Bing is an animated children's television series based on the books by Ted Dewan and produced by Acamar Films. The series follows a preschool bunny boy named Bing as he experiences everyday issues.
Bing airs on CBeebies in the United Kingdom and Ireland and S4C in the Welsh language. In January 2024, Acamar Films announced that Bing had been requested over one billion times on BBC iPlayer.[1] RAI in Italy premiered the series in 2018 on its RAI YoYo platform.[2] In The United States, the series started airing on the Cartoonito block in September 2021 on Cartoon Network,[3][4] with an American voice cast, replacing their original British voices.[5]Bing premiered in France on the France 5 channel in January 2023.[6]Bing airs in 130 countries[7] and is available on YouTube across a network of 25 localized channels.[8][9]
Bing has won numerous awards including an International Emmy Kids Award and a Writers' Guild Award.[10] The Peek-a-Boo Bing soft toy has won a 2023 Made For Mums Gold Award.[11]
Plot
Every episode starts off with Flop saying "Round the corner not far away". Whatever Bing is doing at the start of the episode. At the end, Bing summarizes what he has learnt in the episode, with Flop intoning "It's a Bing thing".[12]
Characters
Bing (voiced by Elliot Kerley in series 1 and Rafferty Railton in series 2 of the British version, Santino Barnard in the American English version) is the titular protagonist of the programme. Bing is a 3-year-old black anthropomorphic bunny. His favourite toy is Hoppity Voosh, a rabbit superhero. Bing wears a green shirt, red and black chequered dungarees and black and white shoes and Bing loves to hum, whistle, pretend and do untroubling childlike things.
Flop (voiced by Mark Rylance in series 1[13] and David Threlfall in series 2) is Bing's carer, guiding Bing through his toddler life, entertaining him and soothing him when Bing faces a problem. Flop is a short orange-skinned creature and is presumably a stuffed peanut toy.[14]
Sula (voiced by Eve Bentley in the British version, Annabelle Chow in the American English version) is a brown, female anthropomorphic elephant and one of Bing's best friends. Sula wears a pink and yellow dress with trousers, hot pink socks and golden sparkly shoes. Her favourite toy is Fairy Hippo (as revealed in 'Hearts'), a hippo dressed up as a fairy.[14]
Amma (voiced by Akiya Henry) is Sula's guardian. Amma runs the creche and park café. The programme's child characters sometimes visit. Amma is a short blue-skinned elephant-like creature and is also presumed to be a stuffed elephant toy.
Pando (voiced by Shai Portnoy in series 1 and Noah Hicks in series 2 of the British version, Micah Gursoy in the American English version) is an anthropomorphic male panda who is also Bing's second best friend,[14] and lives next door to him. Pando shares his catchphrase, "Hoppity-voosh!" with Bing. Pando wears a white shirt, belly black shoes and white briefs. He is often seen wearing yellow shorts, before taking them off at the earliest possible opportunity, remaining in his underwear.[15]
Padget (voiced by Bryony Hannah in the British version, Molly Wurwand in the American English version) is Pando's guardian. Padget runs the corner shop near to where Bing lives. Padget can sometimes be spotted out jogging or else driving her yellow tuk-tuk. Padget is a short green-skinned creature, also presumed to be a stuffed animal.
Coco (voiced by Jocelyn Macnab in the British version, Alivia Clark in the American English version) is a white anthropomorphic bunny who is Bing's cousin and Charlie's older sister and a bit of a control freak.[14] Coco is the oldest of the child characters at age 10.
Charlie (voiced by Poppy Hendley) is a white anthropomorphic bunny who is Coco's 1-year-old baby brother and Bing's cousin who cannot talk. Charlie puts everything in his mouth and the others say, "Don't chew it, Charlie!"
Molly (voiced by Tamsin Greig) is Coco and Charlie's carer. Molly also works as a doctor. Molly is a small red-skinned creature often seen wearing glasses and a white lab coat.[16]
Nicky (voiced by Xavi Nixon) is a small anthropomorphic brown elephant who is Sula's younger cousin. Nicky wears glasses, an orange t-shirt, blue & white sneakers and blue dungarees. Nicky makes his first appearance in series 2.[16] Nicky is often the source of disagreement between Bing and Sula.
