The Lingo Show

This article is about the British children's educational series. For the American game show, see Lingo (American game show). For the British version of the American game show, see Lingo (British game show).

The Lingo Show is a British animated children's television series created by Nicole Seymour, produced by the BBC and animated by Dinamo Productions for BBC's CBeebies channel and programming block, in association with BBC Studios.^[1] The characters and many other elements were designed by Kate Sullivan. The show, which combines animation with live-action footage, is designed to introduce preschool kids to new languages. The programme, which ran for 2 series totalling 30 episodes, initially began as an interactive minisite on the CBeebies website,^[2] aired on CBeebies from 2012^[3] to 2013,^[4] and repeated until 2017.^[5]

The Lingo Show
Genre	Children's Animated
Created by	Nicole Seymour
Directed by	Charlotte Bushell & Lee Kitchen
Voices of	Marc Silk Lin Lin Aurelie Harp Fran Canals Britta Gartner Elen Rhys Bhasker Patel
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of episodes	30
Production
Executive producer	Adam Redfern
Running time	10 minutes
Production companies	BBC Dinamo Productions BBC Studios
Original release
Network	CBeebies
Release	12 March 2012 (2012-03-12) – 7 June 2013 (2013-06-07)

Plot

The series revolves around a show bug host named Lingo and his family of bugs, who each specialize in a different language. At the request of children, he travels across the world to perform a Big Bug Show using one of his performers. In each episode, the chosen performer searches around for props required for their show, as they introduce objects in their language, before they bring them back to Lingo so they can perform the show for the delighted preschool children.

Characters

Main characters

The characters were designed by Kate Sullivan.

• Lingo (voiced by Marc Silk): The ringmaster of the Big Bug Show. He is in charge of bringing his Big Bug Stage across the world to host shows and often has wild ambitions as to what they could entail. Lingo is half ladybird and half butterfly.
• Wèi (voiced by Lin Lin): A small male ant who is from China and speaks Mandarin. He is often seen wearing roller skates and a crash helmet.^[6] He is commonly mistaken for a female due to his voice.
• Jargonaise (voiced by Aurelie Harp): A fabulous female pink bug that is a butterfly who is from France and speaks French. In contrast with her being a butterfly, she is very pretty and kind.^[7]
• Queso (voiced by Fran Canals): A charming and funny male moth who is from Spain and speaks Spanish. He is often seen carrying his flamenco guitar.^[8]
• Lieb (voiced by Britta Gartner): An athletic female tick who is from Germany and speaks German. She was added to the cast in the second season.^[9]
• Blodwen (voiced by Elen Rhys): A nurturing female fuzzy green caterpillar who speaks in an opera singing tone. She comes from Wales and speaks Welsh.^[10]
• Jaadoo (voiced by Bhasker Patel): A valiant male white green striped tick who is from Pakistan and speaks Urdu. He is constantly seen riding a unicycle, and has magic powers. Despite this, his hello song however has a more Indian theme. ^[11]
• Kikli: An energetic female yellow damselfly who is from India and speaks Punjabi. She is often seen with a magic wand and giggles a lot.^[12]
• Dyzio: A sleepy brown male stick insect who is from Poland and speaks Polish.^[13]
• Subah : A sassy female green snail in a purple polka-dotted shell who is from Somalia and speaks Somali.^[14]

Minor characters

• Bloozles: A group of small green aphids that helps Lingo in preparing for the Big Bug Show.
• Floozles: The silent fireflies that also help Lingo prepare for the show.
• Spaestro: A blue spider with eight arms who plays several instruments, including a washboard, a bass drum, a trumpet, a piano, a violin, a xylophone, a music player, and a little drum on top of his head. He is unnamed in the show.

Production

The Lingo Show was originally created as an interactive minisite by CBeebies web producer Nicole Seymour, which launched in February 2011. The site features various activities which teach children new words in numerous languages; with the website periodically updated to include new languages. The site proved popular and in June that year, it was decided to bring the series to television format, with Dinamo Productions doing animation. The first season, consisting of fifteen episodes, which teaches Mandarin, French and Spanish, began airing from 12 March 2012. The second season, also consisting of fifteen episodes, which teaches German, Welsh and Urdu, began airing from 20 May 2013.

References

1. "The Lingo Show – CBeebies – BBC".
2. "BBC – Press Office – CBeebies lights up little language learners with the Lingo Show".
3. "CBeebies - Schedules, Monday 12 March 2012". www.bbc.co.uk.
4. "CBeebies - Schedules, Friday 7 June 2013". www.bbc.co.uk.
5. "CBeebies - Schedules, Friday 1 September 2017". www.bbc.co.uk.
6. "The Lingo Show - Wèi's Song". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
7. "The Lingo Show - Jargonaise's Song". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
8. "The Lingo Show - Queso's Song". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
9. "The Lingo Show - Lieb's song". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
10. "The Lingo Show - Blodwen's Song". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
11. "The Lingo Show - Jaadoo's Song". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
12. "The Lingo Show - Kikli's Song". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
13. "The Lingo Show - Dyzio's Song". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
14. "The Lingo Show - Subah's Song". www.bbc.co.uk.

External links

• The Lingo Show at BBC Online
• The Lingo Show at IMDb