Fraggle Rock's first produced international co-production was the English UK version, though the French and German versions began airing sooner. The segments within the Muppet world of Fraggle Rock are identical to the American version, however the segments from outer space (i.e. the Doc & Sprocket and Traveling Matt segments) were changed to fit the UK's audience.
Fraggle Rock was located on a rock headland or island somewhere off the South Coast of England. There was a lighthouse on the island, home to the Captain, a retired sailor and the UK equivalent of the Doc character, played by Fulton MacKay. Sprocket was still his companion, however.
Due to MacKay's death in 1987, the Captain was replaced in the fourth UK season by a younger character known as P.K. (Principal Keeper, the Captain's nephew), played by John Gordon Sinclair and again in the sixth UK season by another character, B.J. (son of the lighthouse's owner, Mr. Bertwhistle), played by Simon O'Brien.
This co-production of Fraggle Rock was also the only international version to adapt all 96 episodes, as the French and German versions, and even the Spanish dub ended before 96.
The missing episodes[]
A selection of surviving episodes was released on VHS in April 2004. A petition to have Fraggle Rock released on DVD was run on the web for many years until a DVD was released alongside the VHS. This was the only major DVD release of the UK version to date; a "best of" collection of 12 episodes in a grainy transfer from the VHS release. TVS, the original broadcasters, have passed through several owners since 1992 and of the 96 episodes, only 12 master copies were known to have survived. HIT Entertainment has tried unsuccessfully to locate the missing episodes, including extensive inquiries with The Jim Henson Company both in the UK and the US. In addition, many of the original production and sales documents concerning the TVS archive have also gone missing, rendering any commercial exploitation impossible.
An effort by fan Alex Taylor to track down the episodes in whatever format is available has confirmed that at least 29 episodes exist in broadcast quality, with 87 episodes existing in some form. 9 more episodes recently have been found as of December 2020, confirming that the entire series now exists in some shape or form.