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Rex the Runt is an animated claymation television show produced by Aardman Animations for BBC Bristol in association with EVA Entertainment and Egmont Imagination. Its main characters are four plasticine dogs: Rex, Wendy, Bad Bob and Vince.

The series began with a short, Ident, in 1989 directed by Richard Goleszowski. After a long gestation period this developed into two unaired shorts and then thirteen ten-minute episodes that first aired over two weeks on BBC2 from December 1998. A second thirteen episode series aired from September 2001 on the same channel. As well as the core cast guest voices included Paul Merton, Morwenna Banks, Judith Chalmers, Antoine de Caunes, Bob Holness, Bob Monkhouse, Jonathan Ross, Graham Norton, Arthur Smith, June Whitfield, Kathy Burke, Pam Ayres and Eddie Izzard.

The animation is unusual in that the models are almost two-dimensional and are animated to exaggerate this - they are flattened in appearance and animated on a sheet of glass with the backgrounds behind the sheet.

Main characters[link]

Rex, the protagonist — a timid, irritable runt. He is quick-witted and usually comes up with plans to get out of the scrapes the gang finds themselves in. His favourite superhero is Rocket Raymond.

Bad Bob is a "big, fat slob", interested in food and TV. His friends, and occasionally even himself, describe him as a "Big, fat, jelly-wobbly, fat bast-", usually getting cut off towards the end. He is distinguishable by his eye patch, which changes from eye to eye, and often carries around a revolver almost the size of himself. However grumpy he might be, he is intelligent and loyal.

Wendy is the only female housemate, distinguishable by her eyelashes, pink colour, noticeably hemispheric breasts, and wears a pink bow on her head. She is cynical, sarcastic, and fiercely independent. Wendy provides solutions to problems albeit in a distant or non-caring way.

Vince is the pet of the household, although all four are dogs. He is distinguished by his prominent buckteeth and mismatched eyes. He speaks in single words or short disjointed phrases, his favorites being "Tuesday", "jam", and "trousers". Vince suffers from Random Pavarotti Disease, causing him to randomly blurt out snatches of opera. While he appears to be unintelligent, he occasionally shows great ingenuity, for example by building an elaborate Heath Robinson machine designed to kill a mouse.

Doctor Dogg is a medical doctor who does not live in the same house as the others. Moustachioed, complacent and greedy, he's an opportunistic money-grabber, whose habitual charge for any treatment is "ten quid" - regardless of whether the cure works or does more harm than good. He isn't above using the main characters in medical research.

Arthur Dustcart, another semi-regular character, who first makes an appearance in the last episode of the first series, but appears quite frequently in the second. He is an ugly but experienced dustman, sporting sleepy mismatched eyes, a neckerchief, a pair of dirty underpants and a large nose with prominent nasal hair. Despite his grotesque appearance and smell, he and Wendy get on rather well, much to the annoyance of Rex. He becomes a friend of the household when he helps find Rex after he was turned into spaghetti.

Other characters[link]

Many one-off characters in Rex The Runt are voiced by various well-known UK celebrities. These include:

Mr Chittock Angry neighbour to Rex, after the gang went into his house and drank his beer. Voiced by Steven Frost, of 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' fame.

Stinky Basil Smarmy French talent-spotter. Voiced by Antoine De Caunes, known best in the UK for presenting the Channel 4 late-night adult entertainment show 'Eurotrash'.

References to other Aardman productions[link]

Several episodes of Rex the Runt contain inside references to other television programmes created by Aardman Animations:

• In the episode "Adventures on Telly Part I", Wallace (from the Wallace and Gromit series) is washing the windows on Rex's house, until Bad Bob pushes his ladder over (in the film A Close Shave, Wallace operates a window washing business).
• Pib and Pog, two of Aardman's lesser known creations, are present in the spectator gallery during the courtroom scene from "The Trials of Wendy" and are also present in the audience watching Rex's band in "Stinky's Search for a Star"
• In the episode "Johnny Saveloy's Undoing", two of the jars containing the chemical essences of various stars are labelled "Wallace" and "Gromit". Another jar on the top shelf reads "Nick Park".
• The exorcist called upon in "Patio" is actually Morph, a character from an Aardman children's show, wearing a trench coat, hat, and large moustache.
• There are two references in the episode "Wayne the Zebra": A Chicken Run-style chicken is rejected during the auditions (with Bad Bob making a comment regarding the recent popularity of chickens, referring to the film's success), and Bad Bob consults the Aardman book Cracking Animation (ISBN 0-500-28168-8, published in the US as Creating 3-D Animation).
• The episode entitled "A Crap Day Out" may be a pun on the Wallace and Gromit short film A Grand Day Out.
• Whereas Wallace and Gromit live on "West Wallaby Street", it can be seen from the various post that arrives for the household that Rex and company live at "7, Marsupial Way, Rexford"

