Budgie the Little Helicopter
Budgie the Little Helicopter is a British animated television series, relating to a fictional helicopter and his friends, based on a series of children's books. The characters were based on the books by Sarah Ferguson. The show was co-produced by Fred Wolf Films Dublin, The Sleepy Kids Company and Sarah Ferguson, then Duchess of York, for HTV West and Scottish Television, and originally aired on British television in 1994 on CITV, where it ran for 39 episodes. A range of books, toys, videos and other merchandise were released under the Budgie label.
The show aired in the United States on FOX as part of the Fox Cubhouse programming block from 1995 to 1996, and moved to the Fox Family Channel in 1999 as part of It's Itsy Bitsy Time. The series was redubbed with North American voices for It’s Itsy Bitsy Time. In Canada, it also aired on Family Channel from 1994 to 1997 and on Treehouse TV from 1999 to 2003.
On release of the first book, Ferguson was accused by the media of copying the idea for the series from an out-of-print 1960 book called Hector the Helicopter, by A.W. Baldwin, which she denied.
The series is legally available on Ferguson's official YouTube channel.
Main characters
Aircraft
- Budgie – The title character who resembles a Bell 206 with a large yellow cap covering his whole airframe and a small tuft of brown hair underneath it. A white teddy bear named Snowy is nearly always seen carried in a pocket on Budgie's starboard side. He lives and works at Harefield Airfield, and is best friends with Pippa. His catchphrase is "Rocketing rotors!"
- Pippa – A single-engined monoplane with a tuft of hair and a large bow attached to her roof. When she first arrives at Harefield, she and Budgie compete over who is the better and fastest aircraft, but soon become best friends.
- Chuck – The largest aircraft at Harefield who is tasked with most of the heavy lifting. An American Boeing CH-47 Chinook, he wears a cap with a visible crew cut underneath.
- Lionel – The senior helicopter in the series who is in charge of the aircraft at Harefield. Resembling a Westland Lynx, he sports a modern-era pilot's cap, moustache, and a collar. His catchphrase is "Juddering joysticks!"
Non-aircraft/ground characters
- Dell – The baggage cart tow truck
- Smokey – The airfield fire engine
- Don – The stairs lorry
- Jake- The steam locomotive
- Ernest – The tractor
- Nosey – The driller
- Backhoe – The backhoe loader
- Smashit – The bulldozer
Human characters
- The control tower operator
- Ben and Lucy Kitchen – Twin children; brother and sister
- Mrs. Nancy Kitchen – The twins' mother
- Ken Wrench – The mechanic
- Mike Sprocket – The mechanic
Home video releases
United Kingdom
The series was released on VHS in the United Kingdom by First Independent Films.| VHS title | VHS number | Release date | Episodes |
| Budgie the Little Helicopter Pippa Arrives | VA30318 | 7 March 1994 | "Pippa Arrives", "Chuck Comes Unstuck", "Budgie's Blizzard", "Ice Work, Budgie", "Budgie Takes a Catch" |
| Budgie the Little Helicopter The Air Show | VA30336 | 7 November 1994 | "The Air Show", "All at Sea", "Boats, Boots and Budgie", "Copters and Robbers" |
| Budgie the Little Helicopter Daydreams and Candy Floss | VA30359 | 6 March 1995 | "Daydreams and Candy Floss", "Flying in Arctic Circles", "What's Bruin?", "Down on the Farm" |
| Budgie the Little Helicopter Budgie Sticks To It | VA30372 | 3 July 1995 | "Budgie Sticks to It", "Skids, Stunts and Soap", "Aliens Have Landed", "Who's a Clever Budgie?", "Blown Up, Let Down" |
| Budgie the Little Helicopter Wally Waddles In | VA30394 | 6 November 1995 | "Wally Waddles In", "The Balloon Goes Up", "Surprise, Surprise", "Deep Sleep" |
| Budgie the Little Helicopter The Complete First Series | VA30626 | 13 May 1996 | "Pippa Arrives", "Chuck Comes Unstuck", "Budgie's Blizzard", "Ice Work, Budgie", "Budgie Takes a Catch", "The Air Show", "All at Sea", "Boats, Boots and Budgie", "Copters and Robbers", "Daydreams and Candy Floss", "Flying in Arctic Circles", "What's Bruin?", "Down on the Farm" |
| Budgie the Little Helicopter The Complete Second Series | VA30647 | 7 October 1996 | "Budgie Sticks to It", "Skids, Stunts and Soap", "Aliens Have Landed", "Who's a Clever Budgie?", "Blown Up, Let Down", "Wally Waddles In", "The Balloon Goes Up", "Surprise, Surprise", "Deep Sleep", "Bad News, Good News", "Budgie Barges In", "Dutch Courage", "Budgie's Opening Goal" |
| Budgie the Little Helicopter The Complete Third Series | VA30680 | 3 March 1997 | "Boom Boom Budgie", "Writers in the Sky", "Double Trouble", "Eye in the Sky", "Chuck's Buddy", "The Aqueduct", "Plane Silly", "The Plane Who Cried Wolf", "The Runaway Train", "A Tail of Woe", "Put Up or Stuck Up", "Silent Flight", "Ups & Downs" |
In 2004, Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment released "The Air Show" on DVD, containing the same episodes as the VHS counterpart.
In 2006, Right Entertainment and Universal Pictures Video released a single DVD titled "Pippa Arrives", containing five assorted episodes from the first series.
Internationally
In 1997, UAV Entertainment released some episodes of the series on individual VHS tapes in the United States.In 2007, Jigsaw Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Australia and New Zealand.