Green Balloon Club is a British children's factual television program that started on CBeebies on 20 June 2008.
Format Green Balloon Club focuses on the adventures of four children - Jay, Cat, Lilly-Rose and Ant, as they travel throughout the United Kingdom on a green hot-air balloon led by balloonist Skye and Cat's dog Skipper. During their travels, they look out for other Green Balloon Club members and have a look at what wildlife they have in their patch. Each episode starts with the children doing the register, then joining in with the "Green Balloon Club" chant. At the end of the show, the balloon "lands" and everybody sings one of several songs.
Other BBC personalities appear on the show, with the puppet Jelly from The Story Makers and Springwatch appearing as a special reporter, and fellow BBC presenters Chris Howard and Bill Oddie.
Cast Green Team/Main The cast members on the show were all ordinary children all found at extensive auditions: Debbie Korley as Sky, the balloonist of the Green Team who leads the group on various adventures. She was replaced with Chris Howard near the end of the series' main run, and in the Green Balloon Club Goes on Holiday spin-off, but later returned in the Winter Special. Isabella Blake-Thomas as Lily Rose, the flower expert of the Green Team. She is the youngest of the children (her actress was only five at the time of the production), and sometimes can be a bit self-centred. Jake Pratt as Jay, the bird expert of the Green Team. He can be quite a jokester at times. He did not appear in one episode, and did not appear for the Green Balloon Club Goes on Holiday spin-off, but later returned for the Winter Special. Adam Wells as Ant, the bug expert of the Green Team and the only member who is not southern. Thai Murray-Edwards as Cat, the animal expert of the Green Team and the owner of Skipper. Skipper the Dog as herself, the canine companion of the Green Team. Skipper's dog actress was the real-life pet of the actress for Cat, Thai Murray-Edwards. Skipper's sounds are done through stock sound effects.
Recurring Aliex Yuill as Jelly, a green puppet who is one of the Story Makers. She normally appears in episodes as a Special Reporter (reprising this role from Springwatch and Autumnwatch) or is with Bill Oddie in his garden. Chris Howard, a presenter from Springwatch and Autumnwatch, he normally appears with other children as the leader of the Ground Crew, but near the end of the show's run became the pilot of the balloon going by the name "Nature Chris", replacing Debbie Korley. Bill Oddie, another BBC nature presenter, he appears in some episodes alongside Jelly, where they look at the different kinds of nature around his garden.
Songs The series also has a major focus on music and singing, and every episode features an originally-written song performed by the main cast. All of the songs were written by Paul Moessl. Theme Song Let's Go Play Outside It's Our World Listen All Earth's Creatures Underwater Fun on the Beach Minibeast Madness Flying Whatever's Good at Christmas (written by Bill Oddie and produced by Paul Moessl, was released as a single) Dig In Good to get away (Arran song) At the Zoo (Belfast song) Animal Alphabet Waggle Dance It's a Dog's Life and a final special arrangement of the title song for the Winter Special
Development The program was conceived and made by Clare Bradley, Lotte Elwell and the CBeebies production team, and grew out of their previous award-winning work on Springwatch and Autumnwatch.
Episodes Green Balloon Club (2008–2009) Green Balloon Club was produced as part of CBeebies' "EcoBeebies" brand. It started with a launch show named Easy Peasy Eco Beebies on 13 June 2008, and this was followed by 48 episodes, one every week from 20 June 2008 to 29 May 2009, although there was a break during the Christmas Holidays.
Titles were sourced from the BBC Australia website (the episodes on the UK BBC website don't have episode titles).
Ratings Episode viewing figures from BARB.
