Fifi and the Flowertots is a British pre-school children’s animated television series created by Keith Chapman (who also created the Bob the Builder series) that ran from 2 May 2005 to 5 July 2010. The series was commissioned by Channel 5 and Nick Jr. and was the first production produced by Chapman Entertainment. Cosgrove Hall Films handled animation production for its first two series while Chapman took over stop-motion production in-house for the third, with newly-added CGI sequences produced by Studio Liddell.
The series features a group of flower-and-insect-based characters doing activities and having adventures through the garden. Fifi Forget-Me-Not (the title character and hostess) and Primrose were voiced by Jane Horrocks, while the other characters were voiced by Maria Darling, Tim Whitnall, Marc Silk and John Thomson. The music is produced by Alan Coates and Kim Goody, who worked on Tiny Planets.
Contents
Characters
Fifi Forget-Me-Not (voiced by Jane Horrocks) is a forget-me-not who is the cheerful hostess and main character of the series. She says 'hello' at the beginning of each episode, and 'goodbye' at the end. When she forgets what to do, she says: "Fiddly Flowerpetals!" before describing the problem for the audience to guess, and when she remembers, another character says: "Fifi Forget-Me-Not forgot!" while her catchphrase, sometimes, when she forgets what to do, is "Buttercups and Daisies!" and when something is wrong she says: "Diggly Dandelions!" She likes to cook and look after plants, lives in a watering can house, and loves her stuffed toy rabbit, Cottonsocks.
Bumble (Fuzzbuzz in the United States) (voiced by Marc Silk) is a good-natured bumblebee who is Fifi's best friend. He often visits her and is always ready to rescue her, but he isn't good at landing and usually crashes. His catchphrases are "Wiggly Worms!" and "Bouncing Blueberries!" He is also helpful, but almost every time he tries to help Fifi remember something, he often adds to the confusion.
Aunt Tulip (voiced by Tim Whitnall) is Fifi's aunt, who likes to have tea parties and conversations with the Flowertots. Her personality is described as very motherly and lively. She lives in a pineapple house and has a small pet grub named Grubby, who often goes missing easily. Her catchphrase is "Sweet Potatoes!" She also loves tropical things and Hawaiian culture.
Buttercup (voiced by Joanna Ruiz) is a buttercup who lives in a milk bucket house with her twin sister, Daisy. She has a stuffed toy mouse named Cornflower, has a fun-loving, excitable and lively personality, and frequently has good intentions, but she ends up causing problems as she is often unaware of the consequences. Whenever she and Daisy play with Pip, Buttercup comes off as irritated.
Daisy (voiced by Janet James) is a daisy who is shy and dreamy, like her twin sister Buttercup, but is slightly clumsy. She adores her stuffed toy duckling named Diddyduck and her personality is affectionate and polite. Daisy had her head in the clouds in the first two seasons, but her name was never mentioned until Season Three. She and Buttercup love playing games with Pip.
Poppy (Poppady in the United States) (voiced by Maria Darling) is a poppy and one of Fifi's friends who is boisterous and very hard-working. She has a market stall where she sells everything the Flowertots need for each episode and lives in a pumpkin house.
Primrose (voiced by Jane Horrocks) is a primrose and another of Fifi's friends. She is prim and proper and does not like getting messy, always wanting to look her best and getting upset when something goes wrong for her. Primrose also likes to create apparel for herself and tries to dress Fifi up. Her catchphrase is "I am NOT having a good day!" Sometimes, when Primrose does better, she says "Bothering Bluebells!".
Violet (voiced by Maria Darling) is a violet and another of Fifi's friends. She is very creative and loves painting. Violet lives with Primrose in a marrow house and is much more elegant, graceful and kind-hearted, regarding to Primrose.
Pip Gooseberry (voiced by Maria Darling) is a gooseberry who is the youngest of the Flowertots besides Buttercup and Daisy. He likes to help Fifi and Bumble in the garden, despite being sometimes noisy and getting excited easily. Fifi looks after Pip when Stingo and Slugsy play tricks on him. While he may come off as overly energetic to some people due to his young age, he has a very big heart and genuinely cares about everyone. Pip lives in the gooseberry bushes in his playground and his catchphrases are "Golly Goosegogs!" and "Golly Gooseberries!", although, on rare occasions, he says "Great Green Goosegogs!"
