| Genre: | Animated series |
| Creator: | Sarah, Duchess of York |
| Voices: |
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| Narrated: | Jeff Rawle |
| Director: | Gary Blatchford |
| Theme Music Composer: | Paul K. Joyce |
| Composer: | Dennis C. Brown |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Company: |
|
| Num Series: | 3 |
| Num Episodes: | 39 |
| Executive Producer: |
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| Developer: | The Sleepy Kids Company[2] |
| Producer: | Michael Algar |
| Runtime: | 10 minutes per episode (approx.) |
| Network: | ITV (CITV)[3] |
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.[4] The characters were based on the books by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.[5] The show was co-produced by Fred Wolf Films Dublin, The Sleepy Kids Company and Sarah Ferguson, 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 videos, books, and toys 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 1998 as part of It's Itsy Bitsy Time.[6] The series was redubbed with North American voices for It’s Itsy Bitsy Time. In Canada, it also aired on Family Channel from 1994-97 and on Treehouse TV from 1999-2003.
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 Hector the Helicopter, by A.W. Baldwin, which she denied.[7]
The series is legally available on Ferguson's official YouTube channel.[8]
| Title | Summary | Original air date | ||
| 1 | "Pippa Arrives" | Pippa, the new arrival, comes to Harefield, but her ensuing rivalry with Budgie causes chaos at the airfield. | ||
| 2 | "Chuck Comes Unstuck" | Chuck's shenanigans cause many mishaps at the Harefield fete. | ||
| 3 | "Budgie's Blizzard" | During a blizzard, Budgie must act as a flying ambulance to rush a pregnant woman to the hospital when she is about to give birth. | ||
| 4 | "Ice Work, Budgie" | After running out of fuel during the midnight hospital run, Budgie finds that the field on which he landed is actually a frozen pond. Pippa then gets stuck in a snowdrift while delivering his fuel. | ||
| 5 | "Budgie Takes a Catch" | After Budgie laughs at Lionel's mishap with a vacuum cleaner, he is not allowed to take part in the Harefield airshow and ends up on lobster duty as a punishment. After he accidentally loses the lobsters, he gets called to a fog rescue. | ||
| 6 | "The Air Show" | Budgie and his friends take part in the airshow, but two suspicious men arrive on the big day and steal Genevieve, the visiting aeroplane from France. | ||
| 7 | "All at Sea" | Budgie delivers parts to a navy ship but has to spend the night on board an aircraft carrier due to a storm. | ||
| 8 | "Boats, Boots and Budgie" | The river overflows, flooding Harefield. Budgie, returning from the aircraft carrier, locates the source of the flood and attempts to fix it whilst rescuing a stranded cow. | ||
| 9 | "Copters and Robbers" | The two criminals from the airshow return to Harefield but are spotted. They steal a truck with the twins, Ben and Lucy, as unwitting stowaways, forcing Budgie and Pippa to give chase. | ||
| 10 | "Daydreams and Candyfloss" | Budgie mistakenly ends up in a seaside town after rescuing the twins, and has to wait for Pippa to guide him home. He helps some people after they get stuck on a broken rollercoaster, while Pippa helps with a sand race. | ||
| 11 | "Flying in Arctic Circles" | All the aircraft at Harefield, along with Ken and Mike the mechanics, visit the Arctic Circle for an expedition. Budgie helps a fishing trawler which has become frozen, then rescues one of the professors of the expedition after he slips into a volcano. | ||
| 12 | "What's Bruin?" | During their Arctic Circle visit, Pippa, Ken and Mike are stranded on an ice floe broken off from shore. The mechanics are chased by a polar bear, until Budgie arrives to chase it away. He later saves a baby whale. | ||
