The Upstairs Downstairs Bears is a children's stop-motion animated series. Produced by Scottish Television Enterprises and Canada's Cinar (now WildBrain) in co-production with Egmont Imagination in Denmark, in association with Imagination Production and FilmFair Animation,[5] it is based on the eponymous series of books by the show's creator Carol Lawson. The series was broadcast on CITV in the United Kingdom and Teletoon in Canada. It consists of a single season of 13 half-hour episodes, or 26 shorts.[6]
Premise
The show is about two families of teddy bears who live in an Edwardian townhouse, and emphasizes the importance of sharing for the preschool audience.[7]
Voice cast
- Sonja Ball as Henrietta Bosworth
- Kathleen Flaherty as Mrs. Bumble
- Oliver Grainger as Henry Bosworth
- Harry Hill as Barker
- Emma Isherwood as Polly Bumble
- Sally Isherwood as Alice Bosworth
- Michael Lamport as Freddy
Episodes
| No. [8] | Title | Written by | Canadian air date [9] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1a | "The Magic Hat" | Sally Ann Lever | September 3, 2001 |
| 1b | "The Lost Kite" | Sally Ann Lever | September 3, 2001 |
| 2a | "Mrs. Bumble's Birthday" | Simon Jowett | September 4, 2001 |
| 2b | "Henrietta's Cleaning Day" | Simon Jowett | September 4, 2001 |
| 3a | "Bears Who Go Bump in the Night" | Mike James | September 5, 2001 |
| 3b | "Family Portrait" | Mike James | September 5, 2001 |
| 4a | "The Telephone" | Sally Ann Lever | September 6, 2001 |
| 4b | "The Chimney Sweep" | Sally Ann Lever | September 6, 2001 |
| 5a | "The Lovely Day Outing" | Jeanne Willis | September 7, 2001 |
| 5b | "The Music Lesson" | Jeanne Willis | September 7, 2001 |
| 6a | "The Treasure Hunt" | Mike James | September 10, 2001 |
| 6b | "An Abundance of Peas" | Jennifer Lupinacci | September 10, 2001 |
| 7a | "Wash Day" | Simon Jowett | September 11, 2001 |
| 7b | "Arthur's Art Attack" | Simon Jowett | September 11, 2001 |
| 8a | "A Visit From Aunt Agatha" | Mike James | September 12, 2001 |
| 8b | "Fix-it Freddy" | Peter Hynes | September 12, 2001 |
| 9a | "The Bring 'n' Buy Sale" | Mike James | September 13, 2001 |
| 9b | "The Last Card" | Simon Jowett | September 13, 2001 |
| 10a | "Who's Calling?" | Jeanne Willis | September 14, 2001 |
| 10b | "Jumping to Conclusions" | Peter Hynes | September 14, 2001 |
| 11a | "Singing Contest" | Jeanne Willis | September 17, 2001 |
| 11b | "Star Maker" | Peter Hynes | September 17, 2001 |
| 12a | "The Pantomime At No. 49" | Adrian Besley | November 19, 2001 |
| 12b | "Babysitting Baby Arthur" | Adrian Besley | November 19, 2001 |
| 13a | "A Winter's Day" | Simon Jowett | December 7, 2001 |
| 13b | "Christmas Bears" | Jeanne Willis | December 7, 2001 |
Production
Illustrator and teddy bear collector[10] Carol Lawson was reportedly inspired to create the franchise when she came across "a 'downstairs' bear dressed as a maid".[8] It follows in the vein of the similarly titled 1971 ITV drama Upstairs, Downstairs,[8] which also features the stories of two families living together under one townhouse roof.
Production of the series began in late 1998, with an anticipated budget of US$3 million.[11] By early 2000, this had increased to US$3.7 million, similar to that of comparable children's television.[7] The cost per episode was $430,000 as of October that year.[6]
Egmont Imagination headquarters in Denmark handled construction of the puppets and backgrounds, which were then sent to the FilmFair studio in London for filming.[8]
Broadcast
The Upstairs Downstairs Bears was first broadcast in English on CITV in the United Kingdom on April 9, 2001.[12] On Teletoon in Canada, it originally aired from September 3, 2001, to December 7, 2001.[9] In the United States, it was broadcast on Smile.[2]
On the French-language Canadian channel Télétoon, it was aired as Les oursons du square Théodore.[13] Internationally, it was also seen on Minimax in Hungary,[14] and Hop! Channel in Israel.[15]
Czech Television's ČT Déčko has made the full series available for digital streaming.[16]
Reception
Toonhound had a positive impression of the series, stating: "With its period set details, golden brown shades and soft, sepia light this little show evokes just the right Edwardian atmosphere..."[8]
References
- ↑ "Archived copy". www.teletoon.com. Archived from the original on 7 January 2002. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - 1 2 "Smile of a Child TV // Television Program Schedule". Archived from the original on 2009-04-27.
- ↑ "WildBrain - Distribution Catalogue 2021 by WildBrain_Official - Issuu". September 2021.
- ↑ "Quebec Scene".
- ↑ "About | Carol Lawson".
- 1 2 "Canadians specialize at MIP".
- 1 2 "What's developing in kids production".
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Toonhound - Upstairs Downstairs Bears (2001-2002)". Archived from the original on June 28, 2003.
- 1 2 "Television Program Logs". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (FTP). 2016-03-02.[dead ftp link] (To view documents see Help:FTP) Alt URL
- ↑ "Porterfields Art Licensing - Carol Lawson".
- ↑ "Cascade's kid-friendly agenda".
- ↑ "Bear-loving author sees books come to life on television". 8 February 2001.
- ↑ "Archived copy". www.teletoon.com. Archived from the original on 6 January 2002. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ↑ "Minimax.hu". Archived from the original on 2002-06-16.
- ↑ "Israeli pre-school channel on UK shopping spree".
- ↑ "Medvědí rodinka - iVysílání | Česká televize".
