003, however resumed in 2006 for a short period of time. Shortly after, TV9 picked up the programme for a short period of time, however only the Malay dub soundtrack is transmitted. As of January 2009 the show airs on the Astro Ceria in-house channel, with the primary broadcast audio track being the Malay dub but the English dub is accessible through the audio language button on the satellite decoder's remote. The show is also known to air on NTV7.

The Netherlands

Soon after the BBC started airing, Fox Kids and later Jetix aired the episodes of "Bob de Bouwer" in the Netherlands. Main voices are done by Bram Bart (Bob, Spud, Mr. Dickson, Mr. Ellis, Bennie), Caroline Mout (Wendy, Dizzie, Scrambler) and Fred Meyer (Scoop, Lofty, Mr. Beasley, Mr. Bentley, Mr. Fothergill, Pogo ), Laus Steenbeeke (Farmer Pickles, Jake, Mr. Adams, Mr. Sabatini, Mr. Stevens, Robert the Builder, Scip, Tom the Builder, Tony, Travis, Zoomer), Marjolein Algera (Aunt Doris, Charlene, Del, Dot the Builder, Jana von Strudel, Jenny, Marjorie Mayor, Molly, Mrs. Broadbent, Mrs. Percival, Mrs. Potts, Ms Barbara Bentley, Scoot, Trix) and Stan Limburg (Muck, Roley, JJ, Lenny Lazenby). Stan Limburg also is the Dutch voice-director.

North America

Treehouse TV and TVOntario air Bob the Builder in Canada, and it was shown on Nick Jr. from 2001 to 2005 in the United States until the 2005-06 season when it was offered as part of PBS Kids lineup, and currently airs on the PBS Kids Sprout cable network. The show also aired in the US on CBS between 2001 and 2002 as part of the "Nick Jr. on CBS" E/I lineup.

The North American version of the show uses the original British footage, but dubs the voices in local accents and slang—for example, the word "soccer" is used instead of "football" to avoid confusion with the gridiron forms of the game (though sometimes this is done haphazardly; in one episode, a "soccer field" is referred to but later it talks about "football tricks"). The original North American voice of Bob (and Farmer Pickles/Mr. Beasley/Mr. Sabatini) was William Dufris, however, he was replaced with comedian Greg Proops.

Norway

In Norway the show is named "Byggmester Bob" and is being aired on TV2.

Philippines

The name is still "Bob the Builder" and it is broadcast on TV5. It is dubbed in Tagalog.

Poland

"Bob Budowniczy" is aired on TVP1 7.00PM

Serbia

"Мајстор Боб / Majstor Bob" is aired on Happy TV.

Slovenia

In Slovenia the show is named "Mojster Miha" and is being aired on RTV slovenija channel TV Slovenija 1.

Spain

"Bob y sus amigos" is aired in Spanish on Playhouse Disney. Bob always asks "¿Podemos hacerlo?" and his friends answer "¡Sí, podemos!". The show is also aired in Catalan on TV3, the regional public television of Catalonia as "Bob el Manetes". Bob always asks "Ens en sortirem?" and his friends answer "Si, i tant".

Sweden

In Sweden the show is named "Byggare Bob" and is being aired on SVTs child times.

Videos

Discography

Singles

Albums

• Bob the Builder: The Album
• Never Mind the Breeze Blocks

Notable guest appearances

Celebrities who have provided voices for the series (usually for one-off specials) include John Motson, Sue Barker, Kerry Fox, Ulrika Jonsson, Alison Steadman, Stephen Tompkinson, Elton John, Noddy Holder, and Chris Evans (Bobsville's resident rock star Lennie Lazenby).

Other media

Bob the Builder was recently parodied in the Robot Chicken episode "More Blood, More Chocolate" with Bob voiced by Jamie Kaler and Spud, Roley, and Scoop voiced by Seth Green.

Bob the Builder has also been parodied by Comedy Inc. as Bodgy Builder.

References

• Character section information from: "Meet all of the Bob the Builder Characters" (flash). Bob the Builder website (U.S. version). Retrieved August 11, 2006.

1. "Bob the Builder - Cast and Crew". TV.com. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
2. "Bob the Builder - ABC Kids TV guide". Retrieved September 3, 2006.
3. "Bob, o Construtor". Discovery Kids.
4. "Bob le Bricoleur" (in French). francetélévisons distribution. Retrieved August 11, 2006.
5. "Can we fix it? Ie, ni'n gallu, says Bob on S4C". icWales. July 22, 2006. Retrieved August 11, 2006.
6. "Bob, a mester" (in Hungarian). m1 of Hungarian Television. The flashes on the page are advertisements, not video excerpts.
7. Bob a Mester nagykönyve 2007: 12
8. ^ Bob a Mester nagykönyve 2007: 10
9. ^ Bob a Mester nagykönyve 2007: 9
10. ^ Bob a Mester nagykönyve 2007: 8
11. Bob a Mester nagykönyve 2007: 13
12. Bob a Mester nagykönyve 2007: 15
13. Ladó, Anett. "A nagyvárosi és a kisközségi gyerekek szleng használata" (Word document) (in Hungarian). pp. 12, 15.
14. Bob a Mester nagykönyve (in Hungarian). translated by Markwarth, Zsófia. Budapest: Egmont-Hungary Kft. 2007. ISBN 978 963 628 813 6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) Made after the original: Bob the Builder Annual 2006. United Kingdom: Egmont Books Ltd. 2005. ISBN 1405220430.
15. "Bob the Builder fixed for Japan". BBC News. April 20, 2000. Retrieved August 11, 2006.

External links

• Official Website
• Bob the Builder area on NickJr.com
• Bob the Builder web page at TreeHouseTV.com
• Bob the Builder at IMDb

• BBC children's television programmes
• British animated television series
• Clay animation television series and films
• Programs broadcast by Treehouse TV
• Television programs featuring anthropomorphic characters
• PBS network shows
• CBS network shows
• S4C television programmes
• Television series by HIT Entertainment
• 1999 television series debuts
• 1999 in British television
• Fictional construction workers