Tweenies

• Bella (operated by Tamsin Heatley, Emma Quintin, Esther Collins; voiced by Alyson Court in the US, Sally Preisig 1999–2000, Emma Weaver 2000–2002 in the UK) is a five-year-old blue-skinned girl with blonde hair and a red hair bow. As the oldest and tallest of the Tweenies, she is bossy, domineering, and likes to take the role of leadership in the Tweenies' games. Sometimes she causes things to go wrong with her arrogance - for instance, in the episode 'It Wasn't Me', Bella accidentally breaks one of the strings from Max's marionette puppet despite everyone having been told not to play with it as it was "special", and she hides it in Doodles' bed and tries to blame him. Despite this, she always apologizes for her wrongdoings eventually. Although Bella comes across as bossy, she has a caring heart and likes to help the younger Tweenies. Her interests include acting, dressing up, fairies and reading. Her favorite color is red. Her best friend is Fizz.
• Milo (operated by C.H. Beck 1999–2000, Matthew Lyons/Kate Ryan 2000–2002; voiced by Tracey Moore in the US, Bob Golding in the UK) is a four-year-old purple-skinned boy with black hair. The noisiest of the Tweenies, he is energetic, and loves telling jokes and playing pranks. Sometimes his impulsiveness and hyperactivity may result in him upsetting the other Tweenies, but he is ultimately friendly and good-hearted. He is quick to argue with Bella due to their loud, clashing personalities. He often adds the suffix "-a-rooney" to words. He loves soccer, racecars and magic. His favorite color is blue. His best friend is Jake.
• Fizz (operated by Jenny Hutchinson 1999–2000, Angela Reynolds 2000, Francesca Anderson 2001–2002; voiced by Lisa Yamanaka in the US, Colleen Daley in the UK) is a four-year-old yellow-skinned girl with reddish brown beaded hair. She is usually mild-mannered and laidback, but can become whiny and stroppy when she doesn't get her own way. Fizz is somewhat introverted; when something upsets her, she often retreats to the cubbyhouse for peace and quiet. Her favorite activities include dancing (especially ballet), painting, singing and playing with dolls. Her favorite color is pink. Her best friend is Bella.
• Jake (operated by Samantha Dodd 1999–2002; voiced by Colin O'Meara in the US, Justin Fletcher in the UK) is a three-year-old orange-skinned boy with a blonde mohican. Being the youngest Tweenie, he sometimes feels left out and excluded from the other Tweenies' games when he is not big enough to join in. He is the kindest of the Tweenies and has a close bond with Doodles, often turning to him for comfort or advice when unhappy. He is also very sensitive, and is prone to tears and tantrums when frustrated. He sometimes gets words mixed up. He loves playing pretend, especially as his superhero alter-ego, Dotman. His favorite color is green. His best friend is Milo.

• Doodles (operated by Alan Riley and John Tobias; voiced by James Rankin in the US, Justin Fletcher in the UK) is a red and yellow male dog. Doodles is a very friendly and calm dog. His favorite color is yellow. He loves going for walks with Max and can often be seen looking out for Jake.
• Izzles (operated by Fiona Watkins; voiced by Lisa Yamanaka in the US, Colleen Daley in the UK) is a purple and white female dog, who was first introduced in 2001. Unlike Doodles, she is a puppy and therefore much younger and very energetic. Her favorite color is purple. At first, her antics were not to the Tweenies liking, more so Jake but she has since calmed down and settled in. The girls often like to dress her up in fancy stuff. She is also a companion for Doodles. She was originally going to be called Squiggles until it was realized that someone already had the rights to that name and that small children find it hard to say 'SQU'.[1]
• Max (operated by Simon Grover/Matthew Lyons (some episodes); voiced by James Rankin in the US, Bob Golding in the UK) is a pink-skinned, middle-aged man who is one of the two managers of the playgroup of the Tweenies. He speaks with a Yorkshire accent. He loves animals, trains and exploring the outside world.
• Judy (operated by Simon Grover/Sinead Rushe (outside); voiced by Caroly Larson in the US, Sinead Rushe in the UK) is a green-skinned woman who is the other of the playgroup managers. She speaks with a Northern Irish accent. She loves reading, gardening and being creative.

In November 2000, the Tweenies appeared on a few episodes of the show Top of the Pops, performing their single No. 1.

In December 2000, the Tweenies starred in their own dedicated special of the series which featured more of their singles like Do The Lollipop and Have Fun Go Mad!. This episode was later released on VHS and DVD as Music is Pop-a-Rooney! in July 2002, with new wrap-around segments recorded in the Playgroup.

Beginning in 2001, the first Tweenies Live! show went on tour around arenas around the United States, produced by Tell-Tale Productions and BBC Worldwide, the show featured the Tweenies singing their favorite songs. A live-recording of this tour from the London Arena was released on VHS in July 2001. A follow-up show - Tweenies Live! 2: The Fab-a-Rooney Tour, toured from February–July 2002, and featured the live debut of Izzles.[4]

In December 2001, a follow-up show titled Tweenies Live! The Christmas Present was presented at the Royal Albert Hall for the Christmas period, and was later given a wide arena tour in December 2003-January 2004, where Izzles joined the cast. A recording of the 2001 version was released on VHS in November 2002 and was later released on DVD in November 2006 as part of the Tweenies: The Ultimate Christmas Collection DVD compilation.

The fourth tour - No Sleep 'til Bedtime, toured the US from March–May 2005. This tour was notable for featuring covers of licensed tracks sung by the Tweenies.

The fifth tour - The Enchanted Toyshop toured the US in the Spring and Summer of 2007. It was the first Tweenies live tour to be solely produced by BBC Worldwide and the first to be shown in theatres instead of arenas.

The most recent tour - Top of the Tots, toured the US in Early 2009 to celebrate the programme's 10th anniversary.

These were released by BBC Worldwide and some various DVDs are still available in retailers.

Many of the above videos have also been dubbed into other languages. In addition, several of the Tweenies videos were produced in special versions for retailers with additional footage (for example, the "Party Games, Laughs & Giggles" video distributed at Marks & Spencer stores carried two additional segments, adding ten minutes to the video's running time). Many of the above videos were also released as DVDs under different names. iTunes has released a Best of Tweenies volume 1 which consists of the first six episodes of the series.

From 1999 until 2006, various books were released from Tweenies, based on the episodes that were mostly aired. There were also annuals that were released from 2001 to 2006 and other books, based on each character from Tweenies.

From the late 1990s into the early 2000s, the Tweenies were one of the most popular set of children's TV characters at the time, which led to a wide range merchandise being sold. Many toys were sold in various retailers, such as Toys "R" Us, Argos, & Woolworths. Merchandise included soft toys, playsets, collectible figures, board games, jigsaws and puzzles, talking toys, the video games which were Tweenies: Doodles' Bones for Game Boy Color and Tweenies: Game Time for PlayStation, and many other products.

Tweenies: Game Time

Tweenies: Game Time is an educational kids video game released in Europe on 30 March 2001 for PlayStation, published by BBC Multimedia. It takes the form of a minigame collection. The player controls Milo, Jake, Fizz and Bella through a series of 4 scenarios inspired by the show, one for each character.

The game was developed by Intelligent Games. The direction of the game was partially based on research by BBC Worldwide of children who watched the Television show, which found that "singing and dancing are major factors in the success of the show". according to a BBC article from before the game launched.[6]