Brum is a British children's television series created by Frank Beattie and Anne Wood. The series was originally narrated by Toyah Willcox, who also provided the voice for Brum and all characters. The show aired for three series between 1991 and 2002, with two revived CGI series on YouTube in 2016. The show first aired on BBC1 on the children's block, Children's BBC, and later on CBeebies.
Set in the "Big Town" (mostly filmed in Birmingham, England) and produced by Ragdoll Productions, Brum'''s first broadcasting was in 1991 and the last live-action series was broadcast in 2002. It was initially directed, written and produced by Anne Wood and initially narrated by Toyah Willcox who also provided the voice for Brum and all the characters in story form. In series 3, all the characters including Brum were silent except for all the car noises. The voiceover format used in the early 2000s was completely different; rather than the traditional storytelling format used in a third-person story form by Toyah Willcox, two child narrators, Tom Wright and Sarah Wichall, were featured, and each child narrator would most often comment on several of the events of each episode similar to silent film. Although it is the case, each child narrator would also do some of the on-screen characters' short spoken dialogue, a voiceover technique retained from the first two series produced in the 1990s. A new CGI-animated series, aimed at young pre-school children, was produced in 2016.
Plot and settingBrum is the story of a small, sentient yellow vintage car named Brum who ventures out into the Big Town when his owner is not looking and gets up to all manner of adventures. Each episode begins and ends in the same way, with Brum leaving the other cars in the motoring museum when the owner's back is turned and heading out to explore the Big Town, before eventually returning to his place. Each series has had its own background music. From series 1–2, the introduction music was the same, but in series 2, it used different instruments. From series 3–5, the music became jazzy, and a new title sequence was directed by Nigel P. Harris.
Brum can express himself in various mechanical ways, including opening and closing his doors and bonnet, bobbing his suspension, and flashing and swivelling. The actors in Brum do not speak, with mime and off-screen narration used instead to continue the story. It was therefore easy to prepare episodes for airing in other countries, and the series has been broadcast in many parts of the world and in many languages.
In addition to the onomatopoeic nature of a car engine revving, the name Brum (as a contraction of "Brummagem") is a reference to the common colloquial name for the city of Birmingham where most of the Big Town scenes were filmed. Although the series makes no direct mention of Birmingham, many of the city's streets and landmarks can be seen in each episode although other locations were occasionally used.
The show was written by a range of writers. Anne Wood primarily wrote all the first series, while the second was written by Tom Poole, Dirk Campbell, Andrew Davenport and Morgan Hall. The last two series were written by Nigel P. Harris (5 Episodes) and the existing Ragdoll team.
The car itself – a half-scale replica of a late-1920s Austin 7 Chummy convertible – was designed and built by Rex Garrod. It is now housed at the Cotswold Motoring Museum in Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, which is also where the opening and closing sequences of the programme were filmed.
Characters 1990s Museum Owner (Mike Cavanagh): The owner of the car museum where Brum lives. He is the only human character who appears in every episode and the only character who is apparently oblivious to Brum's adventures, (except for one where he finds Brum broken down at the scrapyard and helps him escape) despite finding items in Brum's back-seat at the end of each episode in Series 1 and 2. The actor, Mike Cavanagh, actually owned the Cotswold Motoring Museum until 1999. He died in 2021, and there is a plaque dedicated to him on the wall at the entrance to the Museum. The Lollipop Lady (Shirley-Anne Bohm): A lady who helps people, and Brum, cross the road safely, she appears in every episode in the second series. WPC Truncheon (Deborah Grant): the police officer in Big Town. Mr. and Mrs. La-Di-Dah (Brian Wilson and Lesley Stanier): A posh married couple who regularly featured in the second series. Mr. and Mrs. Doolally (Mark Barnsley; Zoey Foley O'Neill in Series 2, Ep. 4–5, 7, 10 and Theresa O'Malley in Series 2, Ep. 8): A friendly, if extremely absent-minded, couple who regularly featured in the first and second series. Vicky Spoon (Catherine Mathers): A regular cast member of the second series, Vicky is Brum's special friend. Micky Mender (Hugo Whyte): A handyman, a regular cast member of the second series. Two Big Town Bullies (Shazad Mahmood and Georgina Treharne) The Scrap Dealers (Dave Evans and Mark Walter) The Newspaper Boy (Daniel Brocklebank)
