The Space Gypsy Adventures is a children's sci-fi comedy radio and internet series created by

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

n broadcaster and cartoonist Terry Askew. It was first broadcast on

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Hospital Radio in 1986 under the title of 'The Adventures of Leah, Duke Gemma & Friends', and featured as a cartoon strip in '' The West Cumberland Times and Star'' newspaper in 1987. A pilot story was written and recorded for ''

BBC Radio Cumbria BBC Radio Cumbria is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Cumbria. It broadcasts on FM, AM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in Carlisle. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 71,000 listene ...

'' in 1987, but was never broadcast owing to budgeting restrictions. The series follows the fortunes of two

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 ...

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

es by the names of Gemma and Damien Mildury as they travel around in their space freighter, The Rapscallion, searching for their parents against the backdrop of an intergalactic war between the Bitlexian Cluster and The Federal Alliance of Planets. The two foxes find asylum on the neutral planet of Zenophon where they are befriended by brother and sister Duke and Leah Rosenly - two anthropomorphic

border collie The Border Collie is a Scottish breed of herding dog of medium size. Widely considered to be the most intelligent dog breed, they are descended from landrace sheepdogs once found all over the British Isles, but became standardised in the Angl ...

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

s who live at the

spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport'', and even more so ''cosmodrome'', has traditionally been used for sites capable ...

next to the city of Drakester. From this safe haven, Gemma and Damien set about carving themselves out a living by buying and selling just about anything they can lay their paws on, legitimately or otherwise. The two foxes' dealings inevitably land them on the wrong side of the law, where they invariably end up being chased around by Detective Inspector Spiker (a large black alsatian dog) and Detective Constable Bones (a fox with a Galvert 6 (

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

) accent). The series was resurrected in 2004 under the name of 'The Space Gypsy Adventures' after a break of some 17 years. The programme was wholly narrated by actor

John Leeson John Francis Christopher Ducker (born 16 March 1943), known professionally as John Leeson, is an English actor, voice artist and freelance wine educator. He is known for portraying Bungle in ''Rainbow'' and voicing K9 in ''Doctor Who'' and s ...

, who is better known for being the voice behind K-9, the

robot dog Robotic dogs are robots designed to resemble dogs in appearance and behavior, usually incorporating canine characteristics such as barking or tail-wagging. In addition, many such "dogs" have appeared as toys and in fiction. Military and resear ...

in the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

-TV sci-fi series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. The original character designs were conceived by Terry Askew, although the most recent artwork connected to the serial was provided by cartoonist Mark Alexander Smith, creator of the webcomic ''Transmission''. Another member of the creative team is Gerry Paquette, an ex-animator who worked on the 1980s

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

TV cartoon series ''

The Raccoons ''The Raccoons'' is a Canadian animated television series that ran on CBC from November 11, 1985 to March 19, 1991 in Canada and on Disney Channel from July 4, 1985 to August 28, 1992 in the U.S., with three preceding television specials from ...

''. In September 2015 John Leeson retired from the programme. In January 2016 the show was withdrawn from the Hospital radio circuit. The complete Space Gypsy series is available to download from the Official Space Gypsy Adventures Facebook site and from the official Space Gypsy website.

Episodes

''All stories wholly written by Terry Askew. *- written in collaboration with Gerry Paquette. All stories feature minor edits and suggestions by

1986-1987

* ''Duke & The Space Gypsy'' (1986) * ''Preparing a Surprise For Gemma'' (1986) * ''Gemma's Birthday Party'' (1986) * ''Leah's Tragical Mystery Tour'' (1986) * ''The Day Trip To Tower Head'' (1986) * ''Leah's Wedding'' (1986) * ''The Greatest Adventures of Leah, Duke, Gemma & Friends'' (Compilation clip show) (1986) * ''The New Arrival'' (1987) * ''Teething Troubles'' (1987) * ''Gemma's Dilemma'' (1987) * ''Engagement Rings And Sneezing Powder'' (1987) * ''The Great Chocolate Biscuit Caper'' (1987) * ''Leah's Christmas Pantomime'' (1987) * ''Duke & The Space Gypsy'' (1987) (5 part BBC Radio Cumbria remake of the 1986 story, not broadcast until 2006)

2004-2014

* ''The Great Chocolate Biscuit Caper'' (2004) (Remake) * ''The Daytrip to Tower City'' (2005) (Remake of the 1986 story 'The Day Trip To Tower Head') * ''The Christmas New Arrival*'' (2007) (Remake of the 1987 story 'The New Arrival') * ''Damien & The Snow Kitten'' (2009) * ''Damien's Valentine's Day Panic'' (2010) * ''Pilfered Puddings and Pantomimes'' aka ''Gemderella'' (2011) (Remake of the 1987 story 'Leah's Christmas Pantomime') * ''The St. Valentine's Day Mix-up'' (2014)

Fluff Catt and The Rock Kittens

One of the main characters in the show, Fluff Catt, a close friend of Gemma's, ventured into a musical career under the guise of Fluff Catt and the Rock Kittens. The band was made up of Fluff and a few other members of the Space Gypsy cast. In reality the band consisted of a bunch of session musicians, with the main vocals being provided by Mandi Leonard, lead vocalist of the UK cabaret Band The Seductions. Fluff Catt's debut album ''When Will You Be Mine?'' was released in October 2013. The album was co-produced by UK record producer

Alan Hawkshaw William Alan Hawkshaw (27 March 1937 – 16 October 2021) was a British composer and performer, particularly of library music used as themes for movies and television programs. Hawkshaw worked extensively for the KPM production music company ...

Discography

Albums

* ''When Will You Be Mine?'' (2013) * ''Grrreatest Hits'' (2017)

Singles

* "When Will You Be Mine?/You Can't" (2013) * "Somewhere In My Heart" (2014) * "Just One More Step" (2015) * "When Will You Be Mine (2015 remix)" (2015)

External links

The official Space Gypsy website

The official Space Gypsy Facebook site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Space Gypsy Adventures, The British comics British comedy radio programmes British science fiction radio programmes Animated television series about foxes Animated television series about dogs