"Can we fix it? - Yes, we can!"
 

    Bob is a builder. He likes to build. And so do his friends, Scoop the digger, Muck
    the dump truck, Dizzy the cement mixer, Lofty the crane and Roley the steamroller.
    Bob has a good friend and colleague in Wendy, whom he also secretly fancies but
    is too shy to tell. He also has a cat called Pilchard, and a dog called Scruffty. Then
    there's the mischievous scarecrow Spud, who loiters around Farmer Pickles' field.
    He's always up to no good, undermining the gang's hard work when he ought to be
    helping. But between them, despite the mix ups, muddles and mayhem, buildings
    get built, constructions get constructed, and things get well and truly fixed...

    Bob isn't just a star creation, he's a phenomenon, a licensing dream and a pop
    star. He's also bright and busy and beautifully animated. His little world has been
    expanded over the various series and features so that it's not so little any more.
    We now have a swathe of additional characters and locations stretching as far
    as the North Pole. Bob's grand construction schemes have had him refurbishing
    a castle, a Wild West ghost town, and even building a whole new town!

    Building Bob

    Bob was created by advertising artist Keith Chapman back in the late 1980s.
    He'd spied a JCB on a building site one day and thought it might be fun to
    bring it to life with cartoon eyes. That JCB became Scoop. Other machines
    followed. Then of course, the vehicles need a human operator, and so Bob
    was created together with a labourer mate called Lenny. In his original guise,
    Bob was actually an older character and he sported a macho moustache.
    Keith used to tell his children bedtime stories featuring moustachioed Bob
    and the crew. At the time, however, no one was interested in the concept as
    a commercial vehicle.

    Eventually, Keith brought his long-gestating project to HIT Entertainment,
    and it was they who developed it into the series we know today. They even
    formed their own in-house studio, HOT animation, to bring the show to life.
    The company took a pilot to Cannes in 1996 and acquired a development
    deal from the BBC and from thereon, HIT's Kate Fawkes, Jackie Cockle
    of HOT and designer/illustrator Curtis Jobling worked the project through the
    rest of the developmemt process.

    Bob soon lost that moustache. He also became younger. Then Lenny was
    dropped, and Wendy stepped in to his shoes. But she too developed.
    Originally, she was a dizzy secretary-type. Fortunately, one of the more drastic
    changes never came to fruition. It was a change requested by the BBC and it
    called for the machines to be made mute - talking machines being a most
    illogical concept. The production team spent three months rewriting scripts but
    thankfully for us, the new stories had lost their sparkle so the BBC honchos
    were persuaded to drop their request!

    The series eventually premiered on the BBC 12th April 1999, and Keith, HOT
    and HIT haven't looked back. By the end of 2000, Bob had been sold to 108
    countries and £60m of licensed products had been sold.

    Bob's always on his toes. As well as building up eight series of regular shows,
    a huge spin-off project and several specials, he's also made the jump to the
    Big Screen in Built to be Wild, which premiered in July 2006.

    The spin-off project in question is "Project: Build It" in which Bob and his
    pals commence construction of a whole new town. It's such an extensive
    undertaking it's qualified for its own page, here at Toonhound!

    Bob-ing along
    
    » The first Bob The Builder single, "Can We Fix It?" reached the coveted number
        one position in the UK singles chart at Christmas 2000. Bob's version of
       "Mambo No.5" repeated the feat in September 2001.

    » In Japan, Bob has been given an extra finger for all of his licensed material.
        That's because the Japanese Triads are famous for removing a finger of their
        victims. It simply wouldn't do to have Bob looking like he'd had a run-in with
        the Underworld!
  
    » In the episode "Roley and the Rock Star" we meet rock star Lenny Lazenby.
        Lenny is voiced by, and resembles, that maverick entrepreneur Chris Evans.
        Thus began a trend for occasional cameos in the series, with famous
        actors dropping in to voice cameo characters - especially in the spin-off
        features...

     » Bob's first feature special, "A Christmas to Remember" collected a BAFTA
         Award in 2003. Seven more special-length stories have since been told!

 
 
    Bob's buddies

    Folks introduced through the eight original seasons included:

    Skip - the skip truck              Finn - Bob's goldfish
    Trix - the forklift truck            Squawk - a bird
    Travis - the tractor                Hamish - a parrot
   
    Mr Beasly - town councillor       Lenny Lazenby - rock star
    Mr Dixon - delivery man            David Dixon - brother/ famous goalkeeper
    Mr Bentley - birdwatcher          Jenny - Wendy's sister
    Mr Ellis - museum curator         Mrs Potts - townsperson
    JJ - building merchant               Molly - JJ's daughter
    Mr Sabatini - the pizza man     Mrs Percival - school mistress
    Mr Fothergill  - townsperson    Mrs Broadbent - townsperson

 

    In the news

    The Hound: February 2004         The Hound: August 2002 
    Bob's third film...                                 Bob's new friends...  

    The Hound: October 2003           The Hound: September 2001
    Bob's new episodes...                         Bob's hit record...

    The Hound: June 2003                 The Hound: May 2000  
    Bob's live-action movie?...                    Bob's fourth finger...

 

    Episode titles