The Cramp Twins


The Cramp Twins is an animated television series created by British cartoonist Brian Wood based on his 1995 graphic novel of the same name. The show was produced by Sunbow Entertainment, Telemagination, and TV-Loonland AG, in association with Cartoon Network Europe.

Overview

The series follows the day-day exploits of Lucien Cramp and Wayne Cramp, fraternal twin brothers who live with their germophobic mother Dorothy and their Western-obsessed father Horace in the fictional, industrial town of Soap City. Wayne and Lucien's personalities clash, and they hate one another. Wayne has a friend called Dirty Joe, who owns a dump, and neighbour Wendy Winkle has a crush on him, but he despises her. Wayne's and Lucien's teacher is Miss Hillary Hissy. Lucien's friends include swamp-dweller Tony Parsons and socially-awkward Mari Phelps.
Two seasons of The Cramp Twins were made altogether. In the United States, season 1 aired as two separate seasons, and did not get broadcast until long after it had aired in its home country. All episodes were aired 2–3 years earlier in the UK leaving one episode from season 2 unaired.

Characters

Main

  • Wayne Cramp – The periwinkle-skinned younger of the twins, but is taller than Lucien.
  • Lucien Cramp – Wayne's older twin brother, as the opening credits indicate. He is the smarter of the twins, and is considered an "eco-nerd".
  • Dorothy Cramp –The twins' strict yellow-skinned mother, and Horace Cramp's wife.
  • Horace Cramp – The twins' green-skinned and inept father, and Dorothy Cramp's husband.
  • Tony Parsons – Lucien's best friend who is a swamp child.
  • Wendy Winkle – Walter Winkle's only daughter, who has a huge crush on Wayne.
  • Mari Phelps – Lucien's other friend, who often co-operates with Lucien on his environment-conserving efforts, but often can't help desiring a bit of power.

Recurring

  • Dirty Joe Muldoon – A dim-witted, lonely, middle-aged man who owns the local junkyard frequented by Wayne. He is Wayne's best and only friend. He is an unseen character.
  • Walter Winkle – Mr Cramp's boss and Wendy's father. He owns the city's soap-producing factory.
  • Hillary Hissy – Wayne's, Lucien's, Wendy's and Mari's oversized teacher. She is also known as Miss Hissy.
  • Seth Parsons – Tony's father who is a swamp person.
  • Mr. Pretty – The overly peppy principal of the school introduced in the show's second season.
  • Lillian "Lilly" Parsons – Seth's wife and the mother of Tony and his siblings.
  • Mrs. Phelps – Mari's mother. She is the strictest member of her family.
  • Mr. Phelps – Mari's father, who works at the opticians.
  • Agent X – A mysterious and charismatic character portrayed as an FBI Agent .

Minor

  • Mrs. Winkle – Wendy's mother and Walter Winkle's wife. She behaves more or less like her husband, but ignores/denies the fact they're related to Swamp People.
  • Barber – Dorothy takes Lucien and Wayne to see him, and due to a number of circumstances, ends up shutting down his shop entirely. He appears to dislike and to be scared of Tony, as Tony did not pay his hair shaving fees.
  • Rodeo Rita – A bull rider and country yodeller who turns out to be a fraud. Horace is a big fan of hers, and has a crush on her; the revelation did almost nothing to affect his opinion of her.
  • Big Baby – The twins' unnamed female cousin. Although she is five years old, she can barely speak or walk.
  • Marsha and Tandy – Dorothy's so-called friends. They are often seen arguing or insulting each other and often take delight in Dorothy's domestic misfortunes.

Production and development

The Cramp Twins was developed between Sunbow Entertainment and Cartoon Network Europe during the development of their first co-production Fat Dog Mendoza. The production of the series was announced in July 1999.
In October 2000, Sony Wonder's TV arm was acquired by German company TV-Loonland AG, putting The Cramp Twins under the control of Loonland.
In March 2001, TV-Loonland AG pre-sold the British terrestrial rights to the series to the BBC. In September, the series was pre-sold in Germany to Kika. By late 2001, the series was pre-sold to TF1 in France, and Salsa Distribution pre-sold the series in Latin America to Fox Kids.
In 2002, the series was renewed up for a second season. Telemagination, a British animation studio that TV-Loonland owned, was announced to take over production from Sunbow. By that time, the series had been picked up in over 50 countries worldwide.

