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The Basil Brush Show
Genre	Comedy
Written by	Ged Allen Danny Robins
Directed by	David McKay
Starring	Basil Brush Christopher Pizzey Georgina Leonidas Michael Hayes Ajay Chabra
Voices of	Don Austen Basil Soper
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	78 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	24 mins.
Production company	RDF Media
Original release
Network	CBBC (2002-2007) BBC One (2007)
Release	October 4, 2002 – December 23, 2007
Related
The Basil Brush Show

The Basil Brush Show is a 2002-present remake of the 1960s-1980s comedy show starring Basil Brush, a glove puppet fox.

The show has recently finished its sixth series and will be going again in late 2009.^{[citation needed] [citation needed]}

A new sidekick was introduced for the first four seasons called Mr Stephen who was played by Christopher Pizzey. Georgina Leonidas, Michael Hayes and Ajay Chabra also appear on the show. No-one is directly credited as playing Basil on this show, although Michael Windsor is credited as either Basil's fitness instructor, or his personal assistant.

The show came back in 2002 as a remake to the old series and is set in the present. Characters in the series include Stephen, Molly, Dave, Anil and Basil. Stephen is unemployed, and the cast make jokes about him all the time. Dave is a young entrepreneur who makes business deals.

Anil owns a cafe where he makes disgusting and vile food that poisons people.

In the series, Basil and the cast always seem to be breaking the fourth wall. They do this by making fun of the writers and crew amongst other things.

Basil and Stephen live in a flat owned by Stephen. At the end of most episodes from series 1-4, it would end with Stephen and Basil in their room going to bed and talking about the show. Sometimes Stephen would be in a bad mood at Basil because of his day. The show doesn't always end with them in their room. The scene at the end when they are in their room isn't shown in the fifth series when Liam joins and Stephen leaves. The show normally ends with Liam and Basil sitting at the table having what seems to be hot chocolate. This would be something they have before they go to bed.

Liam is a distant cousin of Stephen's and is Basil's new sidekick. He took the place of Stephen in the latest series of the show.Liam is just trying to get a hand of these exciting things which are yet to happen to him but all of it is a mistry.

(2006-present)

Dave is another of the new characters that feature in the comeback. He is regularly shown to have a flair for business, and has, throughout the course of the series, set up a media empire which was later destroyed by Basil and Stephen, imported stolen goods and even started his own TV show, he is usually addressed as a 14 year old multi-billionaire entrepreneur. He is portrayed by Michael Hayes

(2002-present)

Appearing in every season of the comeback so far, Anil is the owner of Basil's local hangout, Anil's Caff. Like Mr Stephen, he is shown to have a less than average intelligence, and a running joke through the series is the terrible quality of his food. He is played by Ajay Chabra.

(2002-present)

Lucy is Anil's niece and currently lives in Basil's flat. Lucy was Anil's "slave" but was "rescued" by Madison. In the sixth series, Lucy is played by Madeline Castrey.

(2006-Present)

An American who was introduced as 'Madison Square-Gardens', a fashion student living in the flat upstairs. The character of Madison is played by Laura Jay Evans, a singer/songwriter from Aberdare in South Wales. Her initial designs were thrown out by Basil, having mistaken them for rubbish. Madison is Stephen's third love interest in the Basil Brush Show. She pronounces Basil's name in the southern US way, as Bay-zull.

(2004-Present)

Molly is Dave's older sister and Stephen's niece. She is portrayed as the sensible character, trying to reason with the characters whenever they make a bad decision and can sometimes be very violent. Molly is one of the most popular characters on the show. She is very clever and very witty. From Series 5, Molly appears in only a few episodes as a recurring character, with Lucy partially replacing her character-type. She is portrayed by Georgina Leonidas.

2006-present (recurring)
2002-2006 (main)

The Voice Over Man is an unseen character who often voices over at times when he annoys the gang but occasionally he undoes some mistakes that Basil and his friends make. He hasn't been "seen" since Series 4. He is credited as Basil Soper.

(2002-Present)

In the first series finale, he arrived and pretended to be kind and helpful to the local people but secretly he was stealing things and getting Basil into trouble. In the second series, he was released from prison and he was still causing havoc. His catchphrase is "Bang! Bang!", followed by the sound of two projectile ricochets.

In the third series he and Basil had to get along for 24 hours without fighting and arguing but it didn't seem to work. He also appeared at Basil's wedding when he was marrying evil Kelly Foxwell but in the end, Kelly liked Mortimer more than Basil. He returned in the Christmas special. He appeared in the fourth series in prison when he did something wrong that was unknown. He is voiced by Don Austen.

