Audrey and Friends (Partially Found 2002 Milkshake Series)

Audrey and Friends is a British animated television series created and directed by David Bennett.^[1] The pilot for the series aired on Channel 5's children's programming block Milkshake! in Around 2000, and it was a one-off Christmas special.^[2] The series later premiered on August 3, 2002 on Channel 5's children's programming blocks Shake! (formerly known as The Core and Milkshake! FM)^[3] and Milkshake! on a few occasions, and it ended on December 27, 2002. The show's final airing was on December 29, 2002. The show also aired on Prime in New Zealand. The 2002 series had 26 episodes with 12 minutes of duration.

The show is lost online, and the only found media is the pilot/Christmas special along with the IMDb page for it.

Due to the show being nudged to teens, some descriptions of the episodes, and it being directly on the Shake! website, this show was also on Shake!^[4]^[5]^[6]

Findings[]

There is a 2002 Christmas Milkshake! continuity on YouTube. There is an ident showing what's airing on the block for that day, and Audrey and Friends is the last one there: https://youtu.be/3vIrnXRe0Ec (poor quality)

The pilot for the show premiered on December 26, 2000, the pilot aired again on December 22, 2001. The series later premiered in 2002 on Channel 5's children's programming blocks Milkshake! and Shake! The show was animated, produced and distributed by Impossible Television, which was founded in 1997 until it got defunct in 2012. Audrey's two friends are confirmed to be named Meena (originally named as Mona in the pilot) and Constance (Stan for short). Audrey also has a pet dog named Rounball.^[2]^[7]

The show was also claimed to be mainstream back in the early years according to Impossible Television's website, but it is unknown if some people might have or not have VHS recordings of episodes from the show, but there is a possibility that some people might have VHS recordings of episodes from the show.

Plot[]

"The adventures of a teenage girl called Audrey and her friends, who inhabit a modern world of text-messaging, the Internet and medieval love potions." - plot synopsis on the show's IMDb page

The show is about 3 teenage girls named Audrey, Meena, and Constance, who all live in the fictional British town of Rudley where they do fun things like text-messaging with each other, going shopping, gossiping, doing makeovers, going on the internet to search for fun things they like to do, making medieval love potions, and others. Audrey also has a pet dog named Rounball,^[7] she also has a little brother named Toby. Audrey also has two next-door neighbors named Jonny and Dave, who consider to be Audrey's rivals.

Pilot[]

The pilot premiered on December 26, 2000. It was a one-off Christmas special.

Production[]

The show was announced in October 2000 on the Impossible Television website as the pilot/Christmas special was scheduled to air on December 26, 2000.^[2]

Expressive eyes were the starting point for the characters of the show. The creator of the show David Bennett tells people that one of the hardest things was building the expressiveness of the original pencil sketches into the 3ds max models that were used in the TV show.^[1]

Reception[]

The show didn't have good ratings in the UK due to the cheap animation and character design that traumatized people, and especially the fact that the show was made on an extremely low budget, however, it seemingly gained a minor cult following in New Zealand where the show aired on Prime for several years according to one of the writers of the show from Adam Peters.

Updates[]

UPDATE 1: Part of the intro has been found on an Impossible Television showreel, and there is a recreation of it by Makara Furusawa.

UPDATE 2: The full theme song is on Soundcloud, and was later uploaded to YouTube by Makara Furusawa.

UPDATE 3: There are 2 schedules where the show aired on Milkshake!

UPDATE 4: There is a reference to the show from the episode "Sharing" from Angels of Jarm.

UPDATE 5: On January 3, 2023, the pilot/Christmas special for the series was found and uploaded to YouTube by Lucas in his account "Lucas's Archive": https://youtu.be/KsBJUxmXaH4

UPDATE 6: On February 23, 2023, one of the producers and writers of the series Adam Peters sent the WeTransfer of the scans of the inlays of the VHS box with 5 tapes of all of the episodes and the synopses to every episode of the series to Makara Furusawa in which she had contacted him on February 22, 2023. The VHS Box with 5 tapes of all of the episodes and their synopses had the crew and voice actors, and the voice cast in the series was different to the voice cast in the pilot.

UPDATE 7: On March 5, 2023, Makara Furusawa contacted the creator and director of the show David Bennett (who is currently known as J. David Bennett) about the episodes from the show, but unfortunately he doesn't have any episodes, however, he sent a picture of an old portfolio page he attached to, which included some development artwork.