Broadcast

The Cramp Twins premiered in the United Kingdom on 3 September 2001 on Cartoon Network and on BBC One during the CBBC programming block, later airing on the CBBC channel itself with the channel's launch in February 2002. The show achieved high popularity with children in the UK, pulling in 1.5 million viewers a week on CBBC and becoming the top-rated weekend series on Cartoon Network during its initial broadcast. After the series ended, reruns continued to air on CBBC and Cartoon Network for a few years afterwards, with Cartoon Network airing the show well into the mid-2010s at night, in order to fill European content requirements alongside Skatoony and Robotboy. It was also repeated on Boomerang UK and Cartoon Network Too.
In early 2003, 4Kids Entertainment acquired exclusive merchandise licensing, television broadcast and home video rights for the series within the United States. The series premiered in the U.S. on the company's FoxBox Saturday morning block on Fox on 8 February on the same year. It would continue to air on the block at various intervals until 19 August 2006. The series also aired on Cartoon Network in the U.S. from 14 June 2004 to April 2005.
In Canada, the series aired on YTV, premiering in 2004.

Home media

United Kingdom

In the UK, the series was released on DVD by Metrodome Distribution, a home video company that TV-Loonland AG majority-owned at the time. Volumes 4 and 5 were released under the distributor's "Mini Metro" budget range.
All episodes released on DVD in the country made up the entirety of Series 1. Volume 5 also includes a Season 2 episode.
DVD titleRelease dateIncluded episodes
Mr. Winkle's Monkey & Other Stories
United Kingdom: 17 February 2003
  • "Fashion Passion / Small Wonder"
  • "Mr. Winkle's Monkey / Wicked Wendy"
  • "Swamp Fever / Kung Foolish"
  • "Silence Please / Fur Fungus"
  • "Home on the Range / Holesome"
Haircut Horrors & Other StoriesUnited Kingdom: 15 May 2006
  • "Date Dupe / Agent X"
  • "Sick Daze / Picket Picket"
  • "Nostalgia Nasty / Haircut Horrors"
  • "Big Baby / Ad Bad"
  • "Workout / Sixth Senselessness"
  • "Twin Studies / Birthday Blues"
Wolfman Wayne & Other StoriesUnited Kingdom: 15 May 2006
  • "Grandma's Piano / Guide Games"
  • "Prize Swallow / Ice Scream"
  • "Wolfman Wayne / Shed Dead"
  • "Spy's Pies / No Means Yes"
  • "Miss Kissy / Friend Fight"
  • "Walk Like A Man / Bouncy Bob"
Dirty Monkey & Other StoriesUnited Kingdom: 9 October 2006
  • "Room Rage / Dirty Monkey"
  • "Hotel Hysteria / Alien Glow"
  • "Chameleon Chaos / Weedkiller"
  • "The Great Luciani / Wendy Boy"
  • "Food Fight / Mari Mania"
Pantaloonacy & Other StoriesUnited Kingdom: 26 February 2007
  • "Great Bowl of Fear / Mud Crush"
  • "Petrified Poodles / Harp Wars"
  • "The Bad Seed / Rodeo Rita"
  • "Worm Funeral / One Sock Wonder"
  • "Pantaloonacy / Girl Gang"
"Sick Daze / Picket Picket" was also featured on a compilation VHS and DVD called "Boys Stuff" from 2004 which also featured episodes from The Transformers, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Yvon of the Yukon and Super Duper Sumos.

United States

In the United States, two DVDs containing 11 segments each were released on DVD by Platinum Disc and 4Kids Home Video.
The first, "Twin-Compatible", was released on 19 April 2005, and the other, "Twin-Sult", was released on 10 March 2006.

Ratings

  • Wednesday 20 February 2002 - 60,000
  • Friday 15 March 2002 - 40,000
  • Thursday 21 March 2002 - 40,000
  • Thursday 28 March 2002 - 60,000
  • Tuesday 26 March 2002 - 40,000
  • Monday 15 April 2002 - 30,000

Award nominations