The Lampies

The Lampies
Genre	Comedy Entertainment Adventure
Created by	Dave Bonner
Developed by	Red Balloo Productions
Written by	David Bonner Jimmy Hibbert
Directed by	Dean Roberts Mark Marren
Voices of	Jimmy Hibbert Eve Karpf Rob Rackstraw Susan Sheridan
Theme music composer	Mcasso
Composer	Mcasso
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	46
Production
Executive producers	Theresa Plummer-Andrews James Coldwell
Producer	Morgan Francis
Cinematography	Mark Edwards
Editors	Mark Edwards Rory Timoney
Running time	11 minutes per episode (approx.)
Original release
Network	CBBC
Release	12 October 2000 (2000-10-12) – 18 April 2002 (2002-04-18)

The Lampies is a British 2000–2002 animated children's television series, created by David Bonner and remains with a mix of 2D and 3D animation.

Created by David Bonner in conjunction with Uli Meyer Animation Studios and music by Mcasso Music, there are fifty eleven-minute episodes that were originally commissioned by the BBC. Financial issues caused the creative and business drive to falter, and all momentum was lost and the crew were unable to complete the second series. In 2003 The Lampies IP was bought from the receiver by the chairman of Darlington Football Club and businessman, George Houghton. Surviving episodes of The Lampies remain available on magnetic VHS tape and DVD in the United Kingdom.

Plot

A group of sprite-like power engineers maintain and defend the lamp post H032 which is the critical area of the entire Lighting Network. The Roons, who live in the sewers below, are the creatures who plan to threaten the Lighting Network due to their strong dislike of light. Sewer rats can still also prove to be a pest to the Lampies.

Characters and Voice Cast

The Lampies Crew

• Burnout (voiced by Jimmy Hibbert) – The laid back foreman of the Lampies who always runs scheduled switches for the lamp light. He has green skin and white hair and always wears a dark blue jumpsuit. "Jumping fuses!" remains as Burnout's catchphrase.
• Spotlight (voiced by Eve Karpf) – The routine inspector of the Lampies. She acts like mother to all the other Lampies. She has green skin, lavender hair and she (mostly) wears a pink jumpsuit.
• Charge (voiced by Rob Rackstraw) – The clumsy, day-dreaming assistant worker of the Lampies. He is the most prone to problems. He has blue skin and blue hair and wears a yellow jumpsuit, just like Contact. There still is a running gag involving Charge falling into H032's control room through the circular hole in the ceiling.
• Contact (voiced by Susan Sheridan) – The serious and sensible computer operator of the Lampies with has her young niece, Livewire. She has purple skin, red hair and wears a yellow jumpsuit, just like Charge.
• Livewire (voiced by Susan Sheridan) – Contact's young niece, who has pale peach skin and pink hair. Livewire speaks in a high-pitched voice, and (most of the time,) she wears a pink jumpsuit, similar to Spotlight. She is often pushed around by H032's grown-ups, nevertheless she manages to save the day several times. Livewire manages to play with "Dustywugg", her pet, whenever she can do so.
• Dustywugg the Dog (voiced by Jimmy Hibbert) – A furry sprite who serves as the Lampies' pet and mascot. He has orange fur and enjoys playing where possible with his friend, Livewire. Dustywugg can be quite cheeky at times, but the grown-ups, including Contact, always understand.
• Captain Bright Light (voiced by Jimmy Hibbert) – The absent-minded captain of the Lampies. He has pale skin, brown hair and wears a green jumpsuit. He has an older brother, Flash Light, who is bigger and stronger, yet he is not as brave as Bright Light.

Antagonists

• The Roons (voiced by Jimmy Hibbert and Rob Rackstraw) – A large group of green-faced creatures, who live in the sewers below the Lampies world. They are afraid of light (even when it comes to small flashlights) and constantly try to break all the streetlights around.
• Arch Roon (voiced by Jimmy Hibbert) – The leader of the Roons who mostly stays in the yard, even though he doesn't show any signs of fear of the light. The only person he actually fears is his mother.

