Bob and Margaret is a British-Canadian adult animated television
series produced by animation studio Nelvana and created by David Fine
and Alison Snowden. The series was based on the Academy Award-winning
short film Bob's Birthday, featuring the same main characters, which
won the Best Animated Short Film Oscar in 1994. The series is one of
the few Canadian TV shows to ever have regular American exposure. In
Canada, it was the highest rated Canadian made animated series ever
when it aired in primetime on Global.The show revolved around a
married English couple named Bob and Margaret Fish, a middle class
40-ish working couple with no children and two dogs named William and
Elizabeth. Bob is a dentist and Margaret is a chiropodist. Bob and
Margaret struggle with everyday issues and mid life crises. Stories
often revolve around the mundane, but in a way which is eminently
relatable. From the trials of shopping to dealing with friends who
annoy them, but owe them a dinner.In the first two seasons, Bob and
Margaret lived in England, in the South London community of Balham.
For the third and fourth seasons, however, they moved to Toronto,
Ontario, Canada, allowing the writers to explore the humour of culture
clash. The move was actually inspired by the realities of funding,
with certain Canadian tax benefits dependent on stories actually based
in Canada. As such, to keep the series funded, the move was necessary.
The creators of the series (real-life husband-and-wife David Fine and
Alison Snowden) chose to take an executive role on these latter two
seasons, reviewing scripts and consulting, but not involved in the
detail they were for the first two seasons. Snowden continued to
provide the voice of Margaret, but Bob's voice, originally played by
Andy Hamilton, was replaced by Brian George.The programme was shown in
the United Kingdom on Channel 4 and Ftn, in the United States on
Comedy Central, and in Germany and France on Arte. Comedy Central only
showed the two "London" seasons. The third and fourth "Toronto"
seasons were eventually shown (almost 2 years after Comedy Central
showed the last second-season episode) on the Showtime cable channel;
they currently rerun all four seasons on their specialty "Showtime
Women" channel.
series produced by animation studio Nelvana and created by David Fine
and Alison Snowden. The series was based on the Academy Award-winning
short film Bob's Birthday, featuring the same main characters, which
won the Best Animated Short Film Oscar in 1994. The series is one of
the few Canadian TV shows to ever have regular American exposure. In
Canada, it was the highest rated Canadian made animated series ever
when it aired in primetime on Global.The show revolved around a
married English couple named Bob and Margaret Fish, a middle class
40-ish working couple with no children and two dogs named William and
Elizabeth. Bob is a dentist and Margaret is a chiropodist. Bob and
Margaret struggle with everyday issues and mid life crises. Stories
often revolve around the mundane, but in a way which is eminently
relatable. From the trials of shopping to dealing with friends who
annoy them, but owe them a dinner.In the first two seasons, Bob and
Margaret lived in England, in the South London community of Balham.
For the third and fourth seasons, however, they moved to Toronto,
Ontario, Canada, allowing the writers to explore the humour of culture
clash. The move was actually inspired by the realities of funding,
with certain Canadian tax benefits dependent on stories actually based
in Canada. As such, to keep the series funded, the move was necessary.
The creators of the series (real-life husband-and-wife David Fine and
Alison Snowden) chose to take an executive role on these latter two
seasons, reviewing scripts and consulting, but not involved in the
detail they were for the first two seasons. Snowden continued to
provide the voice of Margaret, but Bob's voice, originally played by
Andy Hamilton, was replaced by Brian George.The programme was shown in
the United Kingdom on Channel 4 and Ftn, in the United States on
Comedy Central, and in Germany and France on Arte. Comedy Central only
showed the two "London" seasons. The third and fourth "Toronto"
seasons were eventually shown (almost 2 years after Comedy Central
showed the last second-season episode) on the Showtime cable channel;
they currently rerun all four seasons on their specialty "Showtime
Women" channel.
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.