Ruffus the Dog is a Canadian children's television series which aired on YTV from 1998; it was created by Robert Mills, who performs the title character, and developed with Cheryl Wagner. The show was produced through Radical Sheep Productions, a company founded by Mills in 1985 that also created The Big Comfy Couch. The Ruffus character had previously appeared in the educational video series The Adventures of Ruffus & Andy in the early 1990s, as produced by the Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga, Ontario, where Ruffus and his owner Andy learned medical lessons.
When Robert Mills left Radical Sheep in 2002, ownership and rights to the award-winning series were transferred to his new company, Hunky Dorey Entertainment. In 2010, Mills announced all of the original shows would be posted online under a Creative Commons license, and that they want to produce new episodes for online release. The first major production was a re-telling of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol with Ruffus playing Ebenezer Scrooge. Six of the show's original puppeteers, Robert Mills, Bob Stutt, Gord Robertson, Fred Stinson, Karen Valleau, and Ben Deutsch, returned for the project, as did songwriter JP Houston. Alyson Court, who played Loonette the Clown on The Big Comfy Couch, voiced the Ghost of Christmas Past.
In 2013, the Ruffus Project planned to develop a web series entitled: Ruffus The Dog's Steampunk Adventure. However, the project, appears to have been scrapped as the official website has since went defunct.
Also in the works were a series of illustrated book titles and a pre-school web series entitled: Ruffus Rhymes. Neither of them got off the ground.
Synopsis Ruffus the Dog runs a bookshop in a small town. There, he reads a famous fairy tale to the viewers. In the story, Ruffus and several other characters portray different characters in the tale. At the end, he talks about the moral of the story to the viewers.
Episodes
+TitleCC BY-NC-SA-2.5 original dateRapunzelSeptember 7, 1998Robin HoodSeptember 9, 1998Jack & The BeanstalkSeptember 11, 1998Dr. Jekyll & Mr. HydeSeptember 14, 1998The Frog PrinceSeptember 16, 1998The Brave Little TailorSeptember 18, 1998Around The World In 80 DaysSeptember 21, 1998The Three Little PigsSeptember 23, 1998Little Red Riding HoodSeptember 25, 1998Little Bo PeepSeptember 28, 1998Sinbad The SailorSeptember 30, 1998Aladdin & The Magic LampOctober 2, 1998Tom ThumbOctober 5, 1998Robinson CrusoeOctober 7, 199820,000 Leagues Under The SeaOctober 9, 1998The Three BearsOctober 12, 1998The Emperor’s New ClothesOctober 14, 1998The Three MusketeersOctober 16, 1998The Troll Under The BridgeOctober 19, 1998The Pied PiperOctober 21, 1998The Second Voyage Of SinbadOctober 23, 1998Rip Van WinkleOctober 25, 1998Gulliver’s TravelsOctober 28, 1998Hansel & GretelOctober 30, 1998King MidasNovember 1, 1998CinderellaNovember 4, 1998Ruffus The Dog’s Christmas CarolNovember 6, 1998
External links
Ruffus the Dog
Case Study of the series by Creative Commons