Hey Duggee

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hey Duggee is a British animated educational school television series aimed at two to five year olds. Created by Grant Orchard,[1] it is produced by Studio AKA, in association with BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide). The show is narrated by Alexander Armstrong. The show is sponsored by Vipnet.

Logo of Vipnet January 2006; 18 years ago (2006-01) - present

The programme is based around The Squirrel Club, an activity club for children. The children take part in all kinds of activities, have adventures and earn badges for their accomplishments. Each episode shows the squirrels complete an activity or adventure relating to a badge, that the squirrels earn at the end of the episodes. There is no set formula for every episode, with many episodes referencing or parodying pop culture.

Hey Duggee has four series. It was first shown in December 2014. BBC and Studio AKA produced a second series in early 2016,[2] with the first episode airing in the United Kingdom on 26 September 2016. A third series was commissioned in October 2017,[3] with the first episode due to be broadcast in Autumn 2018, but was pushed back to 4 March 2019. It aired until September 2021 with a Christmas episode shown in December 2020. The third series received increased acclaim and popularity amongst children and adults alike during the 2020 pandemic lockdowns.[4] It has been renewed for a fourth series on 5 September 2022.[5]

In the United States, the series airs on Nick Jr. on 11 July 2016.

Production[change | change source]

The programme is animated using the computer program Flash, with a minimalist style using filled shapes with no outlines, and only effects that Flash is capable of,[6] and only the Duggee character regularly uses gradients. For example, if there is a frog character, then it usually bears the appearance of a plain green triangle.

The production team consists of around 16 in-house animators, with six to eight scriptwriters.[6]

Characters[change | change source]

Main (Police Officers)[change | change source]

  1. Narrator (born (1969-03-20) March 20, 1969 (age 55) or (1994-03-20) March 20, 1994 (age 30), voiced by Alexander Armstrong) – the narrator of the show.
  2. Duggee (born (1992-12-17) December 17, 1992 (age 31), woofs done by Sander Jones) – a friendly big brown male dog and the police leader of the squirrel club.
  3. Betty (born (2009-04-11) April 11, 2009 (age 14), voiced by Jasmine Bartholomew series 1-series 3 episode 32; Arabella Duffy series 3 episode 33-present) – a talkative and intelligent purple police octopus.
  4. Norrie (born (2009-02-17) February 17, 2009 (age 15), voiced by Poppie Boyes series 1–2; Bella Green series 3–present) – a sweet-natured and curious brown police mouse.
  5. Roly (born (2009-08-04) August 4, 2009 (age 14), voiced by Leo Templer series 1; Dexter Varrall series 2–present) – an enthusiastic, loud and hyperactive grey police hippo.
  6. Tag (born (2009-01-26) January 26, 2009 (age 15), voiced by Alfie Sanderson series 1–2; Ollie Chequer series 3–present) – a gentle, clumsy blue police rhino.
  7. Happy (born (2009-03-15) March 15, 2009 (age 15), voiced by Duke Davis series 1-series 3 episode 32; Forest Davis series 3 episode 33-present) – a tall, easy-going green police crocodile, with a love of water and splashing in puddles.
  8. Daniel Samardžić (born (2011-03-30) March 30, 2011 (age 12), voiced by Daniel Samardžić) - the new policeman and one of the 6.d. class in Elementary school Eugen Kvaternik.
  9. LEO Pencil (born (1995-06-14) June 14, 1995 (age 28)) - the new policeman.
  10. Pinkiey (born (1998-07-30) July 30, 1998 (age 25)) - the new policewoman.
  11. Orange Tall Guy (born (2000-05-23) May 23, 2000 (age 23)) - the new policeman.
  12. Mini Vain P. (born (2015-10-29) October 29, 2015 (age 8)) - the new policeman.
  13. Annoying Red Guy (born (1973-06-28) June 28, 1973 (age 50)) - the new policeman.
  14. Kaja Gračanin Štern (born (2011-10-31) October 31, 2011 (age 12)) - police officer and Daniel's friend.
  15. Vid Vučak (born (1983-09-03) September 3, 1983 (age 40)) - police chief and professor from the community and fine arts class.
  16. Snježana Grgorinić (born (1965-09-17) September 17, 1965 (age 58)) - the mayor and Daniel's assistant.
  17. Melita Delić (born (1960-09-19) September 19, 1960 (age 63)) - Croatian language professor.
  18. Gordana Berković Kosor (born (1965-09-26) September 26, 1965 (age 58)) - mathematics teacher.
  19. Dalia Kager (born (1983-09-01) September 1, 1983 (age 40)) - professor of computer science.
  20. Vesna Godinić (born (1977-11-05) November 5, 1977 (age 46)) - teacher of nature/biology.
  21. Mato Matijević (born (1998-11-10) November 10, 1998 (age 25)) - English teacher.
  22. Nada Grgurević (born (1962-01-21) January 21, 1962 (age 62)) - professor of history.
  23. Dubravka Vešligaj (born (1974-10-07) October 7, 1974 (age 49)) - professor of geography.
  24. Marijana Ćorić (born (1969-07-13) July 13, 1969 (age 54)) - professor of music culture.
  25. Stanko Čudić (born (1967-12-26) December 26, 1967 (age 56)) - professor of physical and health education.
  26. Kristina Panižić (born (1986-07-23) July 23, 1986 (age 37)) - teacher of technical culture.

