The Caribou Kitchen
The Caribou Kitchen is a British preschool animated television series, particularly intended for children aged between two and five years old, which aired on the ITV network's CITV block from 5 June 1995 to 3 August 1998, running for 52 episodes over 4 series. Created by Andrew Brenner, it was produced by Maddocks Cartoon Productions and World Productions for Scottish Television. Ealing Animation was credited as a production company in the third and fourth series. All four series were aired on the ITV network on Monday afternoons during the spring and summer season, originally at 3:30pm and moving later in its run to 3:40pm and 3:35pm.
| The Caribou Kitchen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | Caribou Kitchen Claudia's Caribou Kitchen |
| Genre | Animation Children's television series |
| Created by | Andrew Brenner |
| Developed by | Etta Saunders Andrew Brenner |
| Written by | Andrew Brenner |
| Directed by | Guy Maddocks |
| Creative director | Peter Maddocks |
| Voices of | Kate Robbins |
| Narrated by | Kate Robbins |
| Theme music composer | Nicholas Paul with lyrics by Andrew Brenner |
| Composer | Nicholas Paul |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 52 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Etta Saunders (series 1) Mike Watts (series 2-4) |
| Producers | Simon Maddocks (series 1-2) Richard Randolph (series 3-4) |
| Camera setup | Filmfex Services |
| Running time | 10 minutes per episode (approx.) |
| Production companies | Maddocks Cartoon Productions World Productions Scottish Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV (CITV) |
| Original release | 5 June 1995 – 3 August 1998 |
The show's main character is an anthropomorphic caribou called Claudia who runs a restaurant in the fictional town called Barkabout, assisted by her staff, the chef Abe the Anteater, and waiters Lisa the Lemur and Tom the Tortoise. The kitchen serves a number of talking animal guests, including Mrs Panda, Caroline the Cow, Gerald the Giraffe and Taffy the Tiger. Each of the 52 episodes lasts about ten minutes, and intends to teach its pre-school audiences important lessons.
The Caribou Kitchen's narrator is Kate Robbins who also voiced all of the show's characters (both male & female) and sang the show's theme song. The rights to the show are currently owned by Universal Television, the current successor of Entertainment Rights, who had previously owned the rights.[1]
Characters
- Claudia the Caribou: the title character and owner of The Caribou Kitchen
- Abe the Anteater: the chef or "cook"
- Lisa the Lemur: the waitress
- Tom the Tortoise: the waiter
- Cyril the Squirrel: an assistant staff member
- Caroline the Cow
- Mrs Panda
- Taffy the Tiger
- Kevin the Chameleon: an interior decorator
- Hector the Hippopotamus: who runs the local fruit & vegetable shop
- Godfrey the Goat: a gardener
- Helen the Hamster: the truck driver
- Betty the Beaver: a carpenter
- Flora the Frog
- Sophie the Swallow
- Penelope the Porcupine: runs the Barkabout Corner Shop.
- Gerald the Giraffe
- Susanna the Snake: a doctor
Episodes
Season 1 (1995)
| No. in season | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Table for Two" | June 5, 1995 | |
| Hector and Helen pay a visit to Claudia's Caribou Kitchen, and lots of confusion is caused, because whilst Hector is large, because he is a hippopotamus, Helen is small, just because she is a hamster. | |||
| 2 | "Too Many Ant Eaters" | June 12, 1995 | |
| Claudia goes out shopping to find ingredients for a stew, a salad and a cake. Abe the Anteater, meanwhile can't help but eat all the ants in the kitchen, without anybody looking. | |||
| 3 | "First Come, First Served" | June 19, 1995 | |
| 4 | "Big is Beautiful" | June 26, 1995 | |
| 5 | "Colour Co-Ordinated" | July 3, 1995 | |
| 6 | "Not Enough Cooks" | July 10, 1995 | |
| Claudia is understaffed when Abe is sent home unwell, and Mrs Panda filling in is not helping. | |||
| 7 | "One-Track Tummy" | July 17, 1995 | |
| Taffy causes trouble in the kitchen by wanting to eat a caribou (Claudia) before ordering a very large meal prepared from a new recipe by Abe. | |||
| 8 | "Rhyme Without Reason" | July 24, 1995 | |
| 9 | "A Snack in Time" | July 31, 1995 | |
| 10 | "Soap or Soup" | August 7, 1995 | |
| 11 | "Share is Fair" | August 14, 1995 | |
| The Caribou Kitchen holds a birthday party for Sophie the Swallow, but Lisa the Lemur is having trouble trying to share everything out between all the guests. | |||
| 12 | "There's No Need to Shout" | August 21, 1995 | |
| Betty's two children are being very loud, which Sophie and Flora find very unpleasant. | |||
Season 2 (1996)
| No. in season | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Old Hat" | April 15, 1996 | |
| Tom the Tortoise, the only waiter in the Caribou Kitchen, lends Godfrey the Goat his hat when it rains outside in the town, but then, Godfrey eats it when the rain stops. | |||
| 2 | "Copy Cat Squirrel" | April 22, 1996 | |
| 3 | "Poor Plums" | April 29, 1996 | |
