Budgie the Little Helicopter


Budgie the Little Helicopter is a British series of children's books and animated television series relating to a fictional helicopter and his friends. The characters were based on the books by Sarah Ferguson. The show was coproduced by Fred Wolf Films Dublin, The Sleepy Kids Company and Sarah, Duchess of York for ITV Wales & West and Scottish Television Enterprises, and originally aired on British television in 1994 on CITV, where it ran for 39 episodes. A range of videos, books, and toys were released under the Budgie label.
The show aired in the United States on FOX as part of the Fox Cubhouse programming block from 1995-1996, and moved to the Fox Family Channel in 1998.
On release of the first book, the Duchess was accused by the media of copying the idea for the series from an out-of-print 1960 book Hector the Helicopter, by A.W. Baldwin, which she denied.

Characters

Aircraft characters

Main aircraft

VHS TitleVHS numberRelease dateEpisodes
Budgie the Little Helicopter Pippa ArrivesVA303187 March 1994Pippa Arrives, Chuck Comes Unstuck, Budgie's Blizzard, Ice Work, Budgie, Budgie Takes a Catch
Budgie the Little Helicopter The Air ShowVA303367 November 1994The Air Show, All At Sea, Boats, Boots and Budgie, Copters and Robbers
Budgie the Little Helicopter Daydreams and Candy FlossVA303596 March 1995Daydreams and Candy Floss, Flying in Arctic Circles, What's Bruin?, Down on the Farm
Budgie the Little Helicopter Budgie Sticks To ItVA303723 July 1995Budgie Sticks To It, Skids, Stunts and Soap, Aliens Have Landed, Who's A Clever Budgie?, Blown Up, Let Down
Budgie the Little Helicopter Wally Waddles InVA303946 November 1995Wally Waddles In, The Balloon Goes Up, Surprise, Surprise, Deep Sleep
Budgie the Little Helicopter The Complete First SeriesVA3062613 May 1996Pippa Arrives, Chuck Comes Unstuck, Budgie's Blizzard, Ice Work, Budgie, Budgie Takes a Catch, The Air Show, All At Sea, Boats, Boots and Budgie, Copters and Robbers, Daydreams and Candy Floss, Flying in Arctic Circles, What's Bruin?, Down on the Farm
Budgie the Little Helicopter The Complete Second SeriesVA306477 October 1996Budgie Sticks To It, Skids, Stunts and Soap, Aliens Have Landed, Who's A Clever Budgie?, Blown Up, Let Down, Wally Waddles In, The Balloon Goes Up, Surprise, Surprise, Deep Sleep, Bad News, Good News, Budgie Barges In, Dutch Courage, Budgie's Opening Goal
Budgie the Little Helicopter The Complete Third SeriesVA306803 March 1997Boom Boom Budgie, Writers in the Sky, Double Trouble, Eye in the Sky, Chuck's Buddy, The Aqueduct, Plane Silly, The Plane Who Cried Wolf, The Runaway Train, A Tail of Woe, Put Up or Stuck Up, Silent Flight, Ups & Downs

US [VHS] Releases

Episodes

Season 1 (1994)

Season 2 (1995)

Season 3 (1996)

Season 4 (1997)

Home video releases

In 1997, UAV Entertainment released some episodes of the series on individual VHS tapes and the complete series tapes were also released. Two DVDs were released in the UK in 2004 and 2006 with selected episodes. In 2007, Jigsaw Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Australia and New Zealand.