Something Special is a British children's television programme presented by Justin Fletcher. It was created and produced by Allan Johnston. It is broadcast by the BBC, debuting on 1 September 2003. It is designed to introduce children to Makaton signing, and is specifically aimed at children with delayed learning and communication difficulties. It is aired on the CBeebies channel and is currently the longest running CBeebies programme and the longest running preschool series in Britain. In the past, it was also broadcast as part of the CBeebies programme strand on BBC One and BBC Two. The name of the programme derives from the idea that all children, irrespective of their position on the learning spectrum, are special. The format of the show has evolved considerably since the original series. In 2012, a new series, "Something Special – We're All Friends" started, introducing some minor changes to the "Out and About" format. This format change has also included a change in location, and introduced the Tumble Tapp, a personalised tablet computer showing the "special things" to look for. The earlier series of the show were taken out of re-run rotation sometime in the early 2010's; CBeebies now only airs the most recent series, currently Series 10-12.

Synopsis

It is presented by Justin Fletcher ("Justin") and features various other characters and clips of children with disabilities. Justin speaks as well as signing, and a spoken narrative is provided over the clips of children. The other characters played by Fletcher are the Tumble Family. Mr Tumble, who is a clown, Grandad Tumble, Fisherman Tumble, Lord Tumble, Chef Tumble and Baker Tumble. Other members of the Tumble family have made appearances including two Aunts, Polly and Suki (as in the nursery rhyme "Polly Put the Kettle On") and Baby Tumble. In Series 10, 3 animal characters were introduced to the series, Spotty the Horse, who is Mr Tumble's horse that has appeared in the episodes "Animals" and "Animal Keeper", Dennis the T-Rex, who is a dinosaur who has only appeared in the episode "Dinosaurs" (The T-Rex is also a display at Paultons Park where it was filmed) and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, who appears in the episode "A Magical Christmas".

Format

Series overview

Episodes

Series 1 (2003)

Series 2 (2006)

Series 3: Out and About (2008)

Series 4: Out and About (2010)

Series 5: Out and About (2010)

Series 6: Out and About (2011)

Mr Tumble's Special Day Out (2012)

Series 7: We're All Friends (2012)

Series 8: We're All Friends (2014)

Series 9: We're All Friends (2016)

Series 10: We're All Friends (2017-2018)

Something Special at the Proms (2018)

Series 11: We're All Friends (2020)

Easter Special (2022)

Christmas Special (2022)

Series 12: We're All Friends (2023-2024)

Theatre show

In 2015, a theatrical production called The Tale of Mr Tumble was performed. Starring Justin Fletcher as Mr Tumble and Ronni Ancona as The Unsmiling Principle, the show sees the Mr Tumble character as a baby and as a young boy, and follows him throughout his early life. A filmed version of The Tale of Mr Tumble aired on CBeebies in March 2016.

Awards