After 10 years and 200 episodes, Hey Duggee must be entering the realm of ‘National Treasure’. Its instantly recognisable trademark of colour, quirky characters and ‘badges’ has been a comforting presence on our TVs since December 2014. In fact, the first episode aired when my first child was 9 months old, so it’s been there throughout both his childhood and my ‘parenthood’.
Director, writer and voice of Duggee, Sander Jones, seems as surprised as I am that 10 years have passed. But 200+ episodes in and it’s clear he’s still having as much fun as ever.
I caught up with Sander to find out everything ‘Hey Duggee’, including how they’ve managed to come up with over 200 ‘badges’, whether he has a favourite ‘squirrel’ (spoiler alert, it would be easier to choose a favourite child) and the inspiration behind the viral ‘stick song’.
Hey Duggee: It’s all fun and games
It turns out there’s no blueprint for making a hit children’s TV show. But having fun while you’re doing it seems to be part of the secret. As long as they’re laughing, they know there’s a chance parents and kids alike will enjoy it. “I think we've always wanted it to be a shared experience between children and their adults” he says. He adds with a smile, “Also, we have to make it, so it's quite nice to make ourselves giggle!”
They must spend a lot of time laughing. Sander and the Hey Duggee team have created something so off-the-wall it’s become almost a cult classic, something beloved by toddlers, parents and even teens. The figures alone tell the story of its popularity; the most streamed CBeebies show on BBC iPlayer in 2020, 2021 and 2022, over 3.1billion lifetime views on its official YouTube channel and over 1.3 billion streams on BBC iPlayer since 2014. You can even play with Hey Duggee toys and sleep in Hey Duggee pyjamas.
Jumping the Shark
Sander mentions that they wanted to ‘jump the shark’ from day one. It’s an idea taken from Happy Days, where the Fonz jumps over a shark on water-skis. At the time this was seen as the writers struggling to come up with content so throwing in something that was completely out of the ordinary.
“But we decided we want to do that right from the start. Just do something silly and crazy, because then you don't tie yourself down early on. You can do whatever, and it won't be weird. That’s what the show's about.”
They wanted it to be unexpected, with elements that are perhaps surreal, or make you sit up and say “eh?” A talking, singing stick comes to mind, but watch any episode and you’ll find so much of it is brilliantly quirky, crazily joy-filled and just infectiously fun.
Fun facts
But in amongst all the fun and games and leftfield craziness, there’s a spot of learning. I asked Sander how the team get that balance of fun and age-appropriate facts but it turns out it’s entertainment first, and the moral or educational points just come naturally. “I think it's about entertainment first for the kids - it's got to be fun. So the educational side or the moral side, isn’t at the forefront of our minds. But because the characters are all nice, it would be out of character for someone to be mean. It's just about being kind.”
He goes on to say, “I think it’s just natural, as opposed to trying to weave in any sort of teaching. But when we do something like the Water Badge, it becomes a starting point and hopefully it would be part of a conversation that the children can have with their parents afterwards.”
Hey Duggee: comforting familiarity
While there’s no formula for making a hit children’s TV show like Hey Duggee, parents will be familiar with the structure of the show, which opens with the voice of Hey Duggee narrator, Alexander Armstrong saying “Isn’t it time for….?” and the squirrels excitedly replying, “Duggee!”. As Sander says, “it's quite a free show in terms of it can go and do anything, but in terms of structure you know what you're getting. The squirrels come up against a problem or a situation but luckily, Duggee’s got a badge and everything's fine again.” The ending is equally warming, with ‘Just time for one more thing…Duggee hug’ before the Squirrels’ parents turn up to take them home. For kids and adults alike, there’s a comfort in that.
The familiarity of the structure, and the warmth and kindness of Duggee, must be part of the reason it’s become a favourite childhood memory for so many children. After 10 years, there’s a generation of kids who have grown up with Betty, Roly, Norrie, Happy, Tag and of course, Duggee. Some of those kids are now teens, and Sander mentions that he’s had reports that they’re still watching it, albeit ‘ironically’. But that’s the joy of a show like Hey Duggee – it wraps you up like a comfort blanket, whatever your age. As Sander points out, “It's sort of nostalgic. It's nice, it's fun, and as kids get a little bit older, they maybe see little jokes in there which they didn't when they were toddlers.”
Why does Duggee not talk?