Episode list[link]

Series One[link]

Series Two[link]

Cast[link]

Main cast[link]

• Andrew Franks as Rex (series 1)
• Colin Rote as Rex (series 2)
• Kevin Wrench as Bad Bob (series 1)
• Andy Jeffers as Bad Bob (series 2)
• Elisabeth Hadley as Wendy
• Steve Box as Vince
• Paul Merton as Doctor Dogg
• Arthur Smith as Arthur Dustcart

Guest stars[link]

These include:

• Morwenna Banks as Mrs Bloomers ("A Holiday in Vince")
• Judith Chalmers as Judith Poodle ("A Holiday in Vince")
• Bob Holness as Mr Formal ("Adventures on Telly, Part I")
• Eddie Izzard as Melting Blob Man ("Adventures on Telly, Part III"), and Easter Island Head Aliens ("Easter Island")
• Kathy Burke as Mrs Mandelbrotska ("Adventures on Telly, Part III")
• Antoine de Caunes as Stinky Basil ("Too Many Dogs", "Stinky's Search for a Star"), and French Delegate ("Bob's International Hiccup Centre")
• June Whitfield as Judge Pikelet ("The Trials of Wendy")
• Simon Day as Constable Funnyname ("The Trials of Wendy", "Stinky's Search for a Star")
• Pam Ayres as Aunty Brenda ("Under the Duvet")
• Stanley Unwin as Mr Wangle, Accountant to the Stars ("Johnny Saveloy's Undoing")
• Bob Monkhouse as Johnny Saveloy ("Johnny Saveloy's Undoing")
• Bobby Ball as Tiddles ("Mouse in Me Kitchen")
• Graham Norton as Osvaldo Halitosis ("Patio") and the Plants ("A Crap Day Out")
• Tommy Cannon as Wayne ("Wayne the Zebra")
• Phill Jupitus as The Mouse ("Mouse in Me Kitchen"), The Ants ("Patio") and Sergeant Major ("Private Wendy")
• Jonathan Ross as Handsome Rex ("Wendy's Hot Date") and Awards Announcer ("Wendy's New Hairdo")
• Loyd Grossman as himself ("The Art of Cooking")

Credits[link]

Series 1[link]

• Writers: Richard Goleszowski, David Max Freedman, Alan Gilbey, Kevin Wrench & Andrew Franks
• Music & Theme Tune: Stuart Gordon
• Song Composed by: Kevin Wrench & Andrew Franks
• Executive Producers: Mikael Shields, Steve Walsh (EVA Entertainment), Ulla Brockenhuus-Schack, Poul Kofod (Egmont Imagination)
• Series Producer: Michael Rose
• Producer: Jacqueline White
• Devised & Directed by: Richard Goleszowski
• Executive Producers for Aardman: Peter Lord, David Sproxton
• Executive Producer for BBC Bristol: Colin Rose
• An Aardman Animations Production for BBC Bristol in association with EVA Entertainment & Egmont Imagination

Series 2[link]

• Written by: Ben Caudell, Peter Holmes, Andrew Viner
• Original Music: Stuart Gordon, Ben Jones
• Executive Producer for BBC: Colin Rose
• Executive Producers for Egmont Imagination: Paul Kofod & Tom Van Waveren
• Executive Producers for Aardman: Peter Lord & David Sproxton, Michael Rose
• Producer: Jacqueline White
• Directed by: Richard Goleszowski, Dan Capozzi, Chris Sadler, Sam Fell, Peter Peake
• An Aardman Animations Production for BBC Bristol in association with Egmont Imagination

Merchandise[link]

Series One has been released on VHS in the United Kingdom and on DVD in South Korea. A DVD of all 26 episodes has been released in the United States, but is region-free.

• Rex The Runt: The Complete First Season (VHS) (B00005NB24)
• Rex The Runt: The Complete Collection (DVD) (Region 0) (B000068QOF)
• Rex The Runt: Rainy Day Companion (Book written by Andrew Franks and Kevin Wrench, a.k.a. the voices of Rex and Bad Bob) (ISBN 0-340-74862-1)
• Aardman's Darkside (a compilation DVD featuring episodes of Rex The Runt, released on October 18, 2006) (DVD) (B000FS9SDM)
• Rex The Runt plush toys of the four main characters were available via Aardman at one point, as well as a handbag of Vince's head, though this is particularly rare.
• Sweets shaped like the main characters were available in the early 2000s

External links[link]

• Official website
• Aardman Animation at Atom
• Rex the Runt at the British Comedy Guide
• Rex the Runt at the Internet Movie Database
• Rex the Runt at TV.com