Birthday People facts for kids

Birthday People was a fun British children's television programme shown on Westcountry Television, a TV channel in south-west England. The show was all about celebrating kids' birthdays! It featured birthday cards and special messages sent in by young viewers. This programme took over from a very popular show called Gus Honeybun that was aired by earlier TV channels in the region.

What Was Birthday People?

Birthday People ran for several years, starting in 1993. It was a short show, usually lasting only two to three minutes. Even though it was short, it often had an ongoing story or a special theme that would continue throughout the week.

Different Show Formats

Over the years, Birthday People tried out different ways of presenting the show.

• One version had a nature theme and was presented by Nicola Davies, who used to host The Really Wild Show.
• Another format featured Chris Langmore, one of Westcountry's announcers. He presented the show with science themes from various places around the South West of England.
  • For example, he once took the show high above the countryside in a light aircraft, presenting from Plymouth City Airport.
  • Another time, he dressed up as a caveman at Kent's Cavern in Torquay to show what life was like long ago.
• Sometimes, other Westcountry presenters would visit local tourist spots to read out birthday cards.

Meet Flotsam and Jetsam

Around the year 2000, the show got new hosts: two puppet characters named Flotsam and Jetsam.

• Captain Flotsam lived in a lighthouse called "Herringbone Rock."
• His funny sidekick was Jessie the Seagull.
• From their lighthouse home, they would present "The Birthday Log," which was where they shared all the birthday messages.
• They often had many strange and funny adventures.
• One early episode, which was an Easter special, was never shown on TV.

Other Puppet Friends

Flotsam and Jetsam were sometimes joined by other puppet characters, adding to their adventures:

• Salvador Swash and Buckle the Seadog were pirates.
• Lighthouse Lil was their cleaner.
• There was also a mischievous sock, which was a funny take on the character from the movie Alien.
• The Eminent Professor was their resident scientist. He often found himself in silly and painful experiments to test his strange ideas. He also answered emails from viewers, including many students.

Christmas Specials

Flotsam and Jetsam became so popular that they starred in their own longer Christmas specials!

• In 2002 and 2003, they had half-hour Christmas shows.
• In one special, they helped rescue Father Christmas from the pirates Swash and Buckle.
• In another adventure through time, they helped King Arthur get back the Holy Grail from invading Vikings. This special even had a funny nod to the TV show Doctor Who.
• The Birthday People programme continued to air until 2004.

Who Made the Show?

Many talented people worked behind the scenes to create Birthday People:

• The puppeteers and voices for the characters were Dave Oliver, Austin Hackney, Laurence Penfold, and Adam Carter.
• These puppeteers also helped write the scripts, along with Ian Searle, who was one of the show's technicians. Ian Searle also edited the script for the Christmas special, 'Guardians of the Grail'.
• The show had several producers over time: Tod Grimwade, then Mike Geldard (who produced the weekly show and the Christmas specials), and finally I-tasha Honeyghan.
• Birthday People was filmed at Westcountry Television in Plympton, Plymouth, and at various locations around the region.

You can find more information about Birthday People online:

• On the Internet Movie Database: [1]
• On TV Ark: [2]