Duggee’s trademark minimal dialogue is part of the show’s appeal but I’ve always been amazed by how he conveys so much with just a ‘woof’ or an ‘a-woof’. Sander tells me they initially thought they could get away with just a handful of pre-recorded ‘woofs’ but now have a library of thousands. It’s become too tricky to find the right one – after all, how do you label such a vast catalogue of monosyllabic woofs - so they’ve gone back to recording them for each show. He jokes that he’s fully in character - ‘method acting’ is mentioned - but although he’s joking, I get the feeling Duggee has become a core part of his life.
The inspiration behind The Stick Song
And it’s not just his life. Like Tom Fletcher, Sander tells me that one of the ‘silver linings’ of lockdown was being able to draw his kids into his work life. They were able to see, for the first time, just what his day job involves. And like Tom, they’ve often influenced, directly or indirectly, his ideas and the storylines of Hey Duggee. In fact, they’ve grown up alongside Hey Duggee. Sander says with a grin that they had their first child during series 1, their second during series 2, their third during series 3. At that point they decided to call time on the babies, but luckily for us, not on series 4.
His kids are big fans but it turns out there is such a thing as ‘too much Duggee’, as Sander found. “I’d wake up in the morning with a Duggee book on my head they want me to read. So I'd read that. Then I'd go to work, and I'd make some Hey Duggees and I'd come home, and they'd watch some Hey Duggees, and they'd want another Hey Duggee book. And it gets to the point where you think, can we just look at Peppa Pig?”
His partner also works on the show and is the person we have to thank (or blame!) for the viral ‘stick song’ which took the parenting world by storm in 2017. If you were a parent back then you may have mixed emotions about the techno beat and one-word, ear-worm lyrics but there’s no denying it was a hit, with 17m views and counting. Perhaps surprisingly, or not, Sander’s partner, Diggy Hicks-Little was inspired to write it by her son and his love of talking inanimate objects. Your own child may well have passed you a favourite stick for safe keeping; these things are never just a ‘stick’, as ‘The Stick Badge’ shows.
(And if you’ve ever wondered what the Stick Song sounds like in other languages, here’s your answer. You’re welcome).
200 Badges and counting
I ask if they ever struggle to come up with ideas for ‘badges’ and he does say, somewhat wistfully, that if they’d known how many episodes they’d end up making, they’d have been more conservative in the badges. “I spend my time looking out of the window thinking ‘what could be a badge’, and also just full of regret for those carefree days in series one and two, where we'd essentially put five badges worth of ideas into one episode. For instance, ‘The Colours Badge’. Why didn't we do the red badge? The blue badge?” he says, laughing. But that’s not to say they’re about to run out of ideas any time soon. Just looking around him and watching the world, his kids, and hanging out with the ‘Squirrels’ seems to provide constant inspiration for Duggee antics.
Hey Duggee at 10
I ask Sander for his thoughts on the most rewarding part of working on Hey Duggee, 200 episodes in, and it’s not the personal satisfaction of knowing he’s created a show that will go down in TV history, though he does say he feels “privileged” to make something that will be part of people’s childhood memory. More than that, it’s the impact it’s had on children and families, and especially autistic or non-verbal children. He tells me about a mum who got in touch to say how watching ‘Duggee hugs’ on the show had enabled her autistic child to accept hugs and comfort in a way she never had before. So while it may be wacky, and there might be a lot of jumping the shark, Hey Duggee is so much more than just a TV show. Personally, I’m very grateful it was there while I navigated the first years of parenting and I’m sure I’m not the only one to have a soft spot for the big brown dog and his squirrels.
It's clear Sander Jones is equally fond of the team’s creation. But his favourite Squirrel? Now that’s one question he can’t possibly answer.
Hey Duggee is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with a special film at Picturehouse, Vue, Odeon, and Showcase cinemas across the country from 18th October.
The 200th episode, The Talent Badge, aired on September 11th and you can catch up now on all the past episodes of Hey Duggee on iPlayer and find Hey Duggee games, activities and more at CBeebies.
Rebecca Lancaster is a Digital Writer for Mother&Baby, drawing on ten years of parenting her two children to help others navigating their own parenting journey. As a freelance writer, she spent ten years working with leading lifestyle brands, from travel companies to food and drink start-ups, and writing everything from hotel reviews to guides to the best British cheeses. She’s particularly interested in travel and introducing her children to the excitement of visiting new places, trying different foods (less successfully) and experiencing different cultures.