''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 Sarah, Duchess of York (born Sarah Margaret Ferguson; 15 October 1959), also known by the nickname Fergie, is a member of the British royal family. She is the former wife of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, the younger brother of King Charles III. ...

. The show was coproduced by Fred Wolf Films Dublin, The Sleepy Kids Company and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York for

ITV Wales & West ITV Wales and West, previously known as Harlech Television (HTV), was an ITV franchise area in the United Kingdom until 31 December 2013, licensed to a broadcaster by the regulator Ofcom. There is no channel, past or present, named "ITV Wales ...

and

Scottish Television Enterprises STV Studios (previously STV Productions, SMG Productions, and originally known as Scottish Television Enterprises) is the television production arm of the STV Group plc. Headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland, and with an office in London, England ...

, and originally aired on British television in 1994 on

CITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

, 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.'' 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 YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel.

Characters

Aircraft

Main

* Budgie the Little

Helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

(voiced by Richard Pearce) is the title character who resembles a

Bell 206 The Bell 206 is a family of two-bladed, single- and twin-engined helicopters, manufactured by Bell Helicopter at its Mirabel, Quebec, plant. Originally developed as the Bell YOH-4 for the United States Army's Light Observation Helicopter prog ...

) with a big yellow cap covering his entire

airframe The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system. Airframe design is a field of aerospa ...

and a small tuft of brown hair underneath it, and also speaks in

Teenage Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...

accent. He lives ''and'' works at Harefield

Airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

, and he and Pippa are best friends. He can be cheeky and troublesome at times, but he works hard too, and continuously tries to please Lionel, the Aircraft in charge. He will also bravely come to the assistance of people in danger. He hates going through the heli-wash, and avoids doing so when he can. He also has a

Phobia A phobia is an anxiety disorder defined by a persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected go to great lengths to avoi ...

about

Missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket ...

s. A white teddy bear named Snowy is nearly always seen carried in a deep pocket on Budgie's starboard. His catchphrase is "Rocketing Rotors!" * Pippa the Single-Engined Mono-Plane (voiced by Abigail MacVean) is Budgie's friend who has a tuft of blonde hair and a big pink white-spotted bow on her roof, as well as a red mouth below her black nose. Pippa was the second aircraft to arrive at

Harefield Harefield is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, northwest of Charing Cross near Greater London's boundary with Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the north. The population at the 2011 Census was 7,399. Haref ...

, and at first, she teased Budgie and called him a

yo-yo A yo-yo (also spelled yoyo) is a toy consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a string looped around the axle, similar to a spool. It is an ancient toy with proof of existence since 500 BCE. The yo-yo was also called a bandalore in ...

and then a

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class ...

. After a race and several comparisons about who was the best of the best, they both became firm friends. Pippa enjoys helping out, and likes using the heli-wash (as opposed to Budgie). * Chuck the American Helicopter (voiced by

Kerry Shale Kerry Shale is a Canadian actor and writer based in London, England. Filmography Film Television Video games References External links * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shale, Kerry Living people 20th-century British male actors 20th-century Ca ...

) (was stated in the second TV episode as being a

Boeing CH-47 Chinook The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is a tandem rotor helicopter developed by American rotorcraft company Vertol and manufactured by Boeing Vertol. The Chinook is a heavy-lift helicopter that is among the heaviest lifting Western helicopters. Its name, C ...

) is a twin-rotored helicopter, with what appears to be a crew cut under his cap. He does not understand

British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadl ...

well at all. He sometimes gets cocky and likes to show off, but this led him to trouble when he disrupted an

air show An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are exhibited. They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground. The largest air show ...

and finished up in a

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from tha ...

. He also has a bad habit of frequently calling Lionel "Captain". * Lionel the Aircraft in Charge (voiced by Jeremy Nicholas) is the senior helicopter in the series (influenced by a

Westland Lynx The Westland Lynx is a British multi-purpose twin-engined military helicopter designed and built by Westland Helicopters at its factory in Yeovil. Originally intended as a utility craft for both civil and naval usage, military interest led t ...

), sporting a modern-era pilot's cap, moustache and a collar (with his front landing gear resembling a tie). He does not take kindly to Budgie, Pippa, or especially Chuck causing trouble and making themselves nuisances, but he always keeps things in order with his patient but firm ways. He insists on cleanliness from the aircraft at all times, and is nicer than what he appears to be. His catchphrase is "Juddering joysticks!"

Other aircraft

* Patsy the American stunt plane (was stated by Lionel as being a Pitt's Special). * Wally the old

Supermarine Walrus The Supermarine Walrus (originally designated the Supermarine Seagull V) was a British single-engine amphibious biplane reconnaissance aircraft designed by R. J. Mitchell and manufactured by Supermarine at Woolston, Southampton. The Walrus f ...

* Jean Claude the pompous French

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

* Jasper Jeer-jet the snobbish

private jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pub ...