Production
Bing was based on the Bing Bunny book series, written and illustrated by Ted Dewan.[17][18] Acamar Films acquired the rights to Bing Bunny[19] and produced the programme in conjunction with Brown Bag Films and Tandem Films.[14][17] Acamar Films CEO, Mikael Shields selected Bing for development because he believed that the stories within Bing had potential to support young-children and help them to develop life-long resilience.[20] The series was developed for CBeebies though initial episodes were viewable at MIPTV.[21]
Acamar Films CEO, Mikael Shields was voice director for the series[22][23] and served as a writer on the programme.[24]
23 external writers, 5 internal writers, 3 Montessori teachers, American educators, and English language development experts were involved in the production of each series.[25]
DVDs of the series are released by StudioCanal in the UK.[35][36] The first DVD "Swing... and other episodes" was released on 31 March 2015 and features 10 episodes - Bye Bye, Swing, Blocks, Ducks, Smoothie, Frog, Car Park, Shadow, Musical Statues, and Voo Voo. A second DVD was released on 15 June of the same year and is titled "Storytime... and other episodes", featuring a further 10 episodes - Storytime, Growing, Atchoo, Hide & Seek, Bake, Train, Say Goodbye, Lost, Picnic, and Balloon.
Apps
The Bing app, "Bing: Watch, Play, Learn" was first released in September 2014. Available on iOS, Android, and Amazon platforms, the app features full episodes as well as games, audio and activities. Certain features may be restricted due to location and existing distribution rights. The app has been downloaded 2.8 million times since launch.[37]
Publishing
HarperCollins Children's Books signed a deal with Acamar and The Licensing Company to re-publish the stories to link with the TV programme.[38][39][40] The books were re-issued in 2013–14.[21] Approximately 5.2 million Bing books have been sold worldwide with over 70 Bing books published in the UK.[41] HarperCollins and Acamar Films renewed their publishing agreement in 2023.[42]
Toys
Fisher Price initially developed a range of Bing toys, which were released in July 2015, including "play sets, figurines, role play items, ride-ons, musical toys, wooden toys, and soft toys".[43] At some point Fisher Price lost the license and now toys are currently manufactured by Golden Bear Toys who produce a variety of Bing toys including soft toys as well as plastic play sets.[44]
Live events
Costume characters of Bing and Flop have been present in CBeebies Land at the Alton Towers theme park since 2018.[45] Specially-decorated Bing rooms were launched in the CBeebies Hotel at Alton Towers in 2022.[46] Bing and Flop costume characters also appear regularly at the Gulliver's Land theme park in Milton Keynes[47] and Rotherham[48] and take part in various limited-time appearances at venues across the UK including Chester Zoo,[49]London Zoo,[50] and Woburn Safari Park.[51] Bing has also appeared at the UK's Gloworm[52] and CarFest[53] summer festivals. In Italy, Bing and Flop form part of the entertainment at the Leolandia theme park since 2019.[54]
An English-language theatre show, 'Bing Live' toured across 50 locations in the UK in 2018.[55] In the Netherlands, a Dutch-language touring theatre show, 'Bing is jarig' ('Bing's Birthday') premiered in October 2021 with many performances selling out.[56] A Polish-language version of the show began touring Poland in November 2023.[57]
In November 2022, a limited-time Bing store was opened in the Glasgow Fort shopping centre. The Bing Store Pop-Up sold a range of Bing products while also offering free storytelling sessions, craft activities and meet and greets with the Bing and Flop costume characters.[58]
Cinema
Acamar Films has produced four Bing cinema packages. The first, 'Bing at the Cinema' debuted across 83 cinemas in the United Kingdom in 2019.[59] In 2023, 'Bing's Christmas and Other Stories' was distributed across 118 UK cinemas.[60] Bing cinema packages have premiered in local languages in UK, the Netherlands, Poland and Italy.[59]
↑ "PSIAF 2020 Official Selections". Palm Springs International Animation. Palm Springs International Animation Festival & Expo. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
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