Other characters

• Brigadier Big Beam (voiced by Rob Rackstraw) – The superior organiser of the Lighting Network. He has purple skin, white hair and wears a green uniform.
• Phosphorous (voiced by Eve Karpf) – The Brigadier's officer liaison and Charge's love interest. She has pale skin, brown hair and wears yellow shirt and red skirt.
• Captain Spentflint – Formerly the Lampies' captain and now retired. Criticised as a slave driver.
• Spark (voiced by Rob Rackstraw) – Livewire's good friend who is the keeper of a bike light. People like him are called Bikeys.
• Neon – A one-off character for the show's series 2 opener - features in the "Light Up the World for Christmas" single.
• Haywire (voiced by Rob Rackstraw) – A one-off character in series 1 episode 11 "Bouncer" who is Burnout's cousin, living in Lamppost HY11 in sector 14.
• Bouncer (voiced by Eve Karpf) – The chattering, gossiping green grasshopper who has blue eyes. She only appears in Series 1 Episode 11 "Bouncer" and is mentioned by quite a few of the main Lampies members, including Burnout.
• Captain Spectrum (voiced by Rob Rackstraw)
• Flash Light (voiced by Rob Rackstraw)
• Boris the Bat (voiced by Jimmy Hibbert) - A male pipistrelle bat who only appears in the episode "Boris". Boris proves to be a friend to the Lampies.
• Jeff the Alien (voiced by Rob Rackstraw) - A male alien who only appears in the episode "The Inspection".
• PJ (voiced by Susan Sheridan) - A young human boy who lives in one of the houses in the town with his parents. He only appears in the episode "The Boy Who Could See The Lampies". PJ eventually becomes firm friends with Livewire and Spark and in return, he offers them a free ride on board his toy train in his bedroom.

Episodes

Series 1

#	Title	Summary	Air Date
1	Captain Who	The Roons invade H032, but the newly recruited Captain Bright Light repels them.	12 October 2000
2	Dustywugg: Space Marine	With the H032 crew captured by the Roons, Dustywugg inspired by Captain Spectrum, goes superhero.	19 October 2000
3	Walkabout	Charge runs away from H032, along with Dustywugg the Dog following him. They both get lost in the sewers, but, in the end, Dustywugg finds the way back.	26 October 2000
4	The Inspection	The H032 crew to try to clean their home in time for the Brigadier's inspection, when an alien called Jeff arrives with just what they need.	2 November 2000
5	Flash by Name	Captain Bright Light dreads a visit from his brother, Flash Light. However, Flash Light is not what he first appears to be.	9 November 2000
6	Dustywuppy	Livewire, Dustywugg's owner, adopts a Dustywuppy who turns out to be extremely messy. Eventually, he is returned to his rightful owners, and all is well.	16 November 2000
7	Bird's Nest Oops	As Charge tries to fix a malfunction in H032, a pigeon mistakes him for her baby. The Lampies solve the malfunction and fix HO32.	23 November 2000
8	A Bit of a Jam	Fed up with being pushed around by the lamppost's grown-ups, Livewire leaves H032 all by herself, and manages to thwart a Roon plot to short circuit the lamppost.	30 November 2000
9	Bikey	A Bikey called Spark visits the Lampies and, later that night, Livewire pays him an exchange visit.	7 December 2000
10	Thunder and Frightening	The Lampies are missing a Denby Attecorn to prevent the worst during a thunderstorm. Contact manages to get one in time to save HO32.	14 December 2000
11	Bouncer	On a visit to Burnout's cousin Haywire down at a farm, Charge rescues a trapped grasshopper named Bouncer, who in turn saves him from Mousetrap, a fierce-looking cat.	21 December 2000
12	Boris	A Pipistrelle Bat called Boris rests inside the lamp. As the Roons make a daytime attack, Boris scares them away.	21 December 2000
13	Decoy	The Roons kidnap Brigadier Big Beam. Using a diversion and the Roons' decoy, the Lampies rescue Big Beam.	8 January 2001
14	Dick Static	After a sudden knock on the head, Charge believes himself to be his private eye hero, Dick Static.	15 January 2001
15	Too Many Cooks	Burnout builds a cooking robot to help Spotlight, but the robot hardly improves cooking for the Lampies.	22 January 2001
16	Striplight	Charge and Contact get lost, and find themselves beneath an airport runway.	29 January 2001
17	Tooth of the Matter	Charge breaks a tooth, and has to visit the dentist.	5 February 2001
18	Chief Beef	Deciding that it's time to build up his muscles, Charge visits Chief Beef's gym, but is the muscle bound chief genuine?	12 February 2001
19	Cyber Lampy	A New Lampie is introduced to H032. He can do everything that the other lampies can do, and they worry they will lose their own jobs.	19 February 2001
20	Roadworks	The Lampies have trouble sleeping one night, due to some noisy roadworks trying to take over H032.	26 February 2001

