| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Num Series: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 26 |
| Company: | Honeycomb Animation for TSW |
| Network: | ITV (Children's ITV) |
Tube Mice is a British children's animated series for television produced in 1988 about the adventures of mice who dwell in the tunnels of the London Underground, the railway system locally referred to as 'the tube'. The real life mice themselves are often referred to as 'tube mice' by Londoners.
The series was created by Sara and Simon Bor at Honeycomb Animation for Television South West and was screened on Children's ITV. It later aired on Nickelodeon on cable television and on Tiny Pop on free to air satellite television. Tube Mice was also broadcast in several countries around the world such as SABC2 in South Africa, BFBS and SSVC Television in Germany, M1 in Hungary, Channel 5 in Singapore and TV One (as well as once on Channel 2) in New Zealand. It also features the voices of George Cole and Dennis Waterman of Minder fame.
The four main characters were mice living at Oxford Circus Underground station. They use the Tube to get around London, taking them to wherever their latest adventure was supposed to take place.
The mice had their own society, using rubbish thrown away by humans (the mice had a strict code prohibiting theft). They had their own compartments on Underground trains and decorated their tunnels with reused junk. This society included mouse businessmen, mouse underground supervisors and even mouse Members of Parliament.
The characters were all based on recognisable London "types". The main characters were:
Other characters included:
Unlike the later Underground Ernie, this series was set on a rather true-to-life version of the London Underground, right down to litter and graffiti.
The style of animation was very distinctive, using strange angles and perspectives, and using watercolour backgrounds. The series made heavy use of the ransom note effect where writing appeared on screen, giving the series a very punk feel.