Titan of tot TV

Keith Chapman's new characters Fifi and the Flowertots were inspired by his wife's love of gardening and flowers.

Bob the Builder has got a girlfriend. She's a rather cute and caring Forget-Me-Not flower called Fifi who is the latest creation of Keith Chapman, the man who made Bob the multimillion-dollar handyman he is today.

Fifi is the star of Fifi and the Flowertots which started on TV2 this week.

The show - created mainly for preschoolers - is set in an enchanting garden filled with all of Fifi's flowertot friends and, of course, it wouldn't be real without a pesky wasp called Stingo buzzing round.

Similar to Bob, it is more than likely many grown-ups will get hooked on Fifi too. And while Bob was for the boys, Fifi is more of a girls' girl. She's voiced by Jane Horrocks - best known as Bubble in Absolutely Fabulous.

"There was a definite gap in the market," says Chapman. "There seemed to be a lot of boys' products out there, but nothing for girls. And mums would say to me, 'Why don't you do something for girls?' So it got me thinking."

So after a few impromptu focus groups with some of his friends' daughters, he came up with a list of ideas that needed to be in the show, including music, fashion, gardening, cooking, adventure, and "a little bit of education".

"Then I needed a character to carry it off. And that basically happened when I was sitting in the garden, and my wife is mad about flowers. I started playing around with [flowers] and it was a great starting point because they're very universal, they would go well in every country. The trick though was to come up with a character that was half flower, half girl, but in a very attractive way."

Choosing the Forget-Me-Not flower was perfect because after all, says Chapman, "kids forget a lot".

Chapman, who is 47 in a couple of weeks, was raised on kids' shows like Thunderbirds, Flipper, and Dr Who. But it was Disney that inspired him to create his own characters like Scoop and Muck from Bob the Builder, and Stingo and Bumble from Fifi and the Flowertots.

"I always knew I wanted to be an artist from a young age. Art was probably the only lesson I ever attended at school actually," he laughs. "I think I stood out in the corridor for most of the other classes for being a disruptive influence."

You can tell he's proud of Bob the Builder, an idea that was triggered back in 1985 when he did his first sketches of a digger that was parked outside his house.

"I thought, what a great character. I put some eyes on it, it was very dextrous, the way it could move, and then that developed into a gang of machines, and then that needed a human character to look after them. And Bob came out of that really," he says.

In 1988, with the arrival of his first baby, his ideas and characters were developed further because Chapman used to tell the stories to his young son.

He showed company Hit Entertainment a finished product in 1995, but it wasn't until April, 1999, that the first 13 episodes screened on TV in Britain. Chapman says the show came out at the perfect time because there was a building boom and DIY was becoming very fashionable.

"You know, it seemed like such a natural thing. The building industry is the biggest in the world, kids love diggers, they see their dads building all the time, it's got to be a good idea. I just had a feeling it would be the one.

"And the builders got behind Bob. And you had all the guys in the pub drinking beer, dancing to the record. It really touched a bit of a nerve with adults. I'm not sure if Fifi is one of those, whether she's going to go through into the adult community in quite the same way, because it is, after all, a preschool show. But Bob actually does cross right over and [those sorts of shows] are few and far between."

"But," he laughs, "the funny thing is I came up with Bob, and I'm hopeless at DIY. I don't enjoy it. And Fifi, I'm not good in the garden because I get hay fever."

Nowadays Chapman has no creative say over Bob since HIT Entertainment bought the rights from him and the company has turned everyone's favourite builder into a merchandising dream.

Chapman still gets royalties "and they do a good job and I have no complaints" he laughs.

While Fifi doesn't quite have the general appeal of Bob, it still has the charm, and also, characters like Stingo and the adorably dense Slugsy are a drawcard for the boys.

"Wasps," he says, with a giggle, "are probably our most dangerous creatures in Britain. It's a bit pathetic really but I just thought it would make a great character because no one has done a wasp, because everyone hates them.

"And that quite intrigued me because would it be possible to do a wasp that is actually quite likeable and funny. As soon as I sketched him in those little Converse basketball boots, I thought he could be quite fun.

"He doesn't care what anyone thinks, he breaks all the rules, he takes things without asking, he's selfish, basically he's every mother's nightmare. He's terrible."

Chapman thought Fifi ... would appeal to 3 to 5-year-olds, or maybe even 6-year-olds, but feedback from British audiences shows it also rates with an even younger crowd.

And in Britain it is the number one children's show for the 0 to 3, and 4 to 6 age groups.

Chapman says the younger viewers find the show "quite hypnotic" because of the colourful animation and interesting characters while the older kids are into the storylines.

"Adults are fascinated by it purely from a craft point of view, because you look at it and think, 'That's really clever, how did they do that?' Plus it's engaging, the stories are quite sophisticated really and some of the scripts might be above the heads of a lot of kids but I don't want to make them too babyish.

"And really, everybody wants their show to be liked by everyone."

Next up, zooming into our world sometime in 2007, is Roary the Racing Car which will feature the voice of motorsport legend Stirling Moss. Maybe that's back to being one for the boys.