| Runtime: | 11 minutes |
| Starring: | Adamo Bertacchi Morroni Franco Bertacchi Morroni Kaizer Akhtar |
| Producer: | Maddy Darrall |
| Opentheme: | "Baby Jake" |
| Company: | Darrall Macqueen Ltd JAM Media |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Network: | CBeebies |
| Num Series: | 2 |
| Num Episodes: | 52 |
Baby Jake is a British children's television programme originally broadcast in the UK. It first aired on 4 July 2011.[1] Baby Jake is also available on BBC iPlayer for over a year, and YouTube.
The programme cost £1.85 million pounds to produce, and was funded by the Irish Film Board[2] and CBeebies.[1]
Darrall Macqueen originated the series and produced the animated elements of the programme through JAM Media.[2] JAM Media are an Irish animation studio who also made Tilly and Friends.[3] Maddy Darrall was quoted by the Metro as gaining inspiration for the show from watching her 7-year-old nephew understanding her 1-year-old son.[4]
The series is animated by Jam Media in Dublin, and the lead writer is Dave Ingham (Charlie and Lola, Koala Brothers).
The show features Jake, a 9-month-old baby. Jake is the youngest of ten children all living in a windmill with their parents, all with their first names starting with the first ten letters of the alphabet.
Each episode features Jake embarking on an adventure with a host of magical characters that include Nibbles the Rabbit, Sydney the Monkey, Pengy Quinn the Penguin, Captain Spacey and the Hamsternauts and Toot Toot the Tractor. These characters are always doing something related to the adventure that Baby Jake is on.
The show features a child narrator and all ten children are depicted in real life, although Baby Jake is given a multi-angle photographic face on an animated body. Jake's babbling is translated by his 5 year old brother Isaac. Isaac was voiced by a real life 5-year-old boy, in a move described by the Guardian as “a risk” since the majority of successful children's television narrated by adults. The roles of Jake and Isaac are portrayed by real life brothers Adamo and Franco Bertacchi Morroni respectively, with Kaizer Akthar providing the voice of Isaac.
Baby Jake (portrayed by Adamo Bertacchi Morroni and vocal effects provided by Franco Bertacchi Morroni) is the main character of the show. He is a playful baby who imagines many different adventures.
Isaac (portrayed by Franco Bertacchi Morroni and voiced by Kaizer Akhtar) is Baby Jake's older brother who narrates magic adventure stories.
Nibbles is a rabbit who lives in the forest and is one of Baby Jake's magical friends.
Sydney is a monkey who lives in the jungle and is one of Baby Jake's magical friends.
Captain Spacey and the Hamsternauts are hamsters dressed up as astronauts that live in outer space and are one of Baby Jake's magical friends.
Pengy Quinn is a penguin who lives in the arctic and is one of Baby Jake's magical friends.
Toot Toot is a magical tractor that Baby Jake rides in.
Bill The Red Bus is a magical bus that Baby Jake rides in. It only appears in “A Picnic Feast“.
The windmill featured in the series is Sibsey Trader Mill just outside the village of Sibsey near Boston in Lincolnshire. In the programme, it is shown as a large family home with additional floors, rooms and windows rather than a working mill, although it shows full working sails. Wheat harvesting in fields in and around the mill at the time had to be delayed to allow filming to take place back in the late summer of 2010 so that they had the correct ripened wheat colours.[5]
Series one of Baby Jake ran in the UK each weekday from July to August 2011 and consisted of 26 episodes in total.[6]
Series two began on 10 September 2012 also consisting of 26 episodes.[6]
Series two was the last series commissioned. There has been no request for a further series since. The series has also been shown on Al Jazeera.[7]
The show was relatively popular at launch compared to other BBC Children's TV programs, occupying all top five positions on the BBC CBeebies iPlayer for a week.[8] In 2013 the show received a UK Broadcast Award.[9] Its rating on IMDb was 5.4/10.