Big & Small is a British children's television series

Children's television series

Children's television series, are commercial television programs designed for, and marketed to children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run in the early evening, for the children that go to school...

 aimed at preschoolers. Big & Small is a co-production between Kindle Entertainment

Kindle Entertainment

Kindle Entertainment is an independent children's television production company based in London, England. Kindle was formed after ITV Kids was closed, and current personnel includes Anne Brogan, the former controller of ITV Kids...

 and 3J's Productions, produced in association with the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, Treehouse TV

Treehouse TV

Treehouse TV is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel with programming targeted towards preschoolers that was launched on October 17, 1997. Its name comes from YTV's old children's programming block, The Treehouse...

, and Studio 100

Studio 100

Studio 100 is a Flemish company that produces popular children's television series and owns five amusement parks and four musical ensembles.-History:Studio 100 was founded in 1996 by Gert Verhulst, Danny Verbiest, and Hans Bourlon...

. The first series was deemed a success worldwide and a second series was commissioned by the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

. The show is a live action comedy for preschoolers, and follows the lives of puppets Big and Small. Since Big and Small is filmed in the United Kingdom, it is made with a British accent. However, there is a different version that is shown in North America, with an American accent. In the UK version, Lenny Henry

Lenny Henry

Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...

 plays both Big and Small, while other characters are played by Imelda Staunton

Imelda Staunton

Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton, OBE is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her performances in the British comedy television series Up the Garden Path, the Harry Potter film series and Vera Drake...

. In the North American version, Todd Doldersum plays the voice of Big, Jason Hopely plays the voice of Small, and Imelda Staunton provides the voice of Ruby. Big & Small Online, a section of CBeebies Online, won a Children's BAFTA in 2009 for the best interactive content.

Episode overview

The show starts off with the characters doing many odd things, such as playing a game, or making something. There is then a conflict between the characters that leads to the plot of the episode. The characters then resolve their conflict before the end of the episode. There is always at least one song in each show, which is filmed in shadowmation

Shadowmation

Shadowmation is a patented animation process created by Mitchell Kriegman. It uses realtime virtual sets and bunraku style team puppetry , thus combining live action animatronic characters with computer generated animation in real time, high definition virtual environments powered by video game...

.

Characters

• Big is a large purple creature with pink spots on his back. Big is very calm, and caring.
• Small is a very energetic and loud orange creature.
• Ruby is a pink mouse with red hair. Ruby lives in Big and Small's house in a mousehole.
• Twiba is a green worm that lives in an apple in the apple tree. Twiba is an acronym which stands for "The Worm In Big's Apple."
• The Frogs are two green frogs that live in the garden pond.
• T-Rex is Big's stuffed animal, and favourite possession. However, Small dislikes T-Rex.

Broadcasters

In the United Kingdom, Big & Small is shown on BBC1, BBC2, and CBeebies

CBeebies

CBeebies is the brand used by the BBC for programming aimed at children 6 years and under. It is used as a themed strand in the UK on terrestrial television, as a separate free-to-air domestic British channel and used for international varients supported by advertising, subscription or both...

, and is shown on Cyw

Cyw

Cyw is the name of a Welsh language Children's television block from S4C , which launched on 23 June 2008....

 in Wales. Treehouse TV

Treehouse TV

Treehouse TV is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel with programming targeted towards preschoolers that was launched on October 17, 1997. Its name comes from YTV's old children's programming block, The Treehouse...

 features the show in Canada, while Big & Small may broadcast in the United States on Nick Jr. as Big & Small. In total, over 40 channels worldwide feature the show.

Awards

• Awarded Best Interactive Service to Big & Small Online at the BAFTA Children's Awards 2009.
• Awarded Best Children's Programme for the episode "Blame It on the Drain" at the Royal Television Society
  Royal Television Society
  The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
  
  's Educational Television Awards for 2009 ("A well constructed programme with great warmth, charm and child appeal.")

External links

• Official Big & Small store UK
• Big & Small Online
• Big & Small Bible at Studio100.com
• Big & Small at KindleEntertainment.com