Big & Small is a children's television series aimed at preschoolers following the lives of two very different best friends named Big and Small. Big & Small is a co-production between Kindle Entertainment and 3J's Productions produced in association with the BBC, Treehouse TV, and Studio 100.[1] Three series were aired between 2008 and 2011.
| Big & Small | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Children's comedy Musical |
| Created by | Kindle Entertainment |
| Voices of | Lenny Henry (UK; Series 1–3) Todd Doldersum (CAN; Series 1-3) Jason Hopley (CAN; Series 1-3) Imelda Staunton (UK; Series 1–2) Tamsin Heatley (UK; Series 3) |
| Opening theme | "The Big and Small Song" by Lenny Henry (UK)/"The Big and Small Song" by Todd Doldersum & Jason Hopley (CAN) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom Canada |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 78 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Anne Brogan |
| Producers | David Collier Shannon Summerling |
| Running time | 11 minutes |
| Production companies | Kindle Entertainment 3J's Productions Sixteen South (series 3) Studio 100 |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBeebies (United Kingdom) Treehouse TV (Canada) S4C (Welsh) |
| Release | 6 October 2008 – 7 November 2011 |
Episode structure
The show starts off with the characters doing various things, such as playing a game, or building an invention. There is then a conflict between the characters that leads to the main plot of the episode. The characters then resolve their conflict before the end of the episode. There is always at least one song per episode, which is filmed in shadowmation.[citation needed]
Characters
- Big (Lenny Henry), a large and purple bear-like creature who is very friendly and laid-back.
- Small (Lenny Henry), a small and orange dog-like creature who is very raucous and impulsive.
- Ruby (Imelda Staunton (series 1–2); Tamsin Heatley (series 3), a pink red-haired mouse who lives in a hole within Big and Small's house. She is generally friendly but tends to lose her temper with Small.
- Twiba (Imelda Staunton), a light green worm who lives inside an apple in Big and Small's garden. Twiba is an acronym that stands for "The Worm in Big's Apple". She is generally friendly but often acts somewhat pompous. She only appeared in the first two series.
- The Frogs (unknown voice actor), a pair of hat-wearing frogs who live in the garden pond. One is lime green with a red wool hat, while the other is dark green with a business hat.
- T-Rex, a light-brown dinosaur plush belonging to Big. T-Rex is Big's favourite toy, but Small is terrified of him.
- The Fish, a neon-yellow fish who lives in the garden pond.
- The Gwelf, a mischievous green storybook character. Small believes that the Gwelf is real, but Big isn't so sure. In most episodes, the Gwelf is implied to be some sort of alien.
Broadcasters
In the United Kingdom, Big & Small was shown on CBeebies, BBC1, and BBC2,[2] as well as Cyw in Wales.[3] Treehouse TV aired Big & Small in Canada. In total, over 40 channels worldwide have featured the programme.[3]
Home Media
On March 12, 2009, ITV Global Entertainment secured the UK Home Media rights to the series. Through their ITV DVD label, the company released "We're Big & Small!" on March 30.[4] The UK version contains the first eight episodes of Series 1 as well as three bonus shorts, while the Canadian version released by Treehouse TV omits the shorts and only includes the first five episodes.
Two further DVDs were released in the UK: "Starry, Starry Night", containing episodes 9 to 16 of Series 1, and "The Biggest Story", containing episodes 1 to 5 and episode 16 of Series 3; the former released by ITV Studios, and the latter released by Abbey Home Media. In Canada, Treehouse TV released "Party Time!", containing five assorted episodes from Series 1 and 2.
Episodes
Series overview
| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 26 | 6 October 2008 | 7 November 2008 | |
| 2 | 26 | 19 October 2009 | 23 November 2009 | |
| 3 | 26 | 12 September 2011 | 7 November 2011 | |
Episode List
Series 1
- Something is Missing
- A Door for Small
- Fish Wish
- There's a Space for Small
- A Piece of Cake
- The Worm in Big's Apple
- The Case of the Missing Dinosaur
- Stormy Weather
- Playing by the Rules
- A Sound Idea
- Rain Dance
- My Friend Fang
- Starry Starry Night
- Bad Luck Machine
- The Big Sneeze
- The Mysterious Woods
- Surprise, Surprise
- The Sleep Toy Thingie
- Smashing Tomatoes
- Picture Perfect
- Twiba's Treasure Hunt
- The Case of the Clogs
- Twiba Takes Flight
- Cabin Fever
- Five Minute Sled
- The Gwelf In The Garden
Series 2
- Tall Small
- I Spy a Firefly
- Say Cheese
- Celery Day
- The Singing Gwelf
- The Road Not Taken
- Party Time
- Dream Team
- I See, You Saw
- The Big Race
- Abracadabra
- Frog Fight
- The Broken Scooter
- Blame it on the Drain
- Small's Branch
- Play Date
- The Case of the Missing Kohlrabi
- Promises, Promises
- Spring Fling
- Never Say No
- The Book of Big
- A Quiet Day
- The Missing Biscuit
- Thar She Buzzes
- The Not So Happy Camper
- Big & Small Day
Series 3
- Small, Small Let Down Your Hair
- Boingo Boys
- The Rainbow
- The Scare-Small
- The Box
- The Missing Answer
- Millions of Vegetable Soup
- Hot and Bothered
- A Room of Small's Own
- Catch a Fallen Star
- Thanks for the Memories
- Opposite Day
- Fishing for Elephants
- The Hiccups
- Friends in a Fog
- The Biggest Story
- A Room With a View
- Just What I Wanted
- Slippery Slide
- A Letter From Furthermost
- Balloonatics
- An Evening of Delights
- The Egg
- Gone Fishin'
- Hopalong Small
- Moon Race
Awards
- Awarded "Best Writing" at the 2013 KidScreen Awards[5]
- Awarded "Best Interactive Service" for Big & Small Online at the BAFTA Children's Awards in 2009.[6]
- Awarded "Best Children's Programme" for the episode "Blame It on the Drain" at the Royal Television Society's Educational Television Awards for 2009. Big & Small was called "A well constructed programme with great warmth, charm and child appeal."[7]
References
- ^ Waller, Ed (29 August 2009). "CBeebies is having a laugh!". C21Media. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
- ^ "Find out more about Kindle's completed productions". Kindle Entertainment. Archived from the original on 11 February 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
- ^ a b "Second UK network for Big & Small". C21Media. 12 February 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
- ^ "ITV Gets Big and Small DVD Rights".
- ^ "And the 2013 Kidscreen Awards winners are…". Archived from the original on 19 March 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
- ^ "Children's Nominations 2009". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Archived from the original on 26 February 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
- ^ "RTS Programme Awards 2009". Royal Television Society. 16 March 2010. Archived from the original on 19 April 2010. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
External links
- Big & Small at BBC Online
- Big & Small at youtube.com
- Official Big & Small store
- Big & Small Online
- Big & Small at KindleEntertainment.com
- Big & Small at IMDb