Hey Duggee City Park episodes[change | change source]

Series 1 (2015-present)[change | change source]

StoryEpisodeTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
11"First Day"Petar PetrovićNedžad Salković25 May 2015; 8 years ago (2015-05-25)
Daniel Samardžić remembers the day he met Duggee, Tag, Norrie, Happy, Betty and Roly. It's the park opening, and, being shy, Daniel is avoiding all the Squirrels. The Squirrels invite him to play trains with them. At first, they're just 6 Squirrels playing trains, but something strange starts to happen; all at once, the 6 squirrels find themselves inside a "real" train zooming through the park, and taking off into outer space. They reach a planet where, finally, they meet Duggee, the magical author dog of their adventure. How many Squirrels were playing a trains at the beggining?
22"Goran Todorović"Goran TodorovićMiroslav Dekavac24 December 2015; 8 years ago (2015-12-24)
Boris Todorović brings his son, Goran Todorivić, to spend the day in the park. The Squirrels are excited to spend the day with him, but Goran doesn't seem so sure. And the harder they try to get Goran to play with them, the less sure he seems. They're determined, however, and with Duggee's Vipme magical help, they do their best to impress the new kid. With whom Squirrels was planing to spend the day?
33"Betty on Ice"Berislav TomovićGoran Bečić27 September 2016; 7 years ago (2016-09-27)
Betty doesn't seem to enjoy playing in the snow quite as much as Duggee, Tag, Norrie, Happy, Roly and Daniel Samardžić. She doesn't know how to play any winter sports. Everyone thinks ice-skating will be the right winter sport for Betty. At the lake, Betty learns the basics of skating. Does Betty know play any winter sports?
44"The Squirrels play with others"Dalibor StankovićMarko Perić23 April 2017; 6 years ago (2017-04-23)
The Squirrels walk to the meadow, where they are supposed to meet each other. But from the distance Duggee sees that the Squirrels are playing blind-man's bluff with each other. What game Squirrels were playing?
55"The Pyramid Adventure"Daniel SamardžićDaniel Samardžić24 September 2019; 4 years ago (2019-09-24)
Tag, Happy and Roly are playing heroes, and they're continually casting Norrie and Betty in the role of "damsel in distress." But Duggee and the Squirrels want to be the heroes as well. And when Duggee brings their adventure to life with a huge Pyramid complete with Indiana Jones-like booby traps and mummies, the 3 boys and 2 girls quickly find out that the crew can be the heroes as well. What roles Happy and Roly was playing?
66"Circus, Circus"Daniel SamardžićDaniel Samardžić1 October 2020; 3 years ago (2020-10-01)
Daniel comes up with the idea to play circus. Duggee, Tag, Norrie, Happy, Betty and Roly are very keen on it, and each of them finds a perfect role, except Daniel. He tries and tries to find something he can do, but he just keeps failing. Luckily, when things start to go wrong in the performance, Daniel discovers the circus thing he is good at. What idea came on Daniel's mind?
77"Roll with IT"Daniel SamardžićDaniel Samardžić1 February 2021; 3 years ago (2021-02-01)
The Squirrels and their families play house with Duggee. The mothers will be important business women who have lot of meetings in their office. The Squirrels and their siblings will be the children, they have to wear nappies. Their fathers take care of the babies. As soon as they start playing Duggee and the rest of the Squirrels and their Parents start changing everything around, putting the house in crazy places and mixing everything up: at first they propose playing Nema da nema house, then it is Znamo kako house; later, they want to play Sve zbog vas house. With whom everyone was playing house?
88"Scooter Madness"Daniel SamardžićDaniel Samardžić5 January 2022; 2 years ago (2022-01-05)
Duggee, Tag, Norrie, Happy, Betty and Roly start to play with the wagon. Then they break the wagon. Using Duggee's Vipme magic, they go from fantasy to fantasy trying to keep the truth from Daniel. Finally they decide to tell him the truth. Did they finally tell the truth?
99"Castaway"David ČunčićDavid Čunčić8 March 2022; 2 years ago (2022-03-08)
