Baby Jake
Baby Jake is a British-Irish children's television programme originally broadcast in the UK. It first aired on 4 July 2011. Baby Jake is also available on BBC iPlayer for over a year and on YouTube.
Production
The programme cost £1.85 million pounds to produce, and was funded by the Irish Film Board and CBeebies.Darrall Macqueen originated the series and produced the animated elements of the programme through JAM Media. JAM Media are an Irish animation studio who also made Tilly and Friends. Maddy Darrall was quoted by the Metro as gaining inspiration for the show from watching her seven-year-old nephew understanding her one-year-old son.
The series is animated by JAM Media in Dublin, and the lead writer is Dave Ingham.
Plot
The show features Jake, a nine-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 magic characters that include Nibbles the Rabbit, Sydney the Monkey, Pengy Quinn the Penguin, Captain Spacey and the Hamster
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 five-year-old brother Isaac. Isaac was voiced by a real life five-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 and Matt Katz and Richie Webb voicing many characters, including Nibbles, Sydney, Pengy Quinn, Captain Spacey and the Hamsternauts.
Characters
Baby Jake. He's the show's main character. He is a playful baby who imagines many different adventures.Isaac 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 are hamsters dressed up as astronauts who live in outer space and are one of Baby Jake's magic friends.
Pengy Quinn is a penguin who lives in the Arctic and is one of Baby Jake's magic friends.
Toot Toot is a magic tractor that Baby Jake rides in.
Bill The Red Bus is a magic bus that Baby Jake rides in.
Flying Pig is a winged pig who announces every episode of Baby Jake.
Mousey is a mouse Baby Jake mysteriously finds. In "Playing House", he welcomes Baby Jake to his pumpkin house for a tea party.
Worm is a worm who lives in an apple.
Cows are cows who do the Yacki Yacki Yogi dance with Baby Hake at the countryside. In "To say Hello" Baby Jake waves hello to the cows before saying Hello and Goodbye to Nibbles again, then says bye bye to them. In "Surprising You", the cow gets stuck in a tree and Nibbles tries to save him but ends up getting stuck on the tree as a trick.
Bumblebee is a bee Baby Jake befriended in Making Honey. He makes cameos throughout the series and makes a full appearance in Making Honey.
Caterpillar is a caterpillar who lives in a tree. He joins Baby Jake to wriggle with him and transformed into a butterfly in To Wriggle.
Purple Bees are alien bees from the honey planet in Making Honey.
Giant Alien is a giant alien Baby Jake and Sydney accidentally landed on.
Baby Moon is a moon with a baby face who appears in certain episodes a different moon was used in Tickle Toes.
Paint Butterfly is a butterfly made out of paint in Painting in Space when Baby Jake, Spacey and the Hamsternauts painted the whole planet.
Whale is a whale Baby Jake and Penguins Quinn befriended underwater.
Sea Creatures are animals who live in the ocean in the arctic.
Rubber Ducky is a toy duck that squeaks and came to life in Bath Time.
Snowmen are snowmen who do the Yacki Yacki Yogi dance with Baby Jake in the snow.
Snake is a snake who lives in the jungle.
Girrafes are giraffes who lives in the jungle.
Blue Butterflies are blue butterflies who live on the jungle and snow.
Penguins are Penguins live on the snow.
Elephant is an elephant in the jungle.
Fireflies are fireflies who lit up the whole jungle in Pretty Lights.
The Lizards are blue lizards during tropical adventures.
Tree' is a tree with a face in Tickle Toes.
Bulldozer'' is a Bulldozer that appears in Building.
Location
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.Series
Series one of Baby Jake ran in the UK each weekday from July to August 2011 and consisted of 26 episodes in total.Series two began on 10 September 2012 also consisting of 26 episodes.
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.