Bob the Builder
Bob the Builder is a British animated children's television series created by Keith Chapman for HIT Entertainment and Hot Animation. The series follows the adventures of Bob, a general contractor, specialising in masonry, along with his colleague Wendy, various neighbours, and friends, and equipment, and their gang of anthropomorphised work-vehicles, Scoop, Muck, Dizzy, Roley, Lofty and many others. The series ran from 12 April 1999 to 31 December 2011 in the United Kingdom through the CBBC strand and later CBeebies. The series originally used stop-motion from 1999 to 2009, but later used CGI animation starting with the spin-off series Ready, Steady, Build! (2010-2011). The British proprietors of Bob the Builder and Thomas & Friends sold the enterprise in 2011 to US toy-maker Mattel for $680 million.[2]
This article is about the original series. For the reboot series, see Bob the Builder (2015 TV series). For the title character, see Bob the Builder (character).Bob the Builder
Bob the Builder: Project: Build It (series 10–16)
Bob the Builder: Ready, Steady, Build! (series 17–18)
Sarah Ball
Liz Whitaker
Brian Little
Nick Herbert
Gilly Fogg
Andy Burns
Geoff Walker
United Kingdom
English
18
250 (+10 specials) (list of episodes)
Kate Fawkes
Theresa Plummer-Andrews
Peter Curtis
Zyggy Markiewicz
Bruce Marshall
Adam Taylor
Single camera (1999–2004)
Multi-camera (2005–2009)
Hot Animation (1999–2009)
HIT Entertainment
SD Entertainment (2010–2011)
12 April 1999 –
31 December 2011
In each episode, Bob and his group help with renovations, construction, and repairs and with other projects as needed. The show emphasises conflict resolution, co-operation, socialisation, and various learning skills. Bob's catchphrase is "Can we fix it?", to which the other characters respond with "Yes we can!" This phrase is also the title of the show's theme song, which was a million-selling number one hit in the UK.
In October 2014, Bob the Builder was revamped by Mattel for a new series which was broadcast on Channel 5's Milkshake! in 2015. Among the various changes in the new series include the setting, casting, and appearance of the characters. The changes have been criticised by fans of the original version.[3][4]
An animated theatrical movie adaptation of the series was announced in January 2024, produced by Jennifer Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions with Anthony Ramos as the voice of Bob.[5]
International broadcasts
Bob the Builder is shown in more than thirty countries, and versions are available in English, French, Spanish, Serbian, Swedish, Slovenian, German, Italian, Dutch, Hebrew, Hindi, Croatian, and Bengali,[7] among other languages. It was shown on CBeebies on BBC television in the UK. It has also aired on Nick Jr. in the UK.[8]
The North American version of the show uses the original British footage and script, but replaces the voices with American accents and verbiage; for example, "wrench" is used instead of "spanner", owing to the former's use in North America. The original North American voice of Bob (and Farmer Pickles/Mr. Beasley/Mr. Sabatini) was William Dufris; he was replaced with comedian Greg Proops. More recently, Bob's US voice has been provided by Marc Silk, an English voice actor from Birmingham.[9][10] In the United States, the series first aired during the Nick Jr. block (from 2001 to 2004) before moving to PBS Kids for a long run, from January 1, 2005[11] through November 6, 2015, after which it was replaced with the 2015 reboot.[12] Qubo also started airing the show from 7 October 2020 through 28 February 2021 due to the channel's closure, but with the original British English dub.
When being exported to Japan, it was reported that characters of Bob the Builder would be doctored to have five fingers instead of the original four. This was because of a practice among the yakuza, the famed Japanese mafia, where members would "cut off their little fingers as a sign they can be trusted and have strength of character, and will stay through."[13] In fact, Bob the Builder aired in Japan without such edits,[14] as did other series including Postman Pat and The Simpsons.
Ready, Steady, Build!
The third spin-off was titled Bob the Builder: Ready, Steady, Build! It was created by Keith Chapman and Mallory Lewis. The group, now joined by newcomer Scratch are now residing in the town of Fixham Harbour (which is very similar to Bobsville, and is even implied to be Bobsville in several episodes), deal with construction and other building tasks around the area. Unlike the previous series, Ready, Steady, Build! is animated in full CGI animation, which allows for larger and more elaborate construction projects that would be too large or expensive for the model sets of the stop-motion series, though it still retains the theme song.[26]