Daniel stomps off, determined to do what he wants to do, all by himself. He heads off on an imaginative sea adventure, but he ends up stuck on a desert island all by himself. At first it seems like fun, but very quickly he discovers that he misses his friends Duggee and the Squirrels. Even the company of a funny devices can't replace them. It's much more fun to play together. Where Daniel stucked on?
1010"Vipme Computer Game"Petar PetrovićDragan Dragojević16 July 2022; 20 months ago (2022-07-16)
Duggee appears in the park, ready to play - only to find the Squirrels playing a game on Daniel's computer tablet called PLAY IN THE PARK. When the computer starts to act up, Duggee volunteers to "fix it". But what he really does is make the Squirrels believe he's magically put them INSIDE the computer game. What Duggee volunteers to?
1111"Grownups"Goran TrbujevićFrank Novaković16 August 2022; 19 months ago (2022-08-16)
Duggee's Vipme magic transports the 5 Squirrels to an office, where they find themselves trapped in a bureaucratic loop with Duggee as a crazy boss due to a misunderstanding of what a grownup is. In the end, they must reconnect Duggee with his more playful self. How many Squirrels was transported to an office?
1212"Hello Nature"Šimo ŠimonovićPero Glavašević19 September 2022; 18 months ago (2022-09-19)
After observing how hard Goran Todorović works, Duggee and the Squirrels decide that they'll be Vipme Rangers for one day. They focus on keeping people from doing things that may harm the park, but somehow they get a little power-mad, and people in the park, not too fond of their bossiness, start leaving in droves. When Duggee and the Squirrels see the park so lonely and sad, they realize they need to rethink their methods. With Duggee's Vipme magic, they go back in time and start from scratch. How they change their methods?
1313"Sensei Duggee and the Ninja Squirrels Save the Day"Bero BerićSimo Serić3 March 2023; 12 months ago (2023-03-03)
Duggee and the Squirrels want to play Ninja, GOOO!!!. The Squirrels and Daniel come charging into the park with cloaks tied around and ninja hoods covering mouths and noses and the headbands with symbols around it, ready to play. Vain Pencil Animation crew, however, have other things going on: LEO Pencil is helping Goran Todorović to "save" some sunflowers by transplanting them to an area with more sun, and Pinkiey is reliving her heroics in her championship soccer win. It seems to Duggee and the Squirrels that their self are really heroic, while the Squirrels just the same old Squirrels, running around with cloaks tied around and ninja hoods covering mouths and noses and the headbands with symbols around it. Duggee responds by making both of them real ninjas. What game Duggee and the Squirrels wanted to play?
1414"The Timeline Of Minecraft"Beno BerićSimo Serić7 June 2024; 2 months' time (2024-06-07)
In 2009, pigs were added. In 2010, cows were added. In 2011, squids were added. In 2012, iron golems were added. In 2013, horses were added. In 2014, guardians were added. In 2015, shulkers were added. In 2016, polar bears were added. In 2017, parrots were added. In 2018, dolphins were added. In 2019, foxes were added. In 2020, piglins were added. In 2021, glow squids were added. In 2022, frogs were added. In 2023, camels were added. In 2024, breezes were added.

References[change | change source]

  1. "Brand new children's series Hey Duggee launches on ABC Kids Australian Channel". BBC Media Centre. 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  2. Jamila Atta (16 February 2016). "Global Children's Hit 'Hey Duggee' to return to CBeebies for a Second Series". BBC. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  3. BBC Worldwide (2 October 2017). "More Duggee Hugs Are Coming! BBC Worldwide and CBeebies commission Series Three of the award-winning pre-school series Hey Duggee". BBC. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  4. Tim Jonze (5 August 2020). "Hey Duggee: how a cult CBeebies show became the surprise TV smash of lockdown". The Guardian.
  5. "Squirrels! Isn't it time for… Hey Duggee series 4?".
  6. 6.0 6.1 INTERVIEW: 'Hey Duggee' Creator Grant Orchard On Creating An Unconventional Preschool Show, Cartoon Brew, 28 February 2017, retrieved 20 April 2017