Episode no. Airdate Total viewers CBeebies weekly ranking 1 20 June 2008 342,000 7 2 27 June 2008 352,000 2 3 4 July 2008 290,000 4 4 11 July 2008 338,000 9 5 18 July 2008 504,000 1 6 25 July 2008 Under 294,000 Outside Top 10 7 1 August 2008 383,000 1 8 8 August 2008 Under 319,000 Outside Top 10 9 15 August 2008 Under 302,000 Outside Top 10 10 22 August 2008 Under 311,000 Outside Top 10 11 29 August 2008 Under 312,000 Outside Top 10 12 5 September 2008 Under 329,000 Outside Top 10 13 12 September 2008 Under 389,000 Outside Top 10 14 19 September 2008 Under 332,000 Outside Top 10 15 26 September 2008 Under 368,000 Outside Top 10 16 3 October 2008 Under 350,000 Outside Top 10 17 10 October 2008 Under 347,000 Outside Top 10 18 17 October 2008 Under 361,000 Outside Top 10 19 24 October 2008 Under 380,000 Outside Top 10 20 31 October 2008 Under 345,000 Outside Top 10 21 7 November 2008 Under 336,000 Outside Top 10 22 14 November 2008 Under 331,000 Outside Top 10 23 21 November 2008 Under 364,000 Outside Top 10 24 28 November 2008 Under 331,000 Outside Top 10 25 5 December 2008 Under 338,000 Outside Top 10 26 12 December 2008 Under 324,000 Outside Top 10 27 19 December 2008 Under 401,000 Outside Top 10 28 9 January 2009 Under 415,000 Outside Top 10 29 16 January 2009 30 23 January 2009 31 30 January 2009 32 6 February 2009 33 13 February 2009 34 20 February 2009
Green Balloon Club Goes on Holiday (2009) In 2009, a stand-alone series of 10 episodes was broadcast. The first half featured the Green Team visiting the Isle of Arran and the second half featured the Green Team becoming zookeepers at the Belfast Zoo for a week.
Winter Special (2009) A stand-alone Winter Special aired in December 2009, featuring the entire cast on a winter camping adventure. This special is officially part of the Green Balloon Club Scrapbook production order, and listed as Episode 13.https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl9s/2009/12/23
Green Balloon Club Scrapbook (2010) In 2010, a spin-off series of 15 episodes entitled "Green Balloon Club Scrapbook" was produced, which showed "what the Green Team get up to when they're not in the Green Balloon. Different members of the team check the laptop to find out what the other members of the Green Balloon Club are getting up to". This series also included animated segments starring Skipper the Dog, who, in this series, gained a voice. This series also included two song specials. EpisodeOriginal air dateDetailsTotal viewers113 January 2010Skipper heads off on an adventure where she meets a monkey gang from South Africa.278,000220 January 2010Skipper heads off on an adventure with a parrot party in the South American rainforest.300,000327 January 2010Jelly is on a camping trip with some friends in Wales.230,00043 February 2010Skipper heads off to the jungle where she meets a bird who can make the most amazing sounds.268,000510 February 2010Ant is making his Bug Files at his local Tropical House.249,000617 February 2010Jelly reports from the Welsh coast where she meets a surfing family.236,000724 February 2010Skipper is off on an African adventure, where she meets a lot of water-loving hippos.204,00083 March 2010Skipper heads underwater where she encounters a giant octopus.193,000910 March 2010Skipper heads off to Antarctica where she goes for a long and cold walk with a group of penguins.191,0001017 March 2010Skipper heads off to South America on a multi-coloured Macaw adventure.105,0001124 March 2010Ant and his friend Bradley meet some big hissing cockroaches and have a race with them.164,0001229 March 2010Jay is out doing some birdwatching, he's looking at how autumn is a good time for birds.1323 December 2009Winter Special: Lily Rose and the Green Balloon Club fly off to a winter camping trip - in yurts!213,0001430 March 2010Song Special part 1: The Green Team introduces their favourite songs in a special programme of music and verse.203,0001531 March 2010Song Special part 2: Ant is out looking for minibeasts.350,000
Note: Episode 13 was not shown between episodes 12 and 14, as it was shown within the Christmas schedule.
International airings The show began airing in Australia on their version of CBeebies in late 2009, in time for the summer season. Until 2019, the show still aired on the channel, in a late-night slot. The show also aired on CBeebies Poland from 2010 to 2013, titled Podróże z Zielonym Balonem ("Travel with the Green Balloon") and dubbed into Polish by now-defunct dubbing company Eurocom Studio.
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