Green Balloon Club
Green Balloon Club is a British children's factual television program that started on CBeebies on 20 June 2008.
Format
Green Balloon Club focuses on the adventures of four children - Jay, Cat, Lilly-Rose and Ant, as they travel throughout the United Kingdom on a green hot-air balloon led by balloonist Skye and Cat's dog Skipper. During their travels, they look out for other Green Balloon Club members and have a look at what wildlife they have in their patch. Each episode starts with the children doing the register, then joining in with the "Green Balloon Club" chant. At the end of the show, the balloon "lands" and everybody sings one of several songs.Other BBC personalities appear on the show, with the puppet Jelly from The Story Makers and CBeebies Springwatch appearing as a special reporter, and fellow BBC presenters Chris Howard and Bill Oddie.
Cast
Green Team/Main
The cast members on the show were all ordinary children all found at extensive auditions.- Debbie Korley as Skye, the balloonist of the Green Team who leads the group on various adventures. She was replaced with Chris Howard near the end of the series' main run, and in the Green Balloon Club Goes on Holiday spin-off, but later returned in the Winter Special.
- Isabella Blake-Thomas as Lily Rose, the flower expert of the Green Team. She is the youngest of the children, and sometimes can be a bit self-centred.
- Jake Pratt as Jay, the bird expert of the Green Team. He can be quite a jokester at times. He didn't appear in one episode, and didn't appear for the Green Balloon Club Goes on Holiday spin-off, but later returned for the Winter Special.
- Adam Wells as Ant, the bug expert of the Green Team and the only member who isn’t southern.
- Thai Murray-Edwards as Cat, the animal expert of the Green Team and the owner of Skipper.
- Skipper the Dog as herself, the canine companion of the Green Team. Skipper’s dog actress was the real-life pet of the actress for Cat, Thai Murray-Edwards. Skipper's sounds are done through stock sound effects.
Recurring
- Aliex Yuill as Jelly, a green puppet who is one of the Story Makers. She normally appears in episodes as a Special Reporter or is with Bill Oddie in his garden.
- Chris Howard, a presenter from Springwatch and Autumnwatch, also appeared in CBeebies Springwatch and CBeebies Autumnwatch. He normally appears with other children as the leader of the Ground Crew, but near the end of the show's run became the Pilot of the balloon going by the name "Nature Chris", replacing Debbie Korley.
- Bill Oddie, another BBC nature presenter. He appears in some episodes alongside Jelly, where they look at the different kinds of nature around his garden.
Songs
The series also has a major focus on music and singing, and every episode features an originally-written song performed by the main cast. All of the songs were written by Paul Moessl.- Theme Song
- Let's Go Play Outside
- It's Our World
- Listen
- All Earth's Creatures
- Underwater
- Fun on the Beach
- Minibeast Madness
- Flying
- Whatever's Good at Christmas
- Dig In
- Good to get away
- At the Zoo
- Animal Alphabet
- Waggle Dance
- It's a Dog's Life
- and a final special arrangement of the Title song for the Winter Special
Development
The program was conceived and made by Clare Bradley, Lotte Elwell and the CBeebies Production team, and grew out of their previous award-winning work on CBeebies Springwatch and Autumnwatch.Episodes
Green Balloon Club (2008–2009)
Green Balloon Club was produced as part of CBeebies' "EcoBeebies" brand. It started with a launch show named Easy Peasy Eco Beebies on 13 June 2008, and this was followed by 48 episodes, one every week from 20 June 2008 to 29 May 2009, although there was a break during the Christmas Holidays.Ratings
Episode viewing figures from BARB.| Episode no. | Airdate | Total viewers | CBeebies weekly ranking |
| 1 | 20 June 2008 | 342,000 | 7 |
| 2 | 27 June 2008 | 352,000 | 2 |
| 3 | 4 July 2008 | 290,000 | 4 |
| 4 | 11 July 2008 | 338,000 | 9 |
| 5 | 18 July 2008 | 504,000 | 1 |
| 6 | 25 July 2008 | Under 294,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 7 | 1 August 2008 | 383,000 | 1 |