. Jasper was a joker to start off and kept on radioing Harefield Airfield pretending there was an emergency, but when he really did need help in a storm, Budgie came to his rescue, and since then Jasper has realised it is not a good idea to play the fool all the time. * Henry the three-winged propeller-driven 1930s airliner * Olivia The

Edgley Optica The Edgley EA-7 Optica is a British light aircraft designed for low-speed observation work, and intended as a low-cost alternative to helicopters. The Optica has a loiter speed of 130 km/h (70 kn; 81 mph) and a stall speed of 108& ...

(only in ''Put Up or Stuck Up'') * Dougie The Police Helicopter (only in ''Eye in The Sky'') * The Emerald Helicopter (only in ''Eye in The Sky'') * Unnamed

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, ...

jet plane (only in ''Double Trouble'') * A Very Naughtiest Version of Budgie * The naughty Piper plane, Pippa's "double" (only in ''Double Trouble'') *

Aircraft Carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

Helicopter * Gloria The

Glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of gliding ...

* Mini Planes (only appeared in ''Deep Sleep'') * Three other gliders * Gus the Guppy (based on an

Aero Spacelines Super Guppy The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy is a large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft that is used for hauling outsize cargo components. It was the successor to the Aero Spacelines Pregnant Guppy, Pregnant Guppy, the first of the Guppy aircraft produced by Ae ...

), is a huge American

transport aircraft Transport aircraft is a broad category of aircraft that includes: * Airliners, aircraft, usually large and most often operated by airlines, intended for carrying multiple passengers or cargo in commercial service * Cargo aircraft or freighters, fix ...

. * Harvey the grey

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

BAE Sea Harrier The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval short take-off and vertical landing/ vertical take-off and landing jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft. It is the second member of the Harrier family developed. It first entered servic ...

jet fighter. Harvey appeared in ''All at Sea'' and ''Boats, Boots and Budgie''. His name was revealed in ''Blown Up Let down''. He speaks with a traditional Royal Navy pilot voice. * Harvey's 2

brothers * Buddy the

Sikorsky Skycrane The Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane is an American twin-engine heavy-lift helicopter. It is the civil version of the United States Army's CH-54 Tarhe. It is currently produced as the S-64 Aircrane by Erickson Inc. Development Under Sikorsky Th ...

, Chuck's old friend from the air force * 3 French Super Jets (from ''Budgie Barges In'') * Genevieve – a French female

Jodel D11 The Jodel D.11 is a French two-seat monoplane designed and developed by Société Avions Jodel in response to a French government request for a low-wing aircraft for use by the nation's many emerging flying clubs. More than 3,000 examples have b ...

aircraft (''The Air Show'' and ''Budgie Barges In'') * White jet plane with blue line (only appeared in magazines) * Other planes and helicopters (only appeared in books) * Monsieur the Mime Helicopter (only appeared in books) * Bobby the Blue Helicopter (only appeared in books) * Western the Mexican Plane (only appeared in books) * Unnamed blue helicopter (only appeared in magazines) * Hot air balloons (only appeared in The Balloon Goes Up) * Spaceship (only appeared in magazines)

Non-aircraft/ground characters

* Dell the yellow

Baggage cart Baggage carts, luggage carts, luggage trolleys or trolleys are small vehicles pushed by travelers ( human-powered) to carry individual luggage, mostly suitcases. There are two major sizes: One for big luggage and one for small luggage. Carts h ...

Towing Truck (voiced by

Jeff Rawle Jeffrey Alan Rawle (born 20 July 1951) is an English actor. He is known for portraying George Dent in the news-gathering sitcom ''Drop the Dead Donkey''. He also portrayed Silas Blissett in ''Hollyoaks'' from December 2010 until 2012. Rawle ret ...

, who also serves as the narrator) * Smokey the airfield

fire engine A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to a ...

* Don the blue stairs lorry * Ernest the

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commo ...

(In episode ''Silent Flight'' Gloria called him "Mr. Smelly Exhaust" when he was launching gliders using his winch.) * Julie the posh purple

vintage car A vintage car is, in the most general sense, an old automobile, and in the narrower senses of car enthusiasts and collectors, it is a car from the period of 1919 to 1930. Such enthusiasts have categorization schemes for ages of cars that enf ...

* Nosey the driller (spoofed on

The Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...

) * Backhoe the

Backhoe loader A backhoe loader, also called a loader backhoe, loader excavator, digger in layman's terms, or colloquially shortened to backhoe within the industry, is a heavy equipment vehicle that consists of a tractor-like unit fitted with a loader-style s ...

(spoofed on

) * Smashit the

Bulldozer A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large, motorized machine equipped with a metal blade to the front for pushing material: soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous track ...

who gets Budgie in Trouble * Sonia the

Limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a pr ...

* Jake the

Steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

* Fred the Canal Barge * Harry the

Inflatable Boat An inflatable boat is a lightweight boat constructed with its sides and bow made of flexible tubes containing pressurised gas. For smaller boats, the floor and hull is often flexible, while for boats longer than , the floor typically consists ...

