Budgie the Little Helicopter is a British animated television series, relating to a fictional helicopter and his friends, based on a series of children's books. The characters were based on the books by Sarah Ferguson. The show was co-produced by Fred Wolf Films Dublin, The Sleepy Kids Company and Sarah Ferguson, then Duchess of York, for HTV West and Scottish Television, and originally aired on British television in 1994 on CITV, where it ran for 39 episodes. A range of books, toys, videos and other merchandise were released under the Budgie label.
The show aired in the United States on FOX as part of the Fox Cubhouse programming block from 1995 to 1996, and moved to the Fox Family Channel in 1999 as part of It's Itsy Bitsy Time. The series was redubbed with North American voices for It's Itsy Bitsy Time. In Canada, it also aired on Family Channel from 1994 to 1997 and on Treehouse TV from 1999 to 2003.
On release of the first book, Ferguson was accused by the media of copying the idea for the series from an out-of-print 1960 book called Hector the Helicopter, by A.W. Baldwin, which she denied.
The series is legally available on Ferguson's official YouTube channel.
Contents
Main characters
Aircraft
Budgie (voiced by Richard Pearce) is a helicopter with a large baseball cap covering his airframe and a small tuft of hair underneath it. A teddy bear named Snowy is nearly always seen carried in a pocket on Budgie's starboard side. He lives and works at Harefield Airfield, and is best friends with Pippa. His catchphrase is "Rocketing rotors!"
Pippa (voiced by Abigail MacVean) is a single-engined monoplane with a tuft of hair and a large bow attached to her roof. When she first arrives at Harefield, she and Budgie compete over who is the better and fastest aircraft, but soon become best friends.
Chuck (voiced by Kerry Shale) is the largest aircraft at Harefield who is tasked with most of the heavy lifting. An American Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter, he wears a cap with a visible crew cut underneath.
Lionel (voiced by Jeremy Nicholas) is the senior helicopter in the series who is in charge of the aircraft at Harefield. He sports a modern-era pilot's cap, moustache, and a collar. His catchphrase is "Juddering joysticks!"
Non-aircraft/ground characters
Dell (voiced by Jeff Rawle, who also serves as the narrator) is the baggage cart tow truck.
Smokey is the airfield fire engine.
Don is the stairs lorry.
Backhoe is the backhoe loader.
Nosey is the driller.
Ernest is the tractor.
Human characters
The control tower operator (unseen)
Ben and Lucy Kitchen – twin children; brother and sister
Mrs. Nancy Kitchen is the twins' mother.
Ken Wrench and Mike Sprocket are mechanics.
Episodes
Home video releases
United Kingdom
The series was released on VHS in the United Kingdom by First Independent Films.
In 2004, Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (through the Universal Columbia Alliance venture) released "The Air Show" on DVD, containing the same episodes as the VHS counterpart.
In 2006, Right Entertainment and Universal Pictures Video released a single DVD titled "Pippa Arrives", containing five assorted episodes from the first series.
Internationally
In 1997, UAV Entertainment released some episodes of the series on individual VHS tapes in the United States.
In 2007, Jigsaw Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Australia and New Zealand.