Brum (TV series)

Brum
Brum at the Cotswold Motoring Museum
Created by	Frank Beattie Anne Wood
Developed by	Ragdoll Productions HIT Entertainment BBC Television Discovery Kids
Starring	Brum
Narrated by	Toyah Willcox (1991-1994) Tom Wright (2001–2002) Sarah Wichall (2002)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	5 + 3 revival
No. of episodes	66
Production
Executive producers	Tom Poole Vic Finch Peter Curtis Theresa Plummer-Andrews Amy Sprecher Erin Wanner
Running time	10-15 minutes
Production companies	Ragdoll Productions HIT Entertainment BBC Television
Original release
Network	BBC One (UK)
Release	February 15, 2003 (2003-02-15) – December 23, 2006 (2006-12-23)
Related
Other Ragdoll, HIT Entertainment and BBC Television Shows

Brum (/ˈbrʌm/) is a British children's television series about the adventures of a small, artificially intelligent, self-driven car.

Set in Birmingham, England and produced by Ragdoll Productions, HIT Entertainment, BBC Television and Discovery Kids, Brum was first broadcast in 2003 and the last live action series was broadcast in 2006. It was initially directed, written and produced by Anne Wood and initially narrated by Toyah Willcox. The show was first aired on BBC One, as well as airing on satellite and pay television where it was screened on TCC and Living, and also aired in the United States on Discovery Family, in Australia on ABC, Max, Nickelodeon, ABC Kids and ABC2, in Brunei on RTB, in Indonesia on antv, in Singapore on Kids Central, in South Africa on SABC2 (with both an English dub and an Afrikaans dub) and CBeebies, in New Zealand on TV3, in Namibia on NBC, in Zimbabwe on ZTV, in Ireland on RTÉ, in Germany on BFBS and SSVC Television, in Bangladesh on BTV and in the Emirates on Dubai 33. It also aired on the now defunct children's channel, KPC "Kids Pick Cartoons". A new CGI-animated series, aimed at young pre-school children, was produced in 2016.

Plot and setting

Brum is the story of a small replica car who ventures out into Big Town when his owner isn't looking, and gets up to all manner of adventures. Each episode begins and ends in the same way, with Brum leaving the other cars in the motor museum when the owner's back is turned and heading out to explore Big Town, before eventually returning to his place. Each series has had its own background music. From series 1-2 the introduction music was the same but in series 2 they used different instruments. From Series 3-5 the music became jazzy and a new Title sequence was Directed by Nigel P. Harris.

The car can express himself in various mechanical ways including opening and closing his doors and bonnet, bobbing his suspension, and flashing and swivelling. The actors in Brum do not speak – mime and off-screen narration help propel the story. It was therefore easy to prepare episodes for airing in other countries, and the series has been broadcast in many parts of the world and in many languages.

The stories are set in the city of Birmingham, England, since in addition to its onomatopoeic nature of a car engine revving, Brum (as a contraction of "Brummagem") is a common colloquial name for Birmingham. Although later series make no direct mention of Birmingham, calling it simply Big Town, many of the city's streets and landmarks can be seen in each episode.

The show was written by a range of writers. Anne Wood primarily wrote all the first series, while the second was written by Tom Poole, Dirk Campbell, Andrew Davenport and Morgan Hall. The last two series were written by Nigel P. Harris (5 Episodes) and the existing Ragdoll team.

The car itself – a half-scale replica of a late-1920s Austin 7 Chummy convertible – was designed and built by Rex Garrod. It is now housed at the Cotswold Motoring Museum in Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, which is also where the opening and closing sequences of the programme were filmed.

Characters

• Museum Owner ( Mike Cavanagh): the owner of the car museum where Brum lives. He is the only human character who appears in every episode, and the only character who is apparently oblivious to Brum's adventures, despite finding items in the seats at the end of each episode. The actor, Mike Cavanagh, actually owned the Cotswold Motor Museum until 1999.
• The Lollipop Lady (Shirley-Anne Bohm): a lady who helps people, and Brum, cross the road safely, she appears in every episode in the second series.
• WPC Truncheon (Deborah Grant): the policewoman in the Big Town.
• The Big Town Robber (Andrew Davenport): always up to mischief, the robber's antics include stealing the trophy for the big race. Brum is usually the one that foils his plans as seen in "Brum and the Big Chase/Dancing in the Street", and "Brum and the Big Town Race/Brum and the Trophy".
• Mr. and Mrs. La-Di-Dah: a posh married couple who regularly featured in the second series.
• Mr. and Mrs. Doolally: a friendly if slightly absent minded couple who regularly featured in the second series.
• Vicky Spoon: a regular cast member of the second series, Vicky is Brum's special friend.
• Micky Mender: a handyman, a regular cast member of the second series.
• Granny Slippers (Linda Kerr Scott): she wears slippers wherever she goes.
• Mr. Brillo (Rob Thirtle): lives next door to Granny Slippers. His favourite picture is the Gnoma Lisa. He has loads of gnomes in his garden.
• Scruffy: Brum's friend, a dog who loves burying things.
• Big Town Mayor (John Woodford): the town manager.
• Mrs. Posh (Iona Kennedy / Carole Davies): a posh lady who lives in the town.
• Traffic Policeman (Mark Powlett): a "knockabout" policeman, who owns a horse called Arrow.
• The Mayoress: the mayor of Big Town
• Gorgeous Gordon (Enoch White): a self-centred, full-of-himself hairdresser who wears a wig as hair.
• Bob & Job (Kevin McGreevy & Adam Schumacher): two comically clumsy men, who wear green dungarees and yellow T-shirts and help the town in a way of slapstick style from Laurel and Hardy.
• The Celebrity (Johnnie Fiori): a celebrity who appeared in the episode 'Brum and the Airport Adventure' when she had her jewels stolen by Bubble & Squeak at the Big Town Airport.
• Rob & Nick (Dan Carey and Jason Segade): a bumbling pair of thieves, also known as the Big Town baddies who are best known for stealing Mr. Brillo's gnome, robbing the golf buggy at the Big Town Golf Course and a posh celebrity's dog.
• Policewoman (Lisa Allen)
• Sally: a woman in the Big Town who had her cake stolen by teenagers on her birthday in the episode "Brum and the Birthday Cake/Cake Gang".
• Bubble & Squeak (Chalky Skywalker Chawner and Paul Jackson): a pair of thieves who stole golden jewels from a celebrity at the airport, rob a safe at the bank and a golden loo.