| 13 | "Down on the Farm" | Farmer Hayes falls ill and cannot do his daily chores, leaving Ernest the tractor to ask for the aircraft at Harefield to help out. After much hard work, Lionel's engine overheats and a stray spark from it sets the hay on fire. Smokey's lack of water leaves Lionel in danger. |
| Title | Summary | Original air date | ||
| 1 | "Budgie Sticks to It" | A new airport is being built and Budgie decides to visit it. When he lands to introduce himself to Backhoe the digger, he gets stuck in quick-drying cement. Backhoe's colleague, Nosey, manages to drill him out after much effort, but Lionel is not pleased about Budgie's antics. | ||
| 2 | "Skids, Stunts and Soap" | Patsy the Pitts Special visits Harefield and impresses everyone with her stunt flying. Pippa tries to copy her, but becomes dizzy and sick. | ||
| 3 | "Aliens Have Landed" | While Lionel is out on a job, Budgie hears that aliens are invading them thanks to a radio. | ||
| 4 | "Who's a Clever Budgie?" | Chuck brings in a crate of nuts from Brazil, and a stowaway parrot that proves quick to cause mayhem. Unbeknownst to them, the crates also contain stolen statues that are being targeted by two thieves lurking around Harefield. | ||
| 5 | "Blown Up, Let Down" | Pippa plays a prank on Budgie in retaliation for a tongue-in-cheek insult. She pretends to be on board a Super Guppy transporter plane headed for America, but her prank backfires when Budgie futilely follows the Guppy and gets lost at sea after running out of fuel. | ||
| 6 | "Wally Waddles In" | Wally, an elderly Supermarine Walrus, visits Harefield and stops a boat thief during a visit to the beach. | ||
| 7 | "The Balloon Goes Up" | During a hot air balloon festival near Harefield, Mrs. Kitchen and the twins go up in a balloon which loses control and drifts towards the new airport. Budgie rescues them after they land in a tree, whilst Chuck mistakes the animal-themed balloons for monsters. | ||
| 8 | "Surprise, Surprise" | Heavy pipes fall on top of the heliwash, badly damaging it in the process. Mrs. Kitchen is baking a cake for Ken's birthday, but the others mistake it for Budgie's. | ||
| 9 | "Deep Sleep" | Wally recounts a time in his youth of saving a man from a shark on a stormy night at sea, causing Budgie to have a bizarre dream. | ||
| 10 | "Bad News, Good News" | Harefield is about to be closed and replaced by a factory. Budgie rallies all his aircraft friends, including Backhoe and Nosey, to prevent it from happening. | ||
| 11 | "Budgie Barges In" | All the aircraft from Harefield travel to France for an air show. Mike is about to refuel Budgie, but Ken tells him to do it later in the belief that Budgie will not be flying anywhere for the day. When Genevieve takes Budgie and Pippa sightseeing around Paris, Budgie runs out of fuel and has to land on a moving river barge which is heading towards a low bridge. Chuck must rescue him before it is too late. | ||
| 12 | "Dutch Courage" | On the way back from France, the aircraft have to drop a delivery off in the Netherlands. Budgie is embarrassed when he accidentally mistakes a windmill for a helicopter. Later, he and Pippa manage to delay flower pickers by mistaking them for thieves. Budgie also rescues a toddler who falls into the river. | ||
| 13 | "Budgie's Opening Goal" | The new Harefield airport is finally opened, and Budgie aids the Minister for Airports. |
| Title | Summary | Original air date | ||
| 1 | "Boom, Boom, Budgie" | Budgie tries to break the sound barrier during a tyre mix-up. | ||
| 2 | "Writers in the Sky" | Budgie and an airship save the day when Chuck crashes into a cold pond. | ||
| 3 | "Double Trouble" | Budgie and Chuck discover that Pippa has been replaced by an evil twin who is in league with two criminals attempting to steal Harefield's business. | ||
