Big & Small is a children's television series aimed at preschoolers following the lives of two very different best friends named Big and Small. Big & Small is a co-production between Kindle Entertainment and 3J's Productions produced in association with the BBC, Treehouse TV, and Studio 100. Three series were aired between 2008 and 2011.
Episode structure
The show starts off with the characters doing various things, such as playing a game, or building an invention. There is then a conflict between the characters that leads to the main plot of the episode. The characters then resolve their conflict before the end of the episode. There is always at least one song per episode, which is filmed in shadowmation.
Characters
Big (Lenny Henry), a large and purple bear-like creature who is very friendly and laid-back. Small (Lenny Henry), a small and orange dog-like creature who is very raucous and impulsive. Ruby (Imelda Staunton (series 1-2); Tamsin Heatley (series 3), a pink red-haired mouse who lives in a hole within Big and Small's house. She is generally friendly but tends to lose her temper with Small. Twiba (Imelda Staunton), a light green worm who lives inside an apple in Big and Small's garden. Twiba is an acronym that stands for "The Worm in Big's Apple". She is generally friendly but often acts somewhat pompous. She only appeared in the first two series. The Frogs (unknown voice actor), a pair of hat-wearing frogs who live in the garden pond. One is lime green with a red wool hat, while the other is dark green with a business hat. T-Rex, a light-brown dinosaur plush belonging to Big. T-Rex is Big's favourite toy, but Small is terrified of him. The Fish, a neon-yellow fish who lives in the garden pond. The Gwelf, a mischievous green storybook character. Small believes that the Gwelf is real, but Big isn't so sure. In most episodes, the Gwelf is implied to be some sort of alien.
Broadcasters
In the United Kingdom, Big & Small was shown on CBeebies, BBC1, and BBC2, as well as Cyw in Wales. Treehouse TV aired Big & Small in Canada. In total, over 40 channels worldwide have featured the programme.
Home Media
On March 12, 2009, ITV Global Entertainment secured the UK Home Media rights to the series. Through their ITV DVD label, the company released "We're Big & Small!" on March 30. The UK version contains the first eight episodes of Series 1 as well as three bonus shorts, while the Canadian version released by Treehouse TV omits the shorts and only includes the first five episodes.
Two further DVDs were released in the UK: "Starry, Starry Night", containing episodes 9 to 16 of Series 1, and "The Biggest Story", containing episodes 1 to 5 and episode 16 of Series 3; the former released by ITV Studios, and the latter released by Abbey Home Media. In Canada, Treehouse TV released "Party Time!", containing five assorted episodes from Series 1 and 2.