(only appeared in ''Blown Up Let Down'') * Gimbus The

Cement Mixer A concrete mixer (often colloquially called a cement mixer) is a device that homogeneously combines cement, aggregate such as sand or gravel, and water to form concrete. A typical concrete mixer uses a revolving drum to mix the components. For ...

(only appeared in ''Budgie Sticks To It'') * Cubey the Stuck Up ROV Submarine (only appeared in the ''Ups & Downs'') * Sharkey the

(only appeared in the book ''Budgie Goes To The Sea'') * Unnamed Blue Car (only appeared in ''Boom Boom Budgie'') * Pirate Ship (only appeared in magazines) * Tugboat (only appeared in magazines) * Aircraft Carriers (only appeared in books)

Human characters

* Mrs. Nancy Kitchen, the twins' mother * Ben Kitchen, Lucy's brother * Lucy Kitchen, Ben's sister * Catherine, the twins' aunt * Mike Sprocket the

mechanic A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars. Duties Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning an ...

, always making mistakes, to the disapproval of Ken. His catchphrase is, "Aw, man!" * Ken Wrench the

* The

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

operator * Jim, one of Budgie's

Aircraft pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

s * Arnold, one of Budgie's

s * other Pilots and Drivers to all Others

Animal characters

* Snowy the Teddy Bear * The

Rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit sp ...

* Fergus the

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

* Oliver the hangar

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

* The Hangar

mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

Voice Cast (UK only)

* Richard Pearce as Budgie the Little Helicopter (lead of the series), Jim and Arnold * Abigail MacVean as Pippa the Single-Engined Mono-Plane * Jeremy Nicholas as Lionel the Aircraft In Charge *

as Chuck the American Helicopter *

Narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

and Dell the Baggage Truck * Ray Lonnen as Smokey the Fire Engine * Tony Jackson as Ken, Ernest the Tractor, and Don the Stairs Lorry *

Melvyn Hayes Melvyn Hayes (''né'' Hyams; 11 January 1935) is an English actor and voice over performer. He is best known for playing the effeminate Gunner (later Bombardier) "Gloria" Beaumont in the 1970s BBC sitcom '' It Ain't Half Hot Mum'', for appea ...

as Nosey the Driller *

William Vanderpuye William Vanderpuye, also known as Will Vanderpuye or Will Vanders, is a British actor, broadcaster, writer, voice-over artist and producer. He played Zoomer and a cast of thousands in the BBC animation series Rastamouse and appeared as "Kobi" ...

as Mike *

Pippa Haywood Philippa Haywood (born 6 May 1961) is a British actress. She won the 2005 Rose d'Or Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for '' Green Wing'' (2004–2006). Her other television credits include '' The Brittas Empire'' (1991–1997), Chimera ...

* Peter Lloyd * Ania Sowinski * Zoe Hodges * Adrian Hansel *

Judy Bennett __NOTOC__ Judy Bennett (born 1943) is a English voice actor whose career in radio began with the long-running soap opera ''The Archers'', in which she has played the role of Shula Hebden-Lloyd since 1971. She played Shula's twin brother Kento ...

Jill Lidstone Jill is an English feminine given name, a short form of the name Jillian ( Gillian), which in turn originates as a Middle English variant of Juliana, the feminine form of the name Julian. People with the given name *Jill Astbury, Australian re ...

* Gary Martin as Smashit the

Eve Karpf Eve Karpf (born 2 August 1947) is a British actress. Among her roles was the voice of Weed for the 2001 ''Bill and Ben'' reboot. She was a voice of Dennis' mum, Matilda in the 1996 '' Dennis the Menace'' television series, Mrs. Bird in '' Th ...

as Olivia The

Susan Sheridan Susan Haydn Thomas (18 March 1947 – 8 August 2015) better known as Susan Sheridan, was an English voice actress. Her roles included Noddy in '' Noddy's Toyland Adventures'', Princess Sylvia in '' Muzzy in Gondoland'', Trillian in the BBC rad ...

as Sonia the limousine

Home media

UK VHS

US VHS

Episodes

Season 1 (1994)

Season 2 (1995)

Season 3 (1996)

Home video releases

In 1997, UAV Entertainment released some episodes of the series on individual VHS tapes and the complete series tapes were also released. Two DVDs were released in the UK in 2004 and 2006 with selected episodes. In 2007, Jigsaw Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Australia and New Zealand.

References

External links

Toonhound
*
First episode at YouTubeImage of front cover of the original book
{{DEFAULTSORT:Budgie The Little Helicopter 1990s British animated television series 1990s British children's television series 1994 British television series debuts 1996 British television series endings 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 Aviation television series Animated television series about birds Animated television series about cats Animated television series about children Animated television series about mice and rats ITV children's television shows Television shows produced by Harlech Television (HTV) Television shows produced by Scottish Television Television series by ITV Studios