2000s Townspeople Traffic Policeman (Mark Powlett): A "knock-about" policeman, who owns a horse called Arrow who loves being fed apples. He wishes to sing in the Big Town's pop band, and always followed the rules when he was much younger. Granny Slippers (Linda Kerr Scott): An old lady who wears slippers wherever she goes, especially when shopping. As her name implies, she loves slippers to the point she owns 1,007 different pairs. She also has a kitten named Lucky. Despite her age, she would wish to "beat a motorbike in a race someday". Visiting Man (Jos Houben): One of Big Town's tourists. He loves taking pictures (especially of Brum) and discovering areas of Big Town he has not discovered yet. He also holds the Big Town record for standing on one leg. Mr. Brillo (Robert Thirtle): A man who lives next door to Granny Slippers. He has a wide collection of garden gnomes and wishes to own over 100 of them. His favourite gnome is a 342-year-old one named Gnorman. His favourite picture is the Gnoma Lisa. Gorgeous Gordon (Enoch White): A self-centred, arrogant hair-dresser who wears a black wig. Bob & Job (Kevin McGreevy & Adam Schumacher): Two comically clumsy men, who wear green dungarees and yellow T-shirts and help the big town in a way of slapstick style from Laurel and Hardy. Scruffy: A good friend of Brum's, a dog who loves bones, hot dogs and burying things. He once ate 150 hot dogs in one week. Big Town Mayor (John Woodford): The town manager. The Visiting Lady (Iona Kennedy / Carole Davies): The Visiting Man's wife who lives in the town. The Mayoress (Lesley Stanier): The mayor of Big Town. The Celebrity (Johnnie Fiori): A celebrity who appeared in the episode "Brum and the Airport Adventure" when she had her jewels stolen by Bubble & Squeak at the Big Town Airport. Mrs Posh (Iona Kennedy): The Richest lady in Big Town. Sally: A woman in the Big Town who had her cake stolen by teenagers on her birthday party in the episode, Brum and the Birthday Cake/Brum and the Cake Gang. Policewoman (Lisa Allen)
Baddies Two Masked Bank Robbers (Robert Goodman and Barry Robinson): Appeared in Brum and the Magician. The Big Town Robber (Andrew Davenport): Always up to mischief, the robber's antics include stealing the trophy for the big race. Brum is usually the one that foils his plans as seen in "Brum and the Big Chase/Dancing in the Street", and "Brum and the Big Town Race/Brum and the Trophy". Rob & Nick (Dan Carey and Jason Segade): A bumbling pair of thieves who are best known for stealing Mr. Brillo's gnome, robbing the golf buggy at the Big Town Golf Course, a posh celebrity's dog, Money hat from the artist and a waiter's apron at the pizza restaurant. They appeared in Brum and the Pizzeria, Brum and the Posh Dog/Brum and the Diamond Dog, Brum and the Golf Buggy, Brum and the Kidnapped Garden Gnome/Brum and the Garden Gnome, and Brum and the Paint Pandemonium/Brum and the Artist. Bubble & Squeak (Chalky Skywalker Chawner and Paul Jackson): A pair of thieves who love anything shiny, especially jewels. They wear clothes that never fit because they were stolen from washing lines. They appeared in Brum and the Airport Adventure, Brum and the Golden Loo, and Brum and the Bank Robbers/Brum and the Heavy Safe. Big Bad (Paul Filipiak): Appeared in Chasing Balloons, Brum and the Pantomime Cow/Brum and the Theatrical Thieves, Brum and the Snow Thieves, and Brum and the Splash and Grab. Big Bad's Partner (Christine Nayrolles): Appeared in Brum and the Snow Thieves and Brum and the Shop Window Dummy/Brum and the Mannequin. Big Bad's Partner (Kay Stanley): Appeared in Brum and the Splash and Grab. Big Bad's Female Assistant (Justine Marriott): Appeared in Bushes on the Run. Big Bad's Male Assistant (Eric Mallett): Appeared in Brum and the Pantomime Cow/Brum and the Theatrical Thieves with Big Bad and Bushes on the Run. The Shadow (Miles Anthony): A menacing thief and master of disguise. He appeared in Brum and the King of Thieves and Brum and the Gorilla Caper. Pickpocket Polly (Catherine Marimer): A pickpocket who stole a wallet from a visiting man, and, of course, she took the items from people and put them in her swag bag. She appeared in Brum and the Bowling Alley and Brum and the Pickpocket. Penny Pincher (Julia West): Appeared in Brum and the Music Box and Brum and the Stopwatch Botch. Cake Gang: (Kerry Dean, Gavin Cooper, David Smith, Charmaine Samuels and Liam Mullan): A group of greedy teenagers who stole a birthday cake from Sally in Brum and the Birthday Cake/Brum and the Cake Gang. Magic Paul (Andy Dawson): A thief (disguised as a magician) who is his assistant of Pickpocket Polly. He appeared in Brum and the Pickpocket. The Beady-Eyed Robber (Heather Tyrrell): Appeared in Brum and the Stolen Necklace.
Episodes Series 1 (1991) Brum to the Rescue - 26 September 1991 Brum and the Kite – 3 October 1991 Brum at the Scrapyard – 10 October 1991 Brum at the Opera – 17 October 1991 Brum and the Mad Mower – 24 October 1991 Brum at the Seaside – 31 October 1991 Brum and the Little Girl Lost – 7 November 1991 Brum and the Wheels – 14 November 1991 Brum and the Stilt Walker – 21 November 1991 Brum and the Removal Van – 28 November 1991 Brum and the Magician – 5 December 1991 Brum and the Runaway Pram – 12 December 1991 Brum on Safari – 19 December 1991
Series 2 (1994) The second series of the show was first broadcast on Children's BBC in October 1994 and consisted of 13 main episodes with the runtime of each episode being increased to 15 minutes. Toyah Wilcox reprised her role as the narrator.
Most episodes of this series were later edited by the BBC in the late 1990s, reducing the feature length of the 26 episodes down to 10 minutes to fit with the runtime of the first series. These were broadcast until 2001. Brum and the Helicopter – 6 October 1994 Brum and the Crane – 13 October 1994 Brum Goes Ice Skating – 20 October 1994 Brum Dances in the Street – 27 October 1994 Brum at a Wedding (3 November 1994): Brum visits a wedding ceremony. Brum and the Rascally Robber (10 November 1994): Brum confronts a robber. Brum and the Supermarket – 17 November 1994 Brum and the Very Windy Day (24 November 1994): Brum goes out on a very windy day. Brum and the Street Party – 1 December 1994 Brum and the Naughty Kitten (8 December 1994): Brum comes to the aid of a lost kitten. Brum and the Marching Brass Band – 15 December 1994 Brum and the Flood (22 December 1994): Brum encounters a flood. Brum Goes House Painting (29 December 1994): Brum performs a spot of house painting.
Series 3 (2001–02)