''The Lampies'' is a British 2000-2002 animated children's television series, created by David Bonner and features a mix of 2D and 3D animation. Created by David Bonner in conjunction with Uli Meyer Animation Studios and music by Mcasso Music, there are 50 eleven-minute episodes that were originally commissioned by the BBC. Financial issues caused the creative and business drive to falter and momentum was lost. In 2003 The Lampies IP was bought from the receiver by a private investor. Surviving episodes of ''The Lampies'' remain available on magnetic VHS tape and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Plot

A group of sprite-like power engineers maintain and defend the lamp post H032 which is the critical area of the entire Lighting Network. The Roons, who live in the sewers below, are the creatures who plan to threaten the Lighting Network due to their strong dislike of light. Sewer rats can still also prove to be a pest to the Lampies.

Characters and Voice Cast

The Lampies Crew

*Burnout (voiced by

Jimmy Hibbert James Christian Hibbert is an English actor and writer. He is best known for his voice work with the animation studio Cosgrove Hall Films. Early life James Christian Hibbert was born as the eldest of three children of author Christopher Hibbe ...

) – The laid back Foreman of the Lampies who has to run scheduled switches for the lamp light. He has green skin, white hair and wears a blue jumpsuit. *Spotlight (voiced by

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 ''The ...

) – The routine inspector of the Lampies. She acts like mother to the other Lampies. She has green skin, lavender hair and (mostly) wears a pink jumpsuit. *Charge (voiced by

Rob Rackstraw Robert Rackstraw (born 31 October 1965) is a British voice actor who has worked in various animated films, television shows and video games. Career Rackstraw has an extensive voiceover career over 20 years. He voiced the main villain Pew in ' ...

) – The clumsy, day-dreaming assistant worker of the Lampies. He is the most prone to problems. He has blue skin, blue hair and wears a yellow jumpsuit. There is a running gag involving Charge falling into control room through the hole in the ceiling. *Contact (voiced by

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 ...

) – The serious and sensible computer operator of the Lampies. She has reddish skin, red hair and wears a yellow jumpsuit. *Livewire (voiced by

) – Contact's niece, who has pale peach skin, pink hair, speaks in a high-pitched voice, and (most of the time) wears a hot, pink jumpsuit. She is often pushed around by the grown-ups, nevertheless she manages to save the day several times. Livewire manages to play with Dustywugg, her pet, whenever she can. *Dustywugg the Dog (voiced by

) – A furry sprite who serves as the Lampies' pet and mascot. He has orange fur and can be quite cheeky at times, but the grown-ups, including Contact, always undertsand. *Captain Bright Light (voiced by

) – The absent-minded captain of the Lampies. He has pale skin, brown hair and wears a green jumpsuit. He has an older brother, Flash Light, who is bigger and stronger, yet he is not as brave as Bright Light.

Antagonists

*The Roons (voiced by

) – A large group of green-faced creatures, who live in the sewers below the Lampies world. They are afraid of light (even when it comes to small flashlights) and constantly try to break all the streetlights around. *Arch Roon (voiced by

) – The leader of the Roons who mostly stays in the yard, even though he doesn't show any signs of fear of the light. The only person he actually fears is his mother.

Other characters

*Brigadier Big Beam (voiced by

) – The superior organiser of the Lighting Network. He has purple skin, white hair and wears a green uniform. *Phosphorous (voiced by

) – The Brigadier's officer liaison and Charge's love interest. She has pale skin, brown hair and wears yellow shirt and red skirt. *Captain Spentflint – Formerly the Lampies' captain and now retired. Criticised as a slave driver. *Spark (voiced by

) – The keeper of a bike light. People like him are called Bikeys. *Neon – A one-off character for the show's series 2 opener - features in the "Light Up the World For Christmas" single. *Haywire (voiced by

) – A one-off character in series 1 episode 11 "Bouncer" who is Burnout's cousin, living in Lamppost HY11 in sector 14. *Bouncer (voiced by

) – The chattering, gossiping green

grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshopp ...

who has blue eyes. She only appears in Series 1 Episode 11 "Bouncer" and is mentioned by quite a few of the main Lampies members, including Burnout.

Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

Reception

TV distribution rights for Series One were sold into 33 countries. When series one was broadcast in 2001 it regularly achieved over 40% of target viewing audience. This figure reached over 50% during 2002. Series two of ''The Lampies'' was completed in March 2002 and generated similar audience figures with prime slots on BBC 1 and 2.

Releases

HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (commonly written as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Soph ...

released a single UK-only VHS tape release of the programme entitled "Captain Who and Other Stories" in 2001. After the sale of the series to LP Productions, the company began relaunching the series. An introductory DVD – ''Switch Onto the Lampies'' was launched on 7 April 2008. A full DVD release containing the first half of the first series - "A Bit of A Jam and Other Stories", was released on 19 May 2008. LP Productions formed a partnership with Save the Children in 2008, where £2 from the sale of the introductory DVD went towards the

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic ...

protection work.

References

External links

*
The Lampies at toonhound.comUli Meyer Animation Studios
(TV section) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lampies 2000 British television series debuts 2002 British television series endings 2000s British animated television series 2000s British children's television series BBC children's television shows British children's animated comedy television series British children's animated fantasy television series Television series by Mattel Creations Television about fairies and sprites Fictional anthropomorphic characters Fictional species and races English-language television shows