Stingo (voiced by Tim Whitnall) is a short-tempered wasp who causes trouble for the Flowertots, tries to steal food (such as cakes, blueberries, and chocolate), and lives in a red apple house. His catchphrase is "Rotten Raspberries!" Though Stingo is very naughty, he is not like that all the time and surprisingly has some good intentions. He has a brother-like relationship with his sidekick and best friend, Slugsy.
Slugsy (voiced by Marc Silk) is a simple-minded slug and Stingo's sidekick who lives at the top of his house and speaks with a lisp. He is always ready to help Stingo, but is slow and often accidentally ruins Stingo's plans. He also has a crush on Primrose, but does not want to admit it.
Flutterby (voiced by Tim Whitnall) is a butterfly who takes Buttercup and Daisy around the garden and has a landing pad near their house.
Webby (voiced by Maria Darling) is a spider who is the eldest and the wisest resident of Flowertot Garden. The Flowertots ask her for advice and help; however, Stingo and Slugsy avoid her not to hit the web she spins. Meanwhile, others consider her "so-called" as she lives in a web house.
Mo is Fifi's lawn mower, who takes the harvest and the Flowertots around the garden.
Diggly (Wigglit in the United States) (voiced by Nick Wilson) is a grumpy but amusing worm who lives on the compost heap, eats scraps, (though he prefers pumpkin pies), and gets more irritated than Primrose and Buttercup.
Hornetto (voiced by Tim Whitnall) is an Italian-accented hornet who is Stingo's cousin.
Development
Fifi was the first series put into development at the startup business Chapman Productions, formed by Bob the Builder creator Keith Chapman. Production on the series was announced in June 2001 when Chapman entered into a first-look development deal with Vision Video Ltd., a division of Universal Pictures Home Video, to develop the series with Universal Pictures handling worldwide distribution. While the name, series, and concept were not put into place at the time, the series was said to be more centric towards a female audience than Bob the Builder. The deal between Vision Video and Chapman fell through in 2003 due to financial issues at Universal's parent company Vivendi Universal. As a result, Chapman went on their own with the production of the series.
The series was officially announced as Fifi and the Flowertots on 18 March 2004, being greenlit by broadcasters Five and Nick Jr., and would simultaneously premiere on both channels in Spring 2005. Chapman entered into a distribution agreement with Target Entertainment in September, allowing them to distribute the series globally except in North America and the United Kingdom.
The series' global launch occurred on Five's children's programming block Milkshake! on 2 May 2005, and soon premiered on Nick Jr. at the end of the month. With the success of the series, Five and Nickelodeon UK commissioned a second series on 31 March 2006, split into a delivery of thirteen episodes which would air shortly after the initial announcement and the rest to air during the summer until the Spring of 2007.
On 1 October 2008, Five and Nickelodeon UK recommissioned Fifi for a third series. Series 3 would be produced at Chapman's animation studio in Altrincham, Cheshire, which had opened earlier in the year to produce the second series of Roary the Racing Car.
Episodes
Licensing and overseas broadcast
In June 2004, Chapman signed Vivid Imaginations as the master toy partner for the series. In August, as part of Chapman's distribution agreement with Target Entertainment, the company was also appointed worldwide consumer product rights and merchandising sales outside North America. In October, HarperCollins and BBC Worldwide signed UK deals to release books and magazines based on the series. In April 2005, it was announced that 2 Entertain had acquired British home video rights.
By June 2006, Target had signed over 34 merchandising deals in the United Kingdom for the series, alongside the master toy, publishing and home video deals done by Chapman.
In June 2007, HIT Entertainment picked up distribution rights to the series for North America and Japan. The show aired on Sprout from 2008-2012.
In September 2008, Chapman expanded their partnership with HIT Entertainment to include global live event and attraction format rights.
The deal between Target and Chapman for licensing rights ended at the end of April 2009, allowing Chapman to fully market the property in-house while Target would remain as distributor.