''PB Bear and Friends'' is a series of children's books by Lee Davis that has also been made into a British children's television series. Much like the ''

Paddington Bear Paddington Bear is a fictional character in children's literature. He first appeared on 13 October 1958 in the children's book ''A Bear Called Paddington'' and has been featured in more than twenty books written by British author Michael Bond, a ...

'' series, the characters are stuffed puppets that are animated with the stop-motion technique. In the UK, the series aired on Channel 5's

Milkshake! ''Milkshake!'' (stylised as milkshake!) is a British children's television programming block on Channel 5 and is currently aimed at children aged 3–7. History The block debuted on Channel 5's first full day on air, at 7.30am on 31 March 19 ...

and was repeated on

Tiny Pop Tiny Pop (styled as tiny POP) is a British free-to-air children's television channel in the United Kingdom, owned by Narrative Entertainment UK Limited. Broadcast on many of the major digital television platforms in the UK, Tiny Pop, which was ...

& previously on

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 ...

Characters

*PB Bear – A

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

who is the main character of the books and the show. He is also Roscoe's best friend and is really friendly. In the books, his name "P.B." is revealed to stand for "Pajamas and Bedtime", as they are stated to be his favourite clothes. *Roscoe – A

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 speci ...

who is PB Bear's best friend. He is often scared of something and has a cowardly personality. He appears in the TV series and some of the books. *Milly – A

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

who likes to pull off jokes on her friends often saying "Tricked you, tricked you!" when she is discovered. *Florrie – A

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

. *Dermott – A male

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 ...

which sometimes hangs out with PB Bear and Roscoe. *Dixie – A female dog who is friends with PB. *Dililah – A

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

who has 3 ducklings. *Bob – A duck with a competitive personality. Often wears a straw boater hat. *Tiny Bear – A very small bear who appears exclusively in the TV series making only squeaks for sounds. Although often present, Tiny is hardly ever addressed by the other characters. *Russell – A rabbit that appears in the books, replacing Roscoe. *Salty – A

seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, m ...

. *Hilda – A

hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...

who only appears in the books and is sometimes an assistant with PB Bear. (In one book, when his hat got blown off and landed in a tree, she flew up to the branch to retrieve it, but the wind blew the hat off just before she got it.) *Lucy – A

lamb Lamb or The Lamb may refer to: * A young sheep * Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep Arts and media Film, television, and theatre * ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut * ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...

who only appears in the books. *

Penguins Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapt ...

– Most of the other characters are penguins. They play numerous roles, such as a postman, a doctor, a fairground worker, a sweet shop owner, an ice-cream stand owner, a police officer, and a park keeper.

Minor characters

Some minor characters have appeared through the show such as: * Santa (who is a bear) and his elves (who are penguins). * Aunty Wonderbear – An American female Superhero Bear who calls PB on the phone. * Rudy Bear – PB's cousin who pulled mean jokes on the others. * Postman Monkey – a postman who features in some of the stories.

Voices

*Dan de Montaignac as PB Bear *

Kate Harbour Kate Harbour is an English voice actress who provides many voices for the television series ''Bob the Builder'', including Wendy, Dizzy, Mrs. Potts, Mrs. Broadbent, Mrs. Percival, and Pilchard. Biography She is the daughter of actor Michae ...

as the narrator *Paul Besterman as Roscoe The Rabbit/Bob The Duck/Penguins *

Maria Darling Maria Darling is a British voice actress who has provided many character voices for children's television programmes in the United Kingdom and the United States. Television and film *Dr Otter - Some of the Rabbit Children, Mrs. Canny Body and a ...

as Milly the Monkey/Dixie the Dog *

Phil Nice Phil Nice (born 6 April 1954 in Vange, Essex) is a British actor who has been active in television and films since 1984. He has appeared in TV serials including ''Who Dares Wins'', ''South of the Border'', ''Inspector Morse'', ''Mr. Bean'', '' ...

as Dermott The Dog *Stuart Lock as additional voices

Books

*''PB Bear's Birthday Surprise'' (1994) *''PB Bear's Treasure Hunt'' (1995) *''PB Bear's School Day'' (1996) *''PB Bear's Christmas'' (1997)

Television series

The television show aired for one series on Channel 5 from 2 January until 25 December 1998. Each episode is five minutes in length.

Episode guide

#''Pilot'' (1997) #''Pirate Island'' (2 January 1998) #''The Birthday Bear'' (9 January 1998) #''The Queen's Bananas'' (16 January 1998) #''The Kite Chasers'' (23 January 1998) #''Go Kart Racers'' (30 January 1998) #''Snow Fun'' (6 February 1998) #''The Snow Monster'' (13 February 1998) #''Goal'' (20 February 1998) #''Abracadabra'' (27 February 1998) #''Musical Sweets'' (6 March 1998) #''Let's Play School'' (5 June 1998) #''Space Poppers'' (12 June 1998) (Instrumental themes only) #''Atchoo!'' (19 June 1998) #''Rollerbears'' (26 June 1998) (Instrumental themes only) #''Lion in a Box'' (3 July 1998) #''Camping Out'' (10 July 1998) (Instrumental themes only) #''Too Many Cooks'' (17 July 1998) #''The Beach Party'' (2 October 1998) #''Head Over Heels'' (9 October 1998) (Instrumental themes only) #''Roscoe's Robot'' (16 October 1998) #''The Sneaky Tree'' (23 October 1998) (Instrumental themes only) #''Double Trouble'' (30 October 1998) #''Duck Shoes'' (6 November 1998) (Instrumental themes only) #''The Fuzzy Detective'' (13 November 1998) #''Superbear'' (20 November 1998) #''Fishing for Wishes'' (27 November 1998) #''Mystic Milly'' (4 December 1998) #''Absolute Rubbish'' (11 December 1998) #''Monkey Vision'' (18 December 1998) #''Beary Christmas'' (25 December 1998)

PC game

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

game based on the series, titled ''PB Bear's Birthday Party'' has been released for

Multimedia PC The Multimedia PC (MPC) was a recommended configuration for a personal computer (PC) with a CD-ROM drive. The standard was set and named by the "Multimedia PC Marketing Council", which was a working group of the Software Publishers Association (SPA ...

by Dorling Kindersley Multimedia. Aimed at

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

students, it has targeting skills of counting, recognizing numbers and shapes, identifying characteristics, sequencing and maze completion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pb Bear And Friends 1998 British television series debuts 1998 British television series endings 1990s British children's television series British children's animated adventure television series Animated television series about bears Nick Jr. original programming British stop-motion animated television series English-language television shows British television shows based on children's books 1990s British animated television series