Noddy (TV series) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Noddy
Genre	Comedy Fantasy
Created by	Rick Siggelkow
Based on	Classic Noddy in Toyland series by Enid Blyton
Written by	Brian McConnachie Sean Kelly Lawrence S. Mirkin Kate Barris Jill Golick Ellis Weiner Rick Siggelkow
Directed by	Wayne Moss Steve Wright
Starring	Sean McCann Katie Boland Max Morrow Kyle Kassardjian Jayne Eastwood Jim Calder Nikki Pascetta Gil Filar
Theme music composer	Dennis Scott
Opening theme	"The Noddy Shop"
Ending theme	"The Noddy Shop (Instrumental)"
Composer(s)	Stacey Hersh (score) Dennis Scott (songs) Paul K. Joyce (original score)
Country of origin	United Kingdom Canada
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	66
Production
Executive producer(s)	Rick Siggelkow
Producer(s)	Jim Corston
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	BBC Worldwide Americas Catalyst Entertainment Inc. Enid Blyton Ltd.
Distributor	BBC Worldwide
Release
Original network	TVOntario (TVOKids)
Picture format	4:3
Audio format	Dolby Surround
Original release	September 7, 1998 (1998-09-07) – February 16, 2000 (2000-02-16)
Chronology
Related shows	Shining Time Station Sing Me a Story with Belle

Noddy, also known as Noddy in Toyland, and The Noddy Shop colloquially, is a Canadian-British children's television series based on Enid Blyton's children's book series of the same name featuring the animated episodes from Noddy's Toyland Adventures that aired from September 7, 1998 to February 16, 2000 on TVOntario and CBC Television in Canada. Following its cancellation, reruns were aired until September 13, 2002. The series was produced by BBC Worldwide, Catalyst Entertainment and Enid Blyton Ltd.

The show starred Sean McCann as Noah Tomten, a former old salt, who now runs an antique shop in Littleton Falls, the NODDY Shop (this stood for "Notions, Oddities, Doodads & Delights of Yesterday"). His catchphrases included "What in tarnation?!" and "Great Neptune's Ghost!", usually whenever he was excited about something. It also starred Jayne Eastwood as his scatterbrained sister, Agatha Flugelschmidt, who runs a hat shop next door to the Noddy Shop. Her catchphrases include "Oh, pish posh!", usually after she disagreeing with something that someone else said.

The stories in The Noddy Shop mainly centered on three children, Noah's grandchildren, Kate and Truman, and a friend of Kate's named Daniel Johnson, shortened to D.J., who came to play at the shop, and were collected by their (unseen) parents at the end of the day, implying the episodes were set after school, during school holidays or at weekends.

In the second season, Truman gained the ability to talk to the toys in the shop, and Noddy gained a more prominent role in the live action segments, often interacting with the toys and Truman. Most of the stories were repeated from the first season with some minor additions, as well as also introducing new stories coming from the fourth season of Noddy's Toyland Adventures.

Most episodes had a moral message, which was conveyed with a Noddy story, usually told by Kate using the Noddy dolls in the shop, which the viewer saw as re-dubbed and re-scored Noddy animations. The moral message was also a theme in a song sung by the shop's population of anthropomorphic toys. There was sometimes a second song, usually a re enactment of a popular folk tale. These songs were written by Nashville-based composer Dennis Scott.

It was shown in many countries around the world including the United Kingdom (the BBC), United Arab Emirates (Dubai 33), Guam (KGTF), Malaysia (TV3), France (Europe 2 TV) and Australia (ABC).

Characters

Humans

• Noah Tomten - A former old salt and owner of the Noddy Shop. (played by Sean McCann)
• Kate Tomten - Noah's granddaughter and Truman's older sister. (played by Katie Boland)
• Daniel "D.J." Johnson - Kate and Truman's friend. (played by Kyle Kass)
• Truman Tomten - Noah's grandson and Kate's younger brother. (played by Max Morrow)
• Agatha Flugelschmidt (née Tomten) - Noah's younger scatterbrained sister and Kate and Truman's great aunt. She is the owner of the hat shop, which is next door to the Noddy Shop. (played by Jayne Eastwood)
• Officer Carl Spiffy - Littleton Falls' senior crossing guard. He is often confident in some suspicious activities. He then retired at the end of the first season. (played by Dan Redican)
• Bud Topper - Littleton Falls' new crossing guard. He is a young crossing guard who often gets into practical jokes and hilarious chases around town. He replaced Carl Spiffy, starting with the second-season episode "Little Swap of Horrors". (played by Neil Crone)
• Davy Gladhand - A quirky, wisecracking salesman. He often tells jokes and is good friends with Noah. In the regular episodes, he wears a straw boater hat, while in the Christmas episode "Anything Can Happen at Christmas", he wears a red bowler hat. (played by Gerry Quigley)
• Hilda Sweetly - An ice cream saleswoman dressed in an ice cream costume. (played by Taborah Johnson)
• April May McJune - A cautious animal wrangler. She can take care of animals such as a rabbit, a parrot, or even a skunk. (played by Gina Sorell)
• Charlene von Pickings - A posh and snobby rich woman who speaks with a British accent and is very difficult to impress. (played by Fiona Reid)
• Jake - A teenager who visits the Noddy Shop. In "Following Directions", he was sent to give Agatha and the kids directions while Noah takes off when he has the flu. (played by Albert Rosos)
• Itchy - Aunt Agatha's grandson. (played by Stephen Joffe)
• Rox - A girl who, along with Grit, challenged Kate and D.J. to a race in Sports Day. (played by Lauren Collins)
• Grit - A boy who, along with Rox, challenged Kate and D.J. to a race in Sports Day. (played by Jake Goldsbie)
• Sam - Truman's new friend. In "Ask Permission", he takes the mermaid without asking Noah, so Truman decides to tell Sam the Noddy story about Noddy setting a trap for Sammy Sailor, like the one Kate told him. (played by Daniel Magder)
• Robbie MacRhino - A mascot dressed as a green rhino in a traditional Scottish kilt. (played by Burke Lawrence)
• Ed Caruso - Robbie MacRhino's singing presenter who introduces Robbie MacRhino in song. (played by Greg Cross)