Episodes

Series 1 (2003)

• Brum to The Rescue – February 15, 2003
• Brum and The Kite – February 22, 2003
• Brum and The Scrapyard – March 1, 2003
• Brum At The Opera – March 8, 2003
• Brum and The Mower – March 15, 2003
• Brum Goes To The Seaside – March 22, 2003
• Brum and The Little Girl Lost – March 29, 2003
• Brum's Wheels – April 5, 2003
• Brum and The Stilts – April 12, 2003
• Brum and The Removal Van – April 19, 2003
• Brum and The Robbers – April 26, 2003
• Brum and The Runaway Pram – May 3, 2003
• Brum and The Safari Park – May 10, 2003

Series 2 (2003)

• Brum and the Helicopter – May 17, 2003
• Brum and the Big Crane – May 24, 2003
• Brum is an Ice Skating Star - May 31, 2003
• Brum and the Big Chase – June 7, 2003
• Brum and the Wedding – June 14, 2003
• Brum and the Big Town Race – June 21, 2003
• Brum Goes Shopping – June 28, 2003
• Brum and the Very Windy Day – July 5, 2003
• Brum and the Surprise Party – July 12, 2003
• Brum and the Naughty Kitten – July 19, 2003
• Brum and the Little Drummer Boy – July 26, 2003
• Brum and the Flood – August 2, 2003
• Brum Goes House Painting – August 9, 2003

Series 3 (2004–2005)

• Brum and the Airport Adventure – October 9, 2004
• Brum and the Naughty Dog – October 16, 2004
• Brum and the Pizzeria – October 23, 2004
• Brum and the Gymnast – October 30, 2004
• Brum and the King of Thieves – November 6, 2004
• Brum and the Skateboarding Bride – November 13, 2004
• Brum – Chasing Balloons – November 20, 2004
• Brum and the Stolen Necklace – November 27, 2004
• Brum and the Pantomime Cow – January 1, 2005
• Brum and the Runaway Train – January 8, 2005
• Brum and the Birthday Cake – January 15, 2005
• Brum and the Mobile Phone – January 22, 2005
• Brum – Bushes on the Run – January 29, 2005
• Brum and the Diamond Dog – February 5, 2005
• Brum and the Runaway Statue – February 12, 2005
• Brum and the Music Box – February 19, 2005
• Brum and the Snow Thieves – February 26, 2005

Series 4 (2005)

• Brum and the Kitten Rescue – September 17, 2005
• Brum and The Splash and Grab – September 24, 2005
• Brum and the Golden Loo – October 1, 2005
• Brum and the Golf Buggy – October 8, 2005
• Brum the Soccer Hero – October 15, 2005
• Brum and the Rampant Robot – October 22, 2005
• Brum and the Shop Window Dummy – October 29, 2005
• Brum and the Bowling Alley – November 5, 2005
• Brum the Basketball Star – November 12, 2005
• Brum and the Gorilla Caper – November 19, 2005
• Brum and the Runaway Sofa – November 26, 2005
• Brum and the Kidnapped Garden Gnome – December 3, 2005
• Brum and the Runaway Ball – December 10, 2005

Series 5 (2006)

• Brum and the Stunt Bike Rescue – September 23, 2006
• Brum and the Stopwatch Botch – September 30, 2006
• Brum and the Cream Balloon – October 7, 2006
• Brum and the Pickpocket – October 14, 2006
• Brum and the Daring Gnome Rescue – October 21, 2006
• Brum and the Mischievous Mouse – October 28, 2006
• Brum and the Bank Robbers – November 4, 2006
• Brum and The Runaway Rickshaw – December 9, 2006
• Brum and the Paint Pandemonium – December 16, 2006
• Brum and the Crazy Chair Chase – December 23, 2006

DHX Media revivals

February 2016 saw the release of a rebooted Brum, made by the current owners of the franchise DHX Media. The show now takes place in a white world instead of the Big Town and features new friends for Brum. The first episode, "Brum's Car Wash Adventure", premiered on 4 March 2016 via the official Brum YouTube channel. A total of 25 CGI episodes were produced, with a second series currently airing.

Another series, this time animated using Toon Boom Harmony Animation called "Brum & Friends" premiered on the channel in September 2017.

Kiddie ride

A coin operated kiddie ride of Brum was made by Amutec Ltd. 3 versions were made in the years 2004, 2005 and 2006.

External links

• Brum at IMDb