| 8 | 8 August 2008 | Under 319,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 9 | 15 August 2008 | Under 302,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 10 | 22 August 2008 | Under 311,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 11 | 29 August 2008 | Under 312,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 12 | 5 September 2008 | Under 329,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 13 | 12 September 2008 | Under 389,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 14 | 19 September 2008 | Under 332,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 15 | 26 September 2008 | Under 368,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 16 | 3 October 2008 | Under 350,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 17 | 10 October 2008 | Under 347,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 18 | 17 October 2008 | Under 361,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 19 | 24 October 2008 | Under 380,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 20 | 31 October 2008 | Under 345,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 21 | 7 November 2008 | Under 336,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 22 | 14 November 2008 | Under 331,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 23 | 21 November 2008 | Under 364,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 24 | 28 November 2008 | Under 331,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 25 | 5 December 2008 | Under 338,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 26 | 12 December 2008 | Under 324,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 27 | 19 December 2008 | Under 401,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 28 | 9 January 2009 | Under 415,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 29 | 16 January 2009 | ||
| 30 | 23 January 2009 | ||
| 31 | 30 January 2009 | ||
| 32 | 6 February 2009 | ||
| 33 | 13 February 2009 | ||
| 34 | 20 February 2009 |
''Green Balloon Club Goes on Holiday'' (2009)
In 2009, a stand-alone series of 10 episodes were broadcast. The first half featured the Green Team visiting the Isle of Arran and the second half featured the Green Team becoming zookeepers at the Belfast Zoo for a week.Winter Special (2009)
A stand-alone Winter Special was aired in December 2009, which featured the entire cast going on a winter camping adventure.''Green Balloon Club Scrapbook'' (2010)
In 2010, a spin-off series of 15 episodes entitled "Green Balloon Club Scrapbook" was produced which showed "what the Green Team get up to when they're not in the Green Balloon. Different members of the team check the laptop to find out what the other members of the Green Balloon Club are getting up to". This series also included animated segments starring Skipper the Dog, who in this series gained a voice. This series also included two song specials.| Episode | Original air date | Details | Total viewers |
| 1 | 13 January 2010 | Skipper heads off on an adventure where she meets a monkey gang from South Africa. | 278,000 |
| 2 | 20 January 2010 | Skipper heads off on an adventure with a parrot party in the South American rainforest. | 300,000 |
| 3 | 27 January 2010 | Jelly is on a camping trip with some friends in Wales. | 230,000 |
| 4 | 3 February 2010 | Skipper heads off to the jungle where she meets a bird who can make the most amazing sounds. | 268,000 |
| 5 | 10 February 2010 | Ant is making his Bug Files at his local Tropical House. | 249,000 |
| 6 | 17 February 2010 | Jelly reports from the Welsh coast where she meets a surfing family. | 236,000 |
| 7 | 24 February 2010 | Skipper is off on an African adventure, where she meets a lot of water-loving hippos. | 204,000 |
| 8 | 3 March 2010 | Skipper heads underwater where she encounters a giant octopus. | 193,000 |
| 9 | 10 March 2010 | Skipper heads off to Antarctica where she goes for a long and cold walk with a group of penguins. | 191,000 |
| 10 | 17 March 2010 | Skipper heads off to South America on a multi-coloured Macaw adventure. | 105,000 |
| 11 | 24 March 2010 | Ant and his friend Bradley meet some big hissing cockroaches and have a race with them. | 164,000 |
| 12 | 29 March 2010 | Jay is out doing some birdwatching, he's looking at how autumn is a good time for birds. | |
| 13 | 23 December 2009 | Winter Special | 213,000 |
| 14 | 30 March 2010 | Song Special part 1: The Green Team introduce their favourite songs in a special programme of music and verse. | 203,000 |
| 15 | 31 March 2010 | Song Special part 2: Ant is out looking for minibeasts. Can you guess what his favourite song will be? | 350,000 |
''Note: episode 13 was not shown between episodes 12 and 14, as it was shown within the Christmas schedule''
International airings
- The show began airing in Australia on their version of CBeebies in late 2009, in time for the summer season. Until 2019, the show still aired on the channel, in a late-night slot.
- The show also aired on CBeebies Poland from 2010 to 2013, titled Podróże z Zielonym Balonem and dubbed into Polish by now-defunct dubbing company Eurocom Studio.