| 4 | "Eye in the Sky" | Budgie is tasked with being a traffic helicopter for the day, but more trouble ensues in the process. | ||
| 5 | "Chuck's Buddy" | When Chuck's old friend Buddy the sky crane arrives, he tries to remake things just the way he knows, only for disaster to strike. | ||
| 6 | "The Aqueduct" | The aqueduct is under threat of collapsing due to erosion from a water pipe. | ||
| 7 | "Plane Silly" | Budgie has to search for Ben and Lucy's lost model plane while a statue is coming to Harefield. | ||
| 8 | "The Plane Who Cried Wolf" | Jasper the jeer jet has been constantly lying, so no one believes that he is in trouble. Budgie comes to his aid regardless. | ||
| 9 | "The Runaway Train" | Jake is pulling the royal carriage and suddenly goes out of control on the railway line, forcing Budgie to try and stop him. | ||
| 10 | "A Tail of Woe" | Lionel badly damages his tail rotor when he tries to avoid Ben and Lucy Kitchen's rabbits. Budgie sets out to find a new replacement before the twins find the lost rabbits. | ||
| 11 | "Put Up or Stuck Up" | The air museum has opened at Harefield at last, and Budgie has to complete all his tasks on time for it. | ||
| 12 | "Silent Flight" | The aircraft all set out to rescue some skiers stranded on a snowy mountain while flying with the gliders, all whilst Budgie helps Gloria take off on her own. | ||
| 13 | "Ups & Downs" | Chuck is punished for mock imitation by having to pick up all the rotten vegetables on board a ship. Budgie is delivering pieces for a new bridge, but he soon spots two people trying to catch a dolphin and has to rescue a construction scout submarine entangled in their net. |
The series was released on VHS in the United Kingdom by First Independent Films.
| VHS Title | VHS number | Release date | Episodes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budgie the Little Helicopter Pippa Arrives | VA30318 | 7 March 1994 | "Pippa Arrives", "Chuck Comes Unstuck", "Budgie's Blizzard", "Ice Work, Budgie", "Budgie Takes a Catch" | |
| Budgie the Little Helicopter The Air Show | VA30336 | 7 November 1994 | "The Air Show", "All at Sea", "Boats, Boots and Budgie", "Copters and Robbers" | |
| Budgie the Little Helicopter Daydreams and Candy Floss | VA30359 | 6 March 1995 | "Daydreams and Candy Floss", "Flying in Arctic Circles", "What's Bruin?", "Down on the Farm" | |
| Budgie the Little Helicopter Budgie Sticks To It | VA30372 | 3 July 1995 | "Budgie Sticks to It", "Skids, Stunts and Soap", "Aliens Have Landed", "Who's a Clever Budgie?", "Blown Up, Let Down" | |
| Budgie the Little Helicopter Wally Waddles In | VA30394 | 6 November 1995 | "Wally Waddles In", "The Balloon Goes Up", "Surprise, Surprise", "Deep Sleep" | |
| Budgie the Little Helicopter The Complete First Series | VA30626 | 13 May 1996 | "Pippa Arrives", "Chuck Comes Unstuck", "Budgie's Blizzard", "Ice Work, Budgie", "Budgie Takes a Catch", "The Air Show", "All at Sea", "Boats, Boots and Budgie", "Copters and Robbers", "Daydreams and Candy Floss", "Flying in Arctic Circles", "What's Bruin?", "Down on the Farm" | |
| Budgie the Little Helicopter The Complete Second Series | VA30647 | 7 October 1996 | "Budgie Sticks to It", "Skids, Stunts and Soap", "Aliens Have Landed", "Who's a Clever Budgie?", "Blown Up, Let Down", "Wally Waddles In", "The Balloon Goes Up", "Surprise, Surprise", "Deep Sleep", "Bad News, Good News", "Budgie Barges In", "Dutch Courage", "Budgie's Opening Goal" | |
| Budgie the Little Helicopter The Complete Third Series | VA30680 | 3 March 1997 | "Boom Boom Budgie", "Writers in the Sky", "Double Trouble", "Eye in the Sky", "Chuck's Buddy", "The Aqueduct", "Plane Silly", "The Plane Who Cried Wolf", "The Runaway Train", "A Tail of Woe", "Put Up or Stuck Up", "Silent Flight", "Ups & Downs" |
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.
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.