He appeared in the 2005 and 2006 Christmas specials. His full name is Mortimer Trouble Brush.

(2002-Present)

Basil's playful and hyperactive nephew fox cub. Often says "Bing bing!". He is voiced by Don Austen.

(2003-present)

Mr Rossiter is Basil's landlord and often demands for rent. In one episode he shut Basil and Steven in the bathroom but Basil and Stephen escaped through the air conditioning system via a "handely placed grill" on the ceiling. In another episode, when the gang became a huge success by making their flat into "The Worst Hotel in the World" but the business went broke the next day when he appeared in a devil's costume and charged them an extra £100 for every customer in the flat. Also in one of the others, the boys attacked him, thinking he was a thief. He returns in the twelfth episode of Series 6.He is loosely based on Leonard Rossiter who appeared in Rising Damp as a landlord.

(2003-present)

Roxy is Basil's new girlfriend, but unlike the other foxes in the show (Bingo & Mortimer) she's an Arctic fox. She has so far only been seen in four episodes, including the 2006 Christmas Special. She pronounces Basil's name as Ba-Zeal. Her roles in the show are similar to Miss Piggy's in The Muppet Show.

(2006-present)

Stephen is the uncle to Dave and Molly, and is left in charge of them when their parents go on a round-the-world tour. It is never mentioned how he was chosen to be their guardian, or what his exact relationship with the children is. He is often the main subject of Basil or another character's jokes, much to his annoyance. He was also not very clever as he did not seem to know a very simple sum (as established in the episode, Bing Trouble when Molly told him that 2 + 2 = 4 to which he said "Does it?"). He was played by Christopher Pizzey and left at the end of series 4.

(2002-2005)

India Beau is the pop-singing waitress at Anil's, played by India de Beaufort, credited as India Beau^[1]. She is a very good singer and is the second most popular on the show. In Series 6, it is said that India is on a slow-boat to China.

(2003-2005)

Billy is Dave's girlfriend,she only appears in one episode in 2006. She claims to be a millionairess but in fact she lives on a skunk farm. In the episode after, Liam says to Dave, "Well Billy Jo was nice." She was portrayed by Sydney White.

(2006)

Only seen once, Bungo is Bingo's twin brother. Described by Basil as "like Bingo, but much, much worse..."

(2003)

Ella is Stephen's second love interest and she only appears in the second series. She is also good friends with Molly.

(2003-2004)

Amanda is Stephen's first love interest. In the first episode she had a date with Stephen in Anil's cafe. At the end of the series Amanda betrayed the gang by working for Cousin Mortimer and was never seen again.

(2002)

See: List of the Basil Brush show episodes

Episodes:

• Series 1: 13 Episodes
• Series 2: 13 Episodes
• Series 3: 13 Episodes
• Series 4: 13 Episodes
• Series 5: 13 Episodes
• Series 6: 13 Episodes

Total: 78 Episodes

• Stephen's Flat (2002-Present): This is the place where the gang live, and spend most of their time at. It is made up of a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and three bedrooms. The bathroom is seen in many occasions, and Basil & Stephen's bedroom is seen at the end of every episode from Series 1-4. Molly's room is only seen in one episode in Series Two, and Dave's room is only seen in an episode from Series 4.

• Anil's Café (2002-Present): The gang spend most of their time here, although it apparently serves bad food (the reason for this is given by Basil, when asked by Anil once, as "it's the only other set we've got,"to which Anil responds"good point"). This is the place where the group meet Amanda (1.1), India (Series 2), and Lucy (5.1). We also see Anil's Kitchen in one episode from Series 2. It is later refurbished in Series 3. In Series 6, it is seen again.

• Ella's Flat (2003): Only featured in Ella's first episode, this is the place where Stephen and Basil end up after falling through an air vent.

• Madison's Flat (2004-Present): This is the place where Madison lives. It is exceptionally smaller than both Ella's and Stephen's flat.

This show began in 2008 as a cheaper alternative to the popular Basil Brush Show. It is thought it may permanently replace the Basil Brush Show although no one has confirmed this. Basil's Swap Shop airs on Saturday mornings from 9:00am on CBBC on BBC Two.

This is a cut-down version of Swap Shop featuring the game show and other entertainment segments. It is currently being repeated on weekday mornings on CBBC on BBC Two at 8:00am.

• List of BBC children's television programmes

• The Basil Brush Show (2002) at IMDb
• The Basil Brush Show at BBC Online Comedy Guide