The Hoobs
Trailer
Synopsis
Five furry, colourful alien creatures arrive on Earth from Hoobland with a precise mission: to document everything about humans — the 'Peeps' — and children — the 'Tiddlypeeps' — in the great Hoobopaedia. Iver, Groove and Tula travel the world aboard the music-powered Hoobmobile while Roma ventures out on her Hooby Picki Picki, with human children helping them make sense of everyday concepts, often with unexpected results. The Hoobs are hand puppets sharing the screen with animation and live action in a world that sits somewhere between the terrestrial and the alien.
Context & Trivia
The Hoobs were built by Jim Henson's Muppet Workshop, with character design by Ed East, who had previously worked on «Muppets Tonight» and «Animal Jam». Each puppet required two performers: a lead operator handling the mouth and one arm, and an assistant controlling the other — a technique central to the Henson tradition. The principal puppeteer cast included Don Austen as Iver, Julie Westwood as Tula, Gillie Robic as Roma and Mark Jefferis as Hubba Hubba for the first three seasons, with Brian Herring taking over Groove and Hubba Hubba in seasons 4 and 5.
Production took place at Elstree Film Studios between 2000 and 2002 — the same stages where The Jim Henson Company had filmed «The Muppet Show» and «The Great Muppet Caper», giving the series a very specific place in puppetry history. In 2018, the original Iver hand puppet was displayed at Wolverhampton Art Gallery as part of a showcase of 80 years of television entertainment. The Hoobs and Motorettes puppets are preserved at the Jim Henson Muppet Workshop.
Watch full content
Puppeteers
John Eccleston, Don Austen, Mark Jefferis, Izzy Mant, Gillie Robic, Rebecca Nagan, Susan Beattie
Voices
Don Austen, John Eccleston, Mark Jefferis, Gillie Robic, Julie Westwood, Wim Booth, Rebecca Nagan, Brian Herring, Matt Hutchinson, Laura Bacon, Sheila Clark, Nikki Tilroe, Nikki Herring, Charlotte Bellamy
Puppet design
Ed Eyth
Puppet companies
Jim Henson Company
Puppet building
Jim Henson's Creature Shop
Direction
Richard Bradley, Vivienne Cozens, Iain McLean, Peter Leslie, Simon Spencer, Paul Leather
Cast
John Eccleston, Don Austen, Mark Jefferis, Izzy Mant, Gillie Robic
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