It was the TV show which gripped children after bursting onto screens more than 20 years ago and became a massive success.
The Tweenies melted the hearts of a nation capturing the imaginations of a generation of kids, who grew up with the words “hey, hey are you ready to play?” belting out.
Four giant animatronic dolls could have been terrifying to young audiences, but the much-loved colourful characters quickly became a smash hit and gained a cult following.
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The Tweenies was first screened in September 1999 and seven series were made with a total of 390 episodes.
We followed the adventures of Bella, Milo, Fizz and Jake, four pre-school aged kids who got up to fun, mischief and a lot of singing at their nursery.
They were watched over by playgroup managers Max and Judy, along with their pet dogs Doodles and Izzles – with each character being operated by someone in the suit and a different voice actor.
It was a “well-oiled machine”, with the voice actors recording their clips first then operating the animatronic controls on the faces, while “skin actors” were inside the costumes in front of the cameras.
We didn’t actually get to see the identity of any humans on-screen, but the show helped launch the careers of some famous children’s TV actors.
Everyone will recognise the person behind the voice of Jake, as it was none other than CBeebies legend Justin Fletcher, better known as Mr Tumble.
Justin went on to have a successful career in children’s TV and has an eye-popping net worth.
But he was also embroiled in a feud with a fellow TV presenter.
In recent years, many secrets surrounding the show have been revealed for the first time by the stars of the show and creators Will Brenton and Iain Lauchlan.
Originally there were supposed to be five Tweenies, including a sensitive child called Sid, who was cut out by the BBC to leave the four characters we know and love.
But what happened to the actors who played the Tweenies stars?
Here is what happened next for the stars of the Tweenies.
Jake and Doodles – Justin Fletcher
Jake was the youngest of the Tweenies, aged three, and had orange skin and a distinctive yellow mohawk.
Due to his age he would often have temper tantrums and feel left out by the older kids, but they always looked after him, even when he naughtily ate all their cookies with Doodles.
Jake was operated by Samantha Dodd, while the man behind the voice of the character is Justin Fletcher.
He also did the vocal work for yellow and red-coloured pet pooch Doodles, whose voice was based on Scooby Doo.
Justin will be known to millions as popular clown Mr Tumble, using slapstick comedy with the award-winning creation.
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As well as the Tweenies, Justin has done voices in Thomas the Tank Engine, Boo!, Gigglebiz and Shaun the Sheep as well as on the radio.
Justin, who was awarded an MBE in 2008, has released three albums, with his first, Hands Up, reaching number 16 in the UK album chart.
The 51-year-old is a self-confessed “workaholic”, which has led to him being worth more than £1.5 million and having the longest-running CBeebies show of all time called Something Special.
This introduced children to Makton sign language.
Justin hit the headlines in 2020 when axed CBeebies presenter Sarah-Jane Honeywell claimed former co-star Justin had ‘frozen her out’ over her topless photoshoot.
At the time his mum Shelia denied the claims, saying: “It’s all a load of old rubbish. He won’t be interested in talking about this.
“He never comments on anything silly. He’s too busy. He’s just so hard-working all the time.
“All the children love him. He’s worked very hard for them over many years.”
Justin also has a famous dad, record producer singer and songwriter Guy fletcher who, in partnership with Doug Flett, wrote several hits for other artists.
As a singer, he had a hit in the Netherlands and other European countries with the song, “Mary in the Morning” back in 1971.
Milo and Max – Bob Golding
Purple-skinned four-year-old Milo was definitely the most energetic and excitable of all the Tweenies.
His impulsive nature sometimes got him in trouble but Milo was kind-hearted and always apologised when he upset people.
Milo was operated by Chris Beck for the first two years, then by Matthew Lyons and Kate Ryan, and was voiced by actor Bob Golding.
As well as Milo, Bob was also the voice of playgroup manager Max, the pink-skinned man with white hair with a Yorkshire accent who watched over the kids.
Bob has been giving 90s and noughties kids an unexpected blast from the past by effortlessly putting on Milo’s voice in his viral TikTok clips.
In the first, he said: “Hello! I was the voice of Milo in the Tweenies. We first went on telly in 1999. Oh wow, that was nearly 22 years ago! Fab-oh-roony!”
Bob has voice credits for a host of kids TV shows, including Harry and Toto, Thunderbirds Are Go, Dennis and Gnasher, Numberjackss and as PC Plod in Noddy in Toyland.
He has actually appeared on-screen as himself in Channel 5 soap opera Family Affairs, the Fun Song Factory on GMTV and in Peter Kay’s Pop Factor spoof.
The pantomime star, who has worked in the West End, played Eric Morecambe in a one-man show and runs his own 13-piece soul, rhythm and blues band.
Fizz and Izzles – Colleen Daley
Fizz was the yellow-skinned four-year-old with red and brown beaded hair.
She loved dressing up and dancing but would occasionally have a big strop for no particular reason.
Fizz was operated by Jenny Hutchinson, Angela Reynolds and Francesca Anderson.
The voice behind Fizz was actress Colleen Daley, who has appeared with her pal Bob in two of his TikTok videos.
Colleen has also done voice work on kids’ show BB3B and in 2018 was in the movie The Block.
Fizz wasn’t the only character she voiced, as Colleen was also responsible for Izzles the purple and white dog.
The energetic puppy was a companion for Doodles and was originally called Squiggles until they were forced to change it due to a rights issue and because kids struggled to pronounce it.
Speaking about the character on Bob’s TikTok channel, Colleen said: “She was a very excitable puppy whose favourite colour was purple.
“I seem to remember the original name of Izzles was Squiggles and I think we’d recorded about 10 episodes and had to go back and reinsert the name. I remember it being very funny.”
Bella – Emma Weaver and Sally Preisig
The eldest of the Tweenies, five-year-old Bella was the tallest, bossiest and most sensible – looking after the younger ones.
Bella was operated by Tamsin Heatley and Esther Collins, but not many people know that there were actually two voices of the character.
The original voice of Bella from series one was Sally Preisig, who spoke to Bob about her time on the show in one of his TikToks.
Speaking about her memories from recording on Tweenies, she said: “It was working with all you guys. I loved you all.”
Sally has also worked on The Shiny Show, Fun Song Factory and The Muppet Christmas Carol.
When she left in 2000, Emma Weaver took over the role for the final few series.
Emma, who has also worked on Jelly Jammies and Underground Ernie, can be heard singing with Bob during one of his TikToks.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
