The Foxbusters is a British animated TV series very loosely based on the Dick King-Smith book The Foxbusters. It was made by Cosgrove Hall, and consists of two series of thirteen 11-minute episodes each, made between 1999 and 2000. The show was co-written by the animation partnership of David Max Freedman and Alan Gilbey, and occasionally with Joel Jessup as a third writer. It was directed by Jon Doyle. The show itself is laden with gags and action. It also won two major awards in 2000; a BAFTA for "Best Animated Series" and the British Animation Awards for "Best Children's Series". The show had been up for consideration for U.S. buyers, but they were put off by certain voice over comments on the barnyard action and never aired in the United States.

Plot

The show is primarily set on Foxearth Farm, a fictional farm based in the English countryside in the West Midlands, which is dominated by a variety of animals, particularly the chickens. The Foxbusters are three chickens, Ransome, Sims, and Jeffries (named after the British agricultural machinery maker of the same name), who have the unlikely ability to fly. Each has a different personality; Ransome is the best flyer, Sims is the smartest and Jeffries is the comic relief. The Foxbusters also have the ability to spit grit like machine guns, and drop hard-boiled eggs like they were bombs - and these are used to effect among other methods to keep the hungry pack of foxes in Foxearth Forest at bay.

Characters

The Foxbusters

The Foxes

Recurring

Cast

Episodes

on the beginning of the Foxbusters Pilot, it was to be set during the Second World War as evident in the 1997 Pilot, but this idea was phased out: as evident in some episodes, the series is clearly set during the present day.

Series 1 (1999)

Series 2 (2000)

International broadcasts

Home video releases

On January 13, 2003, Cinema Club and Granada Media released 2 DVDs and videos of The Foxbusters worldwide, one with episodes 1–6 of the first series, and one with episodes 7-13.