UPDATE 8: On March 7, 2023, the creator and director of the show David Bennett sent a WeTransfer of some of the files of his development artwork for the show (including backgrounds, characters and props) and a small clip from the show (which turns out to be a clip from the pilot/Christmas special for the show) to Makara Furusawa in which she had contacted him.

UPDATE 9: On April 8, 2023, Makara Furusawa archived and uploaded the pilot/Christmas special from the series to the Google Drive folder for VHS recordings of episodes from the series she made on March 1, 2023 just in case if the original uploader of the pilot/Christmas special "Lucas’s Archive" gets terminated.

UPDATE 10: On April 21, 2023, a user named Lucas's Archive uploaded a Milkshake! December 2002 continuity and found the 26th and final episode of the show titled "Away", but he will not upload it until he has time to do so. The show appears at 8:51.

UPDATE 11: The footage of the intro appears in an advertisement for the VOD service Scamp from HomeChoice (now TalkTalk TV) at 0:14. It is also confirmed that the show was on HomeChoice's VOD channel "Scamp".

UPDATE 12: On January 8, it was confirmed by Naomi Wilkinson that Audrey and Friends was aired on Shake! (formerly known as The Core and Milkshake! FM).^[3]

UPDATE 13: On January 14, a Discord user named "ohmygravy" shared a newspaper article mentioning airdates for Audrey and Friends in 2004.^[8]

UPDATE 14: On January 23, Lucas contacted a user named "Arritractive" on TikTok and Discord with more information on the 26th episode of the show titled "Away".^[9]

Voice Cast[]

The voice cast for the 2002 series was very different to the pilot that aired back on December 26, 2000.

2000 Pilot[]

Nicola Stapleton as Audrey
Kate O'Sullivan as Meena (named as Mona), Constance (Stan), Valerie (Audrey's mom), Sienna (Audrey's Dad's girlfriend)
Simon Schatzberger as Audrey's Dad, Jonny, Dave, Mr. Edgar/Bernard Edgar

2002 Series[]

Elly Fairman as Audrey
Marina Niel as Meena
Lucinda Chambers as Constance (Stan)
Tim Whitnall as various male characters including Jonny and Dave
Catherine Vandome as Valerie (Audrey's mom), various characters

Episodes[]

