Have You got the Tweenies? No, It's just the way I'm standing! (Tweenies)

Member Name: Nolly

Product:	Tweenies
Date:	05/06/01 (53 review reads)
Rating:

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I've been off sick from work for over two months now. There have been quite a few negative aspects of this. Two lots of medication, fatigue, missing my colleagues and the schoolchildren. However, there have been one or two more positive aspects. I am enjoying spending more time with my daughter and my wife, I get to see more cricket on the telly, and I have real fun twice a day between Monday and Friday. Why? I hear you ask. Well, let me explain...

I have become a real fan of the Tweenies. Every weekday morning at 10:30 on BBC2 and at 3:30 on BBC1, I sit down, with or without Ellie, although having her nearby is a great excuse for me to act in an immature manner, if I were to actually need an excuse to be immature! Television viewing for toddlers brings back memories for me of Play School with Brian Cant and others- stories, Big Ted, Humpty and the gang, the round, square and arched windows and the boring pets day on a Wednesday. It was always pets day on a Wednesday. God, that show ran for years, and every Wednesday it was about pets. I don't know about you but there can only be two or three ways to change the straw in a rabbit hutch and to give said bunny rabbit some lettuce. Anyway, I digress...

Tweenies was seen as the natural successor to that doyen of programmes for the little people, Teletubbies. It hasn't had quite the same following, but I feel that it would be wrong to compare them as similar programmes. Tweenies caters for a slightly more mature audience. All the characters speak English and the activities, stories and songs cater for a slightly older viewer. The one major similarity, though, is that Tweenies also centres on a number of characters in silly costumes, except these are distinctly humanoid and they don't have aerials stuck into the top of their heads!

The setting for this show appears to be a playgroup, although this is never overtly explained to us, the viewers. There are two older staff members, ca
lled Max and Judy, and a multicoloured dog called Doodles. But they are supporting characters. Who are the real stars?

They are 4 young children, 2 male and 2 female:

Bella (blue face, longish yellow hair)- the oldest and the bossiest.

Milo (purple face, spiky brown hair)

Fizz (yellow face, curly brown hair)

Jake (orange face, yellow mohican haircut) - the youngest and smallest.

The focus of activities in the playgroup is the 'Tweenie Clock'. Each character presses it from time to time and says 'Tweenie Clock, where will it stop?' (You can see I've done my research on this one, can't you?) Each programme starts with song time, as the characters like to sing and dance. There is also 'Telly Time', 'Story Time', 'Messy Time' (paint etc) and at the end of the show there is 'News Time' where the characters discuss what they have learned during the programme, which is a very good educational device- indeed this is taught to teachers to get children to explain what they have learned. I warn you the songs are very catchy and you will end up humming them day after day. Among my favourites.... sorry, among Ellie's favourites are 'Shoe Song', 'Splish Splosh', and 'We're really glad you came..'.

The characters are recognisable and all have their own character traits. I also feel that they have had a significant, yet unreported effect on celebrities. If you become a Tweenies afficionado like me, you will notice that David Beckham used to have a haircut like Milo's, but now he has switched alliegances and has a mohican like Jake. I fully expect Posh to paint her face blue, dye her hair blond and to wear a pair of fairy wings like Bella.

This show is informative, educational and, above all fun. Watch it, whether you have children or not. Although having toddlers is a pretty good excuse.

"We're really
glad you came, came, came, to play out in the rain, rain, rain" (Nolly moves away from Dooyoo singing badly at the top of his voice...

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