Here's Humphrey

Here's Humphrey was an Australian children's television series produced by Banksia Productions for the Nine Network, which first aired on 24 May 1965 and last went to air in 2008.

Here's Humphrey
Genre	Preschool
Created by	Rex Heading
Starring	Humphrey B. Bear
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of seasons	40
No. of episodes	3,000[1] 1,776[2]
Production
Executive producer	Rosemary Blackwell (1995–2003)
Production location	Adelaide
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Banksia Productions
Original release
Network	Nine Network
Release	24 May 1965 (1965-05-24) – 29 February 2008 (2008-02-29)

It features an anthropomorphic brown bear character (a person in a costume) known as Humphrey B. Bear, and was produced in Adelaide, South Australia. In September 2013, community station, West TV, began airing repeats of Here's Humphrey in Perth.^[3] The character still exists, owned by Ozpix Entertainment as of 2020.

Here's Humphrey became one of the most successful programs for preschoolers in Australia, was sold internationally, and is one of the longest-running children's television programs in the world. The program received multiple Logie Television Awards.

Format

The series features anthropomorphic brown bear character known as Humphrey B. Bear, who is mute.^[4] Set in a magical forest, Humphrey is paired with a human presenter, who narrates their adventures.^[5] The series takes place in Humphrey's tree house, where he partakes in magical adventures.^[6]

One of the central ideas presented in the show is the importance of taking part and not always being successful at everything.^[7]

Cast

Presenters

Presenter	Tenure	Ref.
Ian Fairweather	1967	[4][8]
Patsy Biscoe	1970–1972	[4][8]
Sue Cardwell	1970s	[9]
Malcolm Harslett	1972–1984	[10]
Martin Portus		[1]
Robin Roenfeldt[a][b]	1979–1988
Joanna Moore[a]	1980–1989
Michael Pope	1984	[11]
Glynn Nicholas	1987-1991	[12]
Heidi Greig	1988–1992	[13]
David Sadler	1988–1992	[13]
Terry Webb	1988–1992	[14]
Ann Carter	1988–1992
Narelle Higson	1989–1993	[15]
Ambrae Jamae	1992–1994
Albert Colbert	1993–1996	[15]
Anthony O'Donohue[c]	1993–2008
Joni Combe[d][e]	1995–2000	[16]
Carolyn Ferrie[f]	1997–1999
Tess Masters[g]	1998	[17]
Diane Dixon	1999–2000
Iyari Limon[h]	1999-2001
Amber Brown	2007–2008	[18]

Humphrey B. Bear

Several performers portrayed the role of Humphrey.

• Edwin Duryea (1965)^[7]
• Ross Hutchinson^[7]
• John Maclean^[7]
• Tom Fairlie
• Aaron Dubois (1992-1994)
• Tony Balzan (1985–2008)
• Bec Schembri (2002-2007)

Production

Here's Humphrey was originally aired exclusively in Adelaide on NWS-9,^[19] premiering on 24 May 1965,^[5][6] before airing nationally two years later.^[4] Filmed in Adelaide and produced by Banskia Productions, the character of Humphrey was initially known as "Bear Bear" until he was renamed as a result of a competition.^[4][8] The program was created as a result of Humphrey's previous popularity on the afternoon program The Channel Niners.^[20]Here's Humphrey was granted a P classification, deeming it specifically designed to meet the needs and interests of pre-schoolers and allowing it to be broadcast on the Nine Network with a 30-minute runtime commercial-free.^[21] Classification deals allowed the Nine Network to repeat each episode three times.^[22]

The Nine Network almost cancelled the series in 2000, which led to protests and comments from the Prime Minister.^[4][19] The network responded to popular public demand and allowed its continuation.^[4][19] The series was commissioned for 180 new episodes in May 2000.^[21] New episodes aired until 2003.^[5]

In February 2007, Nine commissioned a new series of Here's Humphrey, filming episodes for the first time since 2003.^[5][6][22] This followed negotiations with the network, after speculation they would not renew the series approaching the end of its contract.^[6][22][19] The episodes started airing in December 2007 and concluded in 2009 when Banksia Entertainment was wound up.^[23]

In September 2019, it was revealed OZPIX were planning to revive Here's Humphrey with a pitch to broadcasters at MIPCOM in France. The production company expressed interest in integrating live action characters with virtual technology. The production team for the project was led by Julie Greene, former executive producer of Hi-5, and included Catherine Martin and Helen Martin, early childhood specialists who also worked on the program.^[24]

As of 2020,^[update] Ozpix Entertainment owns the character, whose "home" is at Village Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast, Queensland.^[23]

Episodes

More than 3,000 episodes of Here's Humphrey have been produced.^[1] It has also been stated that only 1,776 episodes were filmed.^[2]

Series	Episodes		Originally released
			First released	Last released
2000	180[21]		2000 (2000)[21]	2003 (2003)[5]
2007	60		10 December 2007 (2007-12-10)	29 February 2008 (2008-02-29)

Reception

In 2019, TV Week listed Here's Humphrey at #96 in its list of the 101 greatest Australian television shows of all time, which appeared in its monthly TV Week Close Up publication.^[25] The magazine said young viewers loved watching Humphrey leave his tree house for adventures in the magic forest.^[25]

It has been stated that Here's Humphrey is one of the most successful programs for preschoolers of all time.^[6] It is one of the longest running children's programs in the world.^[7]

Awards and nominations

The program received multiple Logie Television Awards, and the character won a special "Citizen of the Year" Award at the 1994 Australia Day celebrations.^[3][7]

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result	Ref.
1969	Logie Award	Best Children's TV Series	Here's Humphrey	Won	[citation needed]
1970				Won	[26][20]
1975	Parents Without Partners	Distinguished Service to Children Award	Humphrey B. Bear	Won	[20]
1978	Festival of Light			Won	[20]
1978	Logie Award	Favourite Children's Personality		Won	[citation needed]
1979	Television Society of Australia	Individual Achievement		Won	[citation needed]
1982		Penguin Award for Best Children's Personality		Won	[20]
	Logie Award	Best Children's TV Series	Here's Humphrey	Won	[26][20]
1994		Australia Day Citizen of the Year	Humphrey B. Bear	Won	[citation needed]
2003		Heritage Listed and National Trust Icon		Won	[citation needed]

See also

• Television portal
• Australia portal

• List of Australian television series
• List of longest-running Australian television series

Notes

1. Also known as a host of Channel Niners and C'mon Kids
2. Also producer and writer in the 1990s.
3. Also producer, writer and editor in the final season
4. Daughter of singer-songwriter Peter Combe
5. Also known as the original/vintage portrayer of Rhapsody from The Fairies
6. Also known as the voice of Dorothy the Dinosaur for many years
7. Presented a special American version of the show for the 1998 public television series Someday School
8. Presented a Spanish-language version of the show, titled simply Humphrey, which was broadcast in Latin America and the United States on Galavisión