Toys and Antiques

• Noddy – The central character of the animated segments. During the live action segments in Season 2, he is mostly still, but occasionally wanders around and talks to Truman and often the shop toys. (voiced by Catherine Disher)
• Warloworth Q. Weasel (usually known simply as Warlow) - A malicious weasel in a bowler hat who resides in a Jack-in-the-box and always plays tricks on the other toys, but usually gets his comeuppance. When he pops out of the box, he sings and tap dances in his tap shoes of his feet. (voiced by Frank Meschkuleit)
• Bonita Flamingo – A bright orange plush flamingo dressed like Carmen Miranda. She spoke in an exaggerated Spanish accent, often saying things in Spanish and English.
• Johnny Crawfish – A lobster who tells a lot of jokes and resides in a fish tank, and sometimes plays rock and roll songs on the piano. He is inspired by Johnny Carson. (voiced by James Rankin)
• Big Ears – A friendly gnome who is Noddy's helper and father figure in the animated segments. Unlike Noddy, he never moves or talks at all during the live action segments. (voiced by Benedict Campbell)
• Sherman – A clockwork turtle with wheels like a tank, who wears an army helmet. (voiced by James Rankin)
• Rusty – A toy clown who is good friends with Sherman, and always rides on his back. (voiced by Matt Ficner)
• Planet Pup – A small robotic dog, supposedly from outer space. He was the first toy to interact with Truman and gets along with him. (voiced by James Rankin)
• Lichtenstein – A beer tankard shaped like a Viking's head, usually referred to simply as "Stein". He doesn't speak much, but could usually be seen singing along with the songs. When he does speak, he has a noticeable German accent, and ends many of his sentences with "Ja". (voiced by Matt Ficner)
• Island Princess – A wooden carving, rather like a ship's figurehead, in a traditional Hawaiian costume. She sees everything that goes on in the shop, and sometimes alerts the toys to the pranks of the Goblins. (voiced by Alyson Court)
• Gertie Gator – A plastic alligator who stands on two legs, wears red glasses, a purple dress and carries a matching umbrella. In the song from the episode "Growing Lies", Gertie Gator wears a yellow choir gown, indicating that the song is gospel and pop. (voiced by Taborah Johnson)
• Granny Duck – A wise plastic duck on wheels who wears a red hat, glasses and who usually speaks in rhyme. (voiced by Noreen Young)
• The Do-Wop Penguins – Four penguins who never speak and only sing in every episode, sometimes as Gertie Gator's backing group. Along with the Ruby Reds, they often provide short interludes introducing the Noddy story, or a turning point in the action of the episode.
• Ruby Reds – A box of five fake lips who also have no spoken dialogue, but sing in every episode, sometimes as Johnny Crawfish's backing group.
• Fred and Gingersnap – A couple of porcelain pig figuirines in matching outfits- one blue, one pink- and berets. They speak in an exaggerated French accent.
• Whiny and Whimper the Crybabies – Two babies, one male, one female – one is dressed in pink, the other in blue – in a cradle. They often cry at any tense situation like lost rattles. They are usually found singing with the other characters. In one episode, a miscast spell by Boobull causes them to speak like teenagers. (voiced by Matt Ficner and James Rankin)
• Shorty Salt Shaker and Slim Pepper Shaker – Salt and pepper shakers shaped like saguaro, with cowboy hats and bandannas- one red, one blue. They speak with a Southern accent. (voiced by Frank Meschkuleit and James Rankin)
• Gaylord Gumball – A wise gumball machine, who's handles and slot resemble a moustache and mouth. (voiced by Frank Meschkuleit)
• Wind-up Teeth – A pair of wind up chattery teeth that chatters when excited or scared.