Series 2

#	Title	Summary	Air Date
1	Neon	A musician named Neon has arrived at H032, and Livewire, Dustywugg and Spark get to play backup for him.	28 October 2001
2	Saved by the Bikey	Spark officially joins the team as a member of H032 and becomes a Lampie.	30 October 2001
3	The Boy Who Could See The Lampies	PJ, a boy who can see the Lampies gets friendly with Spark, Livewire and Dustywugg.	2 November 2001
4	Space Walk	Charge, Livewire and Spark meet Geoff yet again, and they get a taste of life in Outer Space.	4 November 2001
5	Boogie Lights	The Roons Capture Neon as he is on the way to another of his hugely successful gigs.	6 November 2001
6	Pump It Up	Spark gets a puncture, and he has to make visit to a human bike shop.	7 November 2001
7	Charge's Sausage Mole		15 November 2001
8	Sacked	The Lampies of H032 face being sacked by Brigadier Big Beam.	17 November 2001
9	Roon Goo Attack	The Roons plan to stop the Lampies "once and for all", by using their patent "Roon Goo", which can bring about the end of H032 permanently.	21 November 2001
10	HO32 Squadron	Spark drives a remote controlled plane, to rescue Dustywugg the Dog, causing chaos in a hardware store.	22 November 2001
11	Bike Gone	Spark earns his own bike, but after the Roons steal it, he and Livewire go on a daring mission to recover it.	23 November 2001
12	Moth Magic	Livewire looks after a moth which burns both its wings on the Lamp. Meanwhile, the Roons attack the Lampies of H032 with a honeycomb.	5 December 2001
13	Football Roonigans	H032 are invited to a football match by a Lampy who works in the floodlights at the football ground.	6 December 2001
14	Lampies, Unplugged	Spark and Livewire foil a fiendish plot to turn the lights out in H032.	27 December 2001
15	An Open and Shut Case	Two undercover agents visiting H032 are captured with Charge by the Roons, and Spotlight saves them posing as the Arch Roon's mother.	March 3rd, 2002
16	The Haunted Lamp	Charge's past sins catch up with him, as he learns that you cannot run from your own mistakes... or bury them all.	4 March 2002
17	Lights on Legs	Spark and Livewire befriend a little frog in the power conduit.	6 March 2002
18	A House Call	Spark and Livewire meet some very dull house-Lampies.	8 March 2002
19	The Vacation	Geoff the Alien takes Spark and Livewire to the holiday planet of Triluria.	9 March 2002
20	Watching Over Lois	Spark's Granny is captured by the Roons.	9 April 2002
21	Red Light at Night	The Roons topple the H032 lamp post. The Lampies try to find a way out before the lamp is crushed at the dump.	9 April 2002
22	The Good Roon	The Arch Roon, an enemy of the Lampies, plans to infiltrate H032 by pretending to have turned over a new leaf.	10 April 2002
23	All That Glitters	The Lampies help a leprechaun who has had is crook of gold stolen by the Roons.	12 April 2002
24	A Day at the Movies	Spark takes Livewire to meet two Lampies who work in a cinema, only for him to be bored stiff by some home movies.	14 April 2002
25	A Roon Alert	With a nationwide blackout in progress, the Lampies of HO32 must make it through 48 hours of total Roon Apocalypse alive.	16 April 2002
26	A Bright Light in Love	Captain Brightlight is Captured by Roons when he goes to Visit a Female Lampy he fell for while on a lamp-commanders training course.	18 April 2002

Reception

TV distribution rights for Series One were sold into 33 countries."International Songwriting Competition Results". 2006. When series one was broadcast in 2001 it regularly achieved over 40% of target viewing audience. This figure reached over 50% during 2002. Series two of The Lampies was completed in March 2002 and generated similar audience figures with prime slots on BBC 1 and 2.

Releases

HIT Entertainment released a single UK-only VHS tape release of the programme entitled "Captain Who and Other Stories" in 2001. After the sale of the series to LP Productions, the company began relaunching the series. An introductory DVD – Switch Onto the Lampies was launched on 7 April 2008. A full DVD release containing the first half of the first series - "A Bit of a Jam and Other Stories", was released on 19 May 2008.

LP Productions formed a partnership with Save the Children in 2008, where £2 from the sale of the introductory DVD went towards the Save the Children protection work.

External links

• The Lampies at IMDb
• The Lampies at toonhound.com
• Uli Meyer Animation Studios (TV section)