#	Episode Title	Airdate	Synopsis	Status	Notes
0	Audrey and Friends^[2] (Pilot/Christmas Special)	December 26, 2000	It is almost Christmas, and Audrey's parents got divorced as Audrey's dad already got a new girlfriend named Sienna, but Audrey's mother hasn't got a new or old boyfriend, so Audrey asks Stan to help her find a new boyfriend for her while Mona (later renamed to Meena) does her audition for the Jack and the Beanstalk pantomime.	FOUND	DVR Recording From December 26, 2000
1	Valentine	August 3, 2002	Audrey is disappointed when she doesn't get any Valentine's Day cards, especially when she learns that her best friends have got loads.	LOST
2	Lost Dog	August 10, 2002	Meena loses Audrey's beloved dog Rounball and refuses to look for him, leading to terrible arguments between the girls.	LOST	Hoaxes floating around.
3	Alt Healing	August 17, 2002	Stan teaches Audrey and Meena how to do yoga, before introducing them to aromatherapy, crystals and a whole world of weirdness and danger.	LOST
4	Jailbird	August 24, 2002	Stan's mum is arrested on a political protest. As everyone at school starts picking on her, Stan turns to Audrey and Meena for help.	LOST	Hoaxes floating around.
5	Fruit	August 31, 2002	Stan has started a fruit-only diet, but it's giving her terrible wind. How long can Audrey and Meena suffer without saying something?	LOST
6	Shampoo	September 7, 2002	Meena and Stan are both auditioning for a shampoo commercial, but who will get the part? And how well will the loser take it?	LOST
7	Fads	September 14, 2002	Audrey is worried that she's not 'cool' enough so she tries to change her ways. Can she transform herself into the coolest girl in town?	LOST
8	Popstars	September 21, 2002	The girls form a pop group in their quest for fame, but soon find themselves arguing about which of them should write the group's songs.	LOST
9	Foreign Exchange	September 28, 2002	Audrey's school has an exchange programme with a school in France. The girls are excited to discover who will be coming to stay with them.	LOST
10	Ow	October 5, 2002	Uh-oh! Things are getting a little painful for the girls. Stan is taken ill and Meena has an appointment with her super-scary dentist.	LOST	Hoaxes floating around
11	Daydream Believer	October 12, 2002	The girls are queuing up for a gig at the town's main music venue. They imagine what sort of cute boys they might meet at the concert.	LOST
12	Rudley TV	October 19, 2002	A new local TV station is looking for presenters. The girls get hold of a video camera and set about filming their own programmes.	LOST
13	Sleepover Makeover	October 26, 2002	The girls are spending the night over at Stan's house. Cue midnight chocolate binges, girlie gossip and ill-advised makeovers.	LOST
14	Rounball in Love	November 10, 2002	Audrey's dog Rounball has fallen in love with girl dog Jojo, but Jojo doesn't want to know. Can the girls work their match-making magic on the two canines?	LOST
15	Stupid Boys	November 17, 2002	Audrey's next-door neighbours Jonny and Dave come to stay while their Gran's in hospital. Audrey tries to teach the boys to be more grown-up.	LOST	Hoaxes floating around
16	Heroes	November 24, 2002	Audrey and Stan become heroes and get their photos in the local paper. Meena is annoyed and sets about trying to become a hero herself.	LOST
17	Project	December 1, 2002	The girls have to write about their best qualities. Audrey and Stan end up doing Meena's essay, but what can they say about her that's nice?	LOST
18	Glam Stan	December 8, 2002	Stan is going on a first date with a cute boy. Meena gives her coaching and advice, but how good a teacher is the self-styled Queen of Lurve?	LOST
19	Silence	December 15, 2002	Audrey has lost her voice. Mischievous Meena uses the situation to set her up on a date with the ugliest boy in school. Special guest star: Inkey Jones^[10]	LOST	Hoaxes floating around
20	Rounball at the Vets	December 22, 2002	Rounball has been bothering girl dogs and there have been complaints. Audrey and her friends try to cure him of this behaviour, with mixed results.	LOST
21	Hideous!	December 24, 2002	Audrey wakes up to discover a huge spot of her chin. What can she do to get rid of it? Meena and Stan have some suggestions...	LOST
22	Stan and Judey	December 24, 2002	A cute boy is staying in Stan's house. Stan and Meena compete for his affections using increasingly desperate tactics.	LOST
23	Run Rabbit Run	December 25, 2002	Audrey's little brother Toby has just got an evil pet rabbit which is making her life hell. She enlists the girls to help her defend against it.	LOST
24	Meena vs the World	December 26, 2002	Meena's rudeness has gone too far, and the whole town has turned against her. Stan and Audrey have to teach her how to be nice - and fast!	LOST
25	Diet	December 26, 2002	Meena gets the other girls to join her in the new celebrity-endorsed Standing Diet. Is this the weirdest thing they've ever done? Sadly not...	LOST
26	Away	December 27, 2002	Audrey is moving to another town. Does this mean she'll never see Stan or Meena ever again? Time for tearful goodbyes.	PARTIALLY FOUND (but will be uploaded to YouTube soon)	Low-quality VHS recording from December 27, 2002.

Gallery[]

Audrey_and_Friends_-_2000_Intro — Audrey and Friends - 2000 Intro

The show’s intro.

Development Artwork[]

Backgrounds[]

Audrey's house[]

Meena's house[]

Constance's house[]

Jonny and Dave's house[]

Rudley School[]

Rudley Hospital[]

Lounge[]

Rudley Mall[]

Park[]

Other Locations/Backgrounds[]

Location Sheets[]

Miscellaneous[]

Characters[]

Episode Screenshots[]

Props[]

Episode Props[]

Other Props[]

References[]

External Links[]

[audreytwitter-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 https://web.archive.org/web/20201029084901/https://twitter.com/brianbbunny1/status/1321735676849754114

[impossible2000-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 Impossible Television website (archived in 2000)

[audreyonshakeformerlythecore-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Naomi Wilkinson confirming that Audrey and Friends was on Shake! as it was formerly known as The Core at the time Audrey and Friends was aired on.

[splash-4] 4.0 ^4.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20021002215706/http://www.five.tv/milkshake/splash.php

[shakefive-5] 5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 http://web.archive.org/web/20021017114033/http://www.five.tv/milkshake/shake.php

[shakechannel5-6] 6.0 ^6.1 ^6.2 https://web.archive.org/web/20021005124828/http://www.channel5.co.uk/milkshake/shake.php

[impossible2005-7] 7.0 ^7.1 Impossible Television website (archived in 2006)

[8] ttps://www.nationalarchives.gov.fk/jdownloads/Penguin%20News/2004%20Jan-Mar.pdf

[9] ttps://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8swvYKP/

[inkeyjones-10] 10.0 ^10.1 http://www.inkeyjones.com/

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Lost Media Archive