Minor Toy Characters

• The Tooth Fairy: Appears in "The Tooth Fairy". She is a fairy who comes to see Truman in the shop who gets a loose tooth. (played by Carol Kane)
• Jack Frost: Appears in "Jack Frost is Coming to Town". He lives inside a snow globe. (played by Gilbert Gottfried)
• Disrupto: A robot who appears in "Big Bullies" and "The Human Touch". In the latter episode, it is revealed that he is capable of interacting with a computer. He then appeared in the series finale "Closing Up Shop", where he informs Seymour Polutski that smoking is not permitted in the shop before confiscating the cigar with his left claw and using the new toy Goopy Gary as a trap, prompting Polutski to escape and withdrawing from his proposal.
• Angelina: Appears in "Part of the Family". She was forgotten in Noah's stockroom, but was brought to life upon the presence of a visitor named Julie.
• Annabelle: Appears in "Anything Can Happen at Christmas". She is Santa Claus's wife who comes to check on her favourite toys in the shop. (played by Betty White)
• The Sandman: Appears in "The Sandman Cometh". He casts a spell that puts everyone in the shop to sleep. (played by Colin Fox)

Cast

Live Action Cast

• Sean McCann as Noah Tomten, a former sailor who now runs an antique shop called the Noddy Shop.
• Katie Boland as Kate Tomten, Noah's granddaughter.
• Max Morrow as Truman Tomten, Noah's grandson.
• Kyle Kassardjian as Daniel "D.J." Johnson, Kate and Truman's friend.
• Jayne Eastwood as Agatha Flugelschmidt, Noah's scatterbrained sister, who owns the hat shop next door. She is good friends with the children, who call her Aunt Agatha. She is married, but her husband is unseen.
• Dan Redican as Officer Carl Spiffy (Season 1 only)
• Neil Crone as Officer Bud Topper (Season 2 only)
• Taborah Johnson as Miss Hilda Sweetly, an ice-cream vendor who pushes a cart dressed as a giant strawberry ice-cream cone (vanilla in an early episode). There is implication that she and Noah are romantically attracted to each other.
• Gerry Quigley as Davy Gladhand, a salesman.
• Gina Sorell as April May McJune, a Brownie leader and friend of Aunt Agatha's.
• Albert Rosos as Jake, a teenager who visits the Noddy Shop.
• Stephen Joffe as Itchy, Aunt Agatha's nephew.
• Jake Goldsbie as Grit, a boy in Sports Day.
• Lauren Collins as Rox, a girl in Sports Day.
• Daniel Magder as Sam, Truman's new friend.
• Burke Lawrence as Robbie MacRhino, a mascot dressed as a green rhino in a traditional Scottish kilt.
• Greg Cross as Ed Caruso, Robbie MacRhino's singing presenter.
• Jim Calder as Lurk Goblin, the father in a family of goblins who live in a small doll's house and create much of the drama in the series. He mainly talks gibberish, with a few recognisable words.
• Nikki Pascetta as Snipe Goblin, the mother of the Goblin Family. Like her husband Lurk, she mainly speaks in gibberish.
• Gil Filar as Boobull Goblin, the son of Lurk and Snipe. Despite being the youngest, he is intelligent, speaks proper English, and appears to be in charge of his Mom and Dad.

Guest Stars

• Carol Kane as the Tooth Fairy (in "The Tooth Fairy")
• Fiona Reid as Charlene von Pickings (in "To the Rescue", "Telling the Whole Truth", "How Rude" and "Be Patient")
• Harry Anderson as Jack Fable (in "The Magic Show")
• Gilbert Gottfried as Jack Frost (in "Jack Frost is Coming to Town")
• Gerard Parkes as Wally the Wanderer (in "Noah's Leaving")
• Betty White as Annabelle (in "Anything Can Happen at Christmas")
• Colin Fox as the Sandman (in "The Sandman Cometh")
• Michael Cera as Butch (in "Big Bullies")
• Jeff Pustil as Seymour Polutski (in "Closing Up Shop")
• Graham Harley as Rodney Styx (in "The Big Showdown")
• George Buza as Gus the Garbage Truck Driver (in "Going Bananas")
• Shadia Simmons

Puppet Voices

• Frank Meschkuleit
• Matt Ficner
• James Rankin

Noddy Animation Voices

• Catherine Disher - Noddy, Master Tubby Bear, Sly
• Karen Bernstein - Tessie Bear
• Benedict Campbell - Big Ears, Mr. Plod, Mr. Tubby Bear, Clockwork Clown and Bunky
• Lynne Griffin - Miss Pink Cat, Martha Monkey
• James Rankin - Gobbo
• Fiona Reid - Mrs. Tubby Bear, Mrs. Noah
• Michael Stark - Sammy Sailor, Mr. Sparks, Mr. Straw, Mr. Wobbly Man, Mr. Milko, Clockwork Mouse, Mr. Noah, Mr. Train Driver, Mr. Jumbo
• Sharon Lee Williams - Dinah Doll
• Jimmy Hibbert - Original British Voices, Noddy's Car, Bumpy Dog, Lord Giraffe
• Susan Sheridan - Original British Voices, Lady Giraffe

Puppeteers

• Matt Ficner
• Frank Meschkuleit
• James Rankin
• Gord Robertson
• Anthony Asbury
• John Pattison
• Noreen Young
• Stephen Brathwaite

Episodes

Season 1 (1998)

Christmas Special (1998)

Season 2 (1999–2000)

VHS/DVD releases