''Maisy'' is a British animated children's

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

produced by

King Rollo Films King Rollo Films Ltd, known as King Rollo Films, is an animation production company established in 1978 by David McKee. For over 30 years, the company has been producing cartoons for children's television. Their studios are based in Honiton, Engla ...

, PolyGram Visual Programming, and Universal Pictures Visual Programming. The show is based on the book series of the same name by

Lucy Cousins Elizabeth "Lucy" Cousins (born 10 February 1964) is an English author and illustrator of children's books. She is best known for her books featuring Maisy Mouse, but she has also published other children's books, such as ''Jazzy in the Jungle'' ...

. The series aired for one season of 26 episodes, with each episode being made up of four segments. ''Maisy'' first aired 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 ...

in the UK on 11 February 1999. The series finale aired on 2 November 2000.

Plot

The show focuses on the lives of Maisy Mouse and her friends. A mellow-voiced narrator narrates the action and communicates with the characters while the animals go through their paces without speaking, they instead make unusual weird sounds and noises which sound like speaking since they're meant to be four to nine years old. The narrator, however, can understand them easily because he is the only one who actually speaks. The animated series keeps the two-dimensional visual style of the books.

Characters

* Maisy is a four-year-old

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' ...

who lives in an orange house with a red roof. She wears different clothes. She loves to paint and play with her friends. * Tallulah is a four-year-old chick who is almost always seen wearing a dress and a bow. * Cyril is a six-year-old

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...

who wears a green shirt. * Charley is an eight-year-old

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

who loves to eat. * Eddie is a nine-year-old

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...

who is often in settings where he is too big to participate as he is often depicted as being almost animalistic rather than

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

in appearance.

Telecast and home media

In the United Kingdom, it was first aired on

in 11 February 1999. The final episode was aired in 2 November 2000 with repeats aired until the mid-2000s. In the US, it aired for several years on

Qubo Qubo ( ; stylized as qubo) was an American television network for children between the ages of 5 and 14. Owned by Ion Media, it consisted of a 24-hour free-to-air television network often mentioned as the "Qubo channel" (available as a digital ...

, following a 2008 licensing deal that the network reached with the show's distributor, NBCUniversal. Before Qubo, the show had been seen on the

Nick Jr. Nick Jr. (known on-air as the Nick Jr. Channel) is an American pay television channel spun off from Nickelodeon's long-running programming block of the same name. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Gr ...

block on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

, as well as Nickelodeon's sister network

Noggin Noggin may refer to: General * Noggin or gill (volume), a unit of volume * Noggin (cup), a small cup * Noggin, slang for head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, an ...

. As of 2022, the show is now streaming on

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

. ''Maisy'' was released on VHS in the US from 1999 until 2001, at which point it was replaced with DVD releases.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...

released several Maisy videotapes in the US, most of them with the

Macrovision TiVo Corporation, formerly known as the Rovi Corporation and Macrovision Solutions Corporation, was an American technology company. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company is primarily involved in licensing its intellectual property ...

copying protection system.

VHS releases (US)

* ''Count with Maisy'' (3 August 1999) * ''Maisy's Bedtime'' (3 August 1999) * ''Maisy's Colors and Shapes'' (21 September 1999) * ''Maisy's Friends'' (21 September 1999) * ''Maisy's Birthday'' (15 February 2000) * ''Play with Maisy'' (23 May 2000) * ''Maisy Makes Music'' (12 September 2000) * ''Maisy's Winter Fun'' (12 September 2000) * ''Maisy's ABC'' (6 February 2001) * ''Maisy's Springtime'' (28 February 2001)

VHS releases (UK)

The series is also available on VHS and DVD in its native United Kingdom. * ''Introducing Maisy'' (1999) * ''Maisy Colours and Counting'' (2000) * ''Maisy Animal Stories'' (2000) * ''Maisy Birthday and other stories'' (2000) * ''Maisy Christmas and other stories'' (2000) * ''Maisy Bedtime and other stories'' (2000) * ''Introducing Maisy'' (2001) * ''Maisy's Fun in the Sun'' (2001) * ''Maisy's Farm'' (2001) * ''Maisy Playtime'' (2001) * ''Maisy's ABC'' (2001) * ''Maisy Circus'' (2002) * ''Maisy and Panda'' (2002) * ''Maisy Activity Time/Splash'' (2002) * ''Good Morning Maisy'' (2003) * ''Maisy Fun and Games'' (2003)

DVD releases (US)

* ''Good Morning Maisy'' (2004) * ''Playtime Maisy'' (2004) * ''Good Night Maisy'' (2004)

DVD releases (UK)

* ''Maisy's Farm'' (2001) * ''Maisy Christmas and other stories'' (2004) * ''Maisy's ABC'' (2005) * ''Maisy Colours and Counting'' (2000) * ''Maisy Animal Stories'' (2000) * ''Maisy Birthday and other stories'' (2000) (AUS) * ''Maisy Bedtime and other stories'' (2000) * ''Maisy Fun in the Sun'' (2006) * ''Maisy Playtime'' (2006) * ''Maisy Splash'' (2006) * ''Maisy and Panda'' (2006) * ''Maisy Discovers'' (2010) * ''Maisy Animals'' (2010) * ''Maisy Helps'' (2010) * ''Maisy On the Go'' (2011) * ''Maisy Garden'' (2010) * ''Maisy Adventures'' (2010) * ''Maisy Playtime'' (2010) (AUS) * ''Maisy Birthday'' (2010) (AUS) * ''Maisy Bedtime'' (2010) (AUS) * ''Maisy Christmas'' (2010) (AUS)

List of Maisy episodes

The show lasted for one season that consisted of 26 episodes. Each episode was made up of four segments, so there were 104 segments in total.

Song Shorts

* Drip Drip Drop (The Rain Song) * Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush * I Look Out of My Window * I'm Gonna Write A Letter * The Wheels on the Bus * What Should We Do When We All Come In

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1176301 1990s British animated television series 2000s British animated television series 1990s British children's television series 2000s British children's television series 1999 British television series debuts 2000 British television series endings British children's animated adventure television series British preschool education television series Animated preschool education television series 1990s preschool education television series 2000s preschool education television series English-language television shows British television shows based on children's books BAFTA winners (television series) Television series by Universal Television Animated television series about children Animated television series about mice and rats ITV children's television shows