Bill and Ben (TV series)

Bill and Ben is a British stop-motion animated children's programme, produced by Cosgrove Hall Films for BBC Worldwide. It serves as a remake of the 1952 series *Flower Pot Men*. Production started in 2000, and the show ran for two series, broadcasting from 4 January 2001 to 10 December 2002.

A colour remake titled *Bill and Ben* debuted on Children’s BBC on BBC One on 4 January 2001. It used stop-motion animation and a 35mm film look, with a team of ten animators at Cosgrove Hall Films. Voice actors included John Thomson (who also narrated), Jimmy Hibbert, and Eve Karpf. In Ireland, it aired on RTÉjr and previously on CBeebies from 11 February 2002 until the afternoon of 29 August 2008.

Several new characters were added. A mean female rosebush with two talking buds, named Rose, appeared in the neighbour’s garden. A mischievous female prickly plant called Thistle, a female magpie named Pry (obsessed with shiny treasure, often bottle caps), a male hedgehog called Boo, and a male frog named Tad were introduced. Slowcoach the Tortoise returned with few changes, remaining the calm, slow-moving character from the original. A female squirrel named Scamper and her baby nephew, a male squirrel called Scuff, joined the cast. A female spider named Whimsy, a male earthworm named Whoops, and a male talking tomato called Ketchup also appeared. Another male tortoise, Lightning, is Slowcoach’s brother. The voice tones of Bill and Ben swapped: Bill now has a deep voice, Ben a high one. Weed no longer just says her name; she speaks conventional English, acting as an “earth mother” to Bill and Ben and often helping them.

Episodes are listed in order of first UK broadcast per *Radio Times*. The last three episodes of the first series, featuring snow, were delayed until Christmas and aired out of sequence between episodes 11 and 12 of the second series. The first series aired on BBC One (CBBC strand) and BBC Two (CBBC strand); the second series aired on BBC Two (CBBC strand) and BBC Two (CBeebies strand). Several VHS and DVD releases were issued by BBC Worldwide. In April 2008, Ben Productions LLC and Bulldog Licensing appointed 2 Entertain as home video distributor as part of a merchandise-led relaunch.