| 4 | "The Cherry Tree" | May 13, 1996 | |
| 5 | "There's More To Lunch Than Bamboo" | May 20, 1996 | |
| Mrs. Panda and Caroline the Cow have an argument. | |||
| 6 | "Snake Charmer" | June 3, 1996 | |
| Susanna the Snake arrives in Barkabout, and she pays a visit to The Caribou Kitchen. | |||
| 7 | "Tigers Keepers" | June 10, 1996 | |
| Taffy finds a pocket watch, unaware that it actually belongs to Gerald the Giraffe, who is worried about where it has ended up. | |||
| 8 | "Snakes and Ladders" | June 17, 1996 | |
| Kevin goes to Susanna's new home to decorate it. | |||
| 9 | "Timed Tables" | June 24, 1996 | |
| Tom is a bit slow to take all orders, while Lisa is a bit hasty to go about. | |||
| 10 | "Lost At Tea" | July 1, 1996 | |
| Sophie and Flora have a picnic in Barkabout Woods. When Sophie goes to sleep however, Flora wanders off and has tea with Caroline without telling Sophie, causing her to wake up thinking that Flora is lost and getting Claudia to send out a search party. | |||
| 11 | "Untidying Up" | July 8, 1996 | |
| 12 | "Pain in the Prickles" | July 15, 1996 | |
| 13 | "Not Enough Pebbles" | July 22, 1996 | |
| It is Claudia's birthday, and Sophie would like to get her a gift, but she unfortunately doesn't have enough pebbles (Barkabout's currency) to do so. | |||
Season 3 (1997)
| No. in season | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Bigger the Better" | April 7, 1997 | |
| Sophie and Flora indulge in the Caribou Kitchen's food, but what they don't realise is that they've gone over their budget. | |||
| 2 | "Fruit and Nuts" | April 14, 1997 | |
| Cyril spends a lot of time cracking jokes instead of helping out in the Caribou Kitchen. | |||
| 3 | "Abe's Day Off" | April 21, 1997 | |
| When Abe sleeps past his alarm clock, and is late for work, Claudia goes to his home, but he lets him have the day off. | |||
| 4 | "Two Friends Are Better Than One" | April 28, 1997 | |
| Hector and Helen go and see their other Barkabout friends. Hector goes to the Caribou Kitchen with Kevin whilst Helen has tea at Susanna's home. | |||
| 5 | "Proud to Be Prickly" | May 12, 1997 | |
| Tired with her pointy prickles, Penelope gets some help from Caroline the Cow. | |||
| 6 | "A Very Silly Secret" | May 19, 1997 | |
| Lisa accidentally breaks a bowl, and must not let Claudia know about it. | |||
| 7 | "The Garden Party" | June 2, 1997 | |
| A thunderstorm hits Abe's garden. His friends try to help him out. | |||
| 8 | "The Push of the Tiger" | June 9, 1997 | |
| Taffy gets pushy when things don't go his way. | |||
| 9 | "Moving Slow" | June 16, 1997 | |
| Tom is late for work again due to his slow pace. | |||
| 10 | "Swing is Here" | June 23, 1997 | |
| Betty can't get her new rope swing through the door of the Caribou Kitchen and needs help. | |||
| 11 | "Doctors and Nurses" | June 30, 1997 | |
| Sophie and Flora fall ill and go to see the doctor, Susanna the Snake. | |||
| 12 | "Bamboo for One" | July 7, 1997 | |
| 13 | "Promises, Promises" | July 14, 1997 | |
| Kevin the Chameleon gets into a bit of a mess when he helps with the decorating. | |||
| 14 | "The Ant Thief" | July 21, 1997 | |
Season 4 (1998)
| No. in season | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Please Wipe Your Feet" | April 6, 1998 | |
| 2 | "Help Not Wanted" | April 20, 1998 | |
| 3 | "My Way" | April 27, 1998 | |
| 4 | "Taffy's Best Friend" | May 11, 1998 | |
| Taffy notices every animal has a friend except him, And has to find himself a friend to play with. | |||
| 5 | "A Change of Tart" | May 18, 1998 | |
| 6 | "Size Isn't Everything" | June 1, 1998 | |
| Abe is jealous of Godfrey's big tomatoes, so he tries to make them himself to eat, not realising that they don't even taste nice. | |||
| 7 | "You Can Drive My Truck" | June 8, 1998 | |
| When Helen suddenly sprains a muscle, Hector does her morning delivery while she rests, but he's very nervous to do so. | |||
| 8 | "Two Waiters Are Better Than One" | June 22, 1998 | |
| When Tom accidentally gets involved in an accident with Mrs Panda because of an argument with Lisa, he is forced to help her move her sofa. Lisa then figures out it can be incredibly hard work to do her jobs and Tom's at the same time. | |||
| 9 | "What's Not Hot Pot?" | July 6, 1998 | |
| Taffy becomes a chef just like Abe. However It turns out that he doesn't know how to make bug stew. | |||
| 10 | "A Wash in Time..." | July 13, 1998 | |
| Lisa tries to do other jobs while waiting for the washing to finish. | |||
| 11 | "Noise Annoys" | July 20, 1998 | |
| Cyril wants to play music, although it irks Abe. | |||
| 12 | "What the Panda Saw" | July 27, 1998 | |
| Mrs. Panda's glasses are accidentally broken, so Sophie and Flora help her to find her spare pair. | |||
| 13 | "Cooking for Cooks" | August 3, 1998 | |
References
- "Entertainment Rights - Caribou Kitchen". 10 July 2011. Archived from the original on 10 July 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
External links
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