Pingu

''Pingu'' is a stop-motion children's television series co-created by Otmar Gutmann and Erika Brueggemann. It was originally produced from 1990 to 2000 by Swiss company The Pygos Group (originally called Trickfilmstudio) for SF DRS in Switzerland. It was later revived from 2003 to 2006 for CBeebies by British companies HIT Entertainment and Hot Animation. The series focuses on a family of anthropomorphic emperor penguins who live in the South Pole; the main character is the family's son and title character, Pingu.

The series originally ran for four series from 7 March 1990 to 9 April 2000 on SF DRS. It was then renewed for two more series from 1 August 2003 to 3 March 2006 on CBeebies. ''Pingu'' was also nominated for a BAFTA award in 2005. The pilot episode was made on 28 May 1986.

Pingu became popular outside of Switzerland, in part due to its lack of a real spoken language: nearly all dialogue is in an invented grammelot "penguin language" referred to as 'Penguinese', consisting of babbling, muttering and the titular character's characteristic sporadic loud honking noise, which can be popularly recognized as "Noot noot!" or other variants, stated to be "Noo, Noo!" by the defunct Pingu website's trivia page, accompanied by turning his beak into a megaphone-like shape. In the first four series, all the characters were performed by Italian voice actor Carlo Bonomi, using a language of noises that he had already developed and used for the earlier Osvaldo Cavandoli's '' La Linea''. In series 5 and 6, the Pingu cast was jointly voiced by David Sant and Marcello Magni.

A Japanese revival of the series, called ''Pingu in the City'', began airing on NHK on 7 October 2017, and ran until 30 March 2019. Later, ''Pingu in the City'' aired in the United Kingdom on ITVBe's children's’ block (known as LittleBe).

Storyline

The programme is set in Antarctica and focuses around penguin families living and working in igloos. The main character, Pingu, belongs to one such family. He frequently goes on adventures with his little sister, Pinga and often gets into mischief with his best friend Robby and his love interest Pingi.

Characters

Main

* Pingu Penguin is the main character of the show, a typically playful, curious little penguin. His name comes from the German word for penguin, '. He is stubborn and mostly well-behaved but prone to making mischief and throwing occasional tantrums.
* Pinga Penguin is Pingu's little sister. She resembles an emperor penguin chick, as do other babies/toddler penguins throughout the show. Like all toddlers, she is happy and playful but very sensitive and clever and is often a target for Pingu's pranks.
* Mr. and Mrs. Penguin are Pingu and Pinga's parents; their actual names are not revealed. Father is a postman who uses a non-smoking pipe in the early episodes but quits later. He is a short-tempered but loving penguin and has a motorised sledge (snowmobile) to deliver the mail, sometimes with help from Pingu. Mother is a caring, loving, and hard-working housewife who spends most of her time cooking and cleaning. Mother sometimes gets help from Pingu and Pinga and she always gives them a cuddle when they have learned a lesson.
* Grandfather is Pingu and Pinga's paternal grandfather, who first appeared in the episode "Music Lessons". He is an expert accordionist, as he demonstrates to Pingu in that episode, and is also a former professional weight lifter.
* Grandpa is Pingu and Pinga's maternal grandfather who appeared in "Grandpa is ill" and "Pingu Cannot Lose", in the latter of which he is shown to be good at bowling.
* Aunts are Mother's sisters and Pingu and Pinga's three maternal aunts. In "Pingu Goes Away", Pingu goes to stay with one of his aunts. In "Pingu the Babysitter", he cares for another aunt's twin chicks whilst she and Mother go out, then in "Pingu Makes a Mistake", he cares for the third aunt's egg, which is due to hatch.
* The Twins are Pingu and Pinga's cousins who appear in "Pingu the Babysitter" where they are cared for by Pingu when their mother (Pingu's aunt) goes out with his Mother.

Recurring

* Robby is a seal who is Pingu's best friend. His name resembles the German word for seal, '. First appearing in the episode "Pingu Goes Fishing", he is friendly and playful, yet cheeky in a lot of ways. He is blueish-grey in the first four seasons, but coloured light grey in the last two.
* Pingo is a somewhat foolhardy penguin. He has a long beak that is essentially flat at the bottom but slightly rounded on the top and a head that is wider and taller. He often persuades Pingu to do wild and silly things with him. He was originally a bully in the first episode but later on he along with Pingg became Pingu's friends.
* Pingg is Pingu's other penguin friend. He also has a long beak, but a shorter head than Pingo. Like Pingo he was originally a bully but later on in the series became one of Pingu's friends.
* Pongi is a penguin who wears glasses and has a short round beak. He first appeared in the episode "Ice Hockey".
* Pengy is a penguin very similar to Adélie penguins and first appears in "Pingu and the School Excursion". In the episode "School Time", Pingu resembles Pengy.
* Pingj is a green penguin who appears in ''Pingu at the Wedding Party''; he speaks with an accent that seems to be typical of his breed.
* Punki is a penguin who first appeared in the episode "Pingu Delivers The Mail". He has a tuft on his head and wears striped trousers.
* Bajoo is Pingu's other non-penguin friend. HIT Entertainment reveals him as a "strange newcomer" to the Antarctic in the appearance of an abominable snowman

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