The Shoe People is an animated television series which was first broadcast in the UK in April 1987 on TV-am. It went on to be broadcast in 62 countries around the world. It was the first series from the Western world to be shown in the former Soviet Union and became so popular there that it sold over 25 million Shoe People books. The Shoe People was created by James Driscoll, who got the inspiration for the show from noticing that the style and appearance of people's shoes revealed things about their owners' personalities. He then wondered what stories these shoes could tell about themselves when they were new and when they had gradually worn out. The theme song was written and sung by Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues.

The story

In a shoe repair shop, a shoe mender tries to repair all the shoes he gets, but sometimes he cannot repair them all. He does not throw away these shoes; he puts them in the back room of the shop. These join the other shoes and boots he could not bear to throw away and the ones where their owners never came back for them. This room has a secret. Every night when the shoe mender locks up the shop, he makes sure the back room door is shut. This door does not shut very easily and when he slams it shut, the strangest thing happens. A large cloud of dust from the room fills the air and when it settles, the shoes come to life and the back wall disappears and Shoe Town appears. Just below Toecap Hill is Shoe Town, where all the shoes and boots live. The characters were voiced by Philip Whitchurch and Jo Wyatt (Olwen Rees in Welsh). Jo does the female voices in the sequel, The New Adventures of the Shoe People, while Phillip does all the male voices. Jo's father Martin also produced a vinyl record of the series as well as owning Bright Music, the company that produces the music for the series.

Characters

Original characters

New characters

Original episodes

The first series consisted of 26 episodes which were broadcast on TV-am as part of its 'Wide Awake Club' from April 1987.

The New Adventures of the Shoe People

A second series, The New Adventures of the Shoe People, showcasing many of the new characters, was made in 1992 by FilmFair, for TVAM in 1992.

American dub

The Shoe People was broadcast in the United States on Nickelodeon as a segment on their television series for preschoolers Eureeka's Castle. The series was redubbed with American accents and a female narrator, and a female voice actress was added to the voice cast.

Changes by Nick Jr.

When all 26 episodes of The Shoe People in 1987 aired on Nick Jr. UK from 2001 to 2002, the Fairwater Films/The Shoe People Ltd copyright in 1987 was replaced by FilmFair Ltd, with the restoration handled by CiNAR Studios UK. FilmFair's copyright can be seen at the end of each episode on The Shoe People Complete Series DVD. The same FilmFair copyright screen can also be seen on the 1992 version of the said programme, also on Nick Jr. UK, when they aired the later series in spring 2002.

VHS releases

Since their broadcasts on TV-am in 1987, Tempo Video (with its 'Children's Stories' range of cartoon shows on video and distributed by M.S.D Video Ltd) released five separate videos between 1987 and 1989, including three 40 minute videos with eight episodes on each one and a couple of 30 minute videos as part of activity packs with six episodes on each of them. Between 1989 and 1990, W.m. Collins Sons and Co.Ltd released a couple of special edition videos. In late 1989, MSD Video Ltd released a single video containing eight stories from the series which was distributed by Wm. Collins for and on behalf of Avon Cosmetics. On 5 November 1990, Wienerworld Presentations released two combined videos with 13 stories on each. There were no video releases of The New Adventures of the Shoe People (1992 series). The first series is available on DVD. Other products included books and plush toys along with a special edition chocolate bar issued by Cadbury.

Title by country

International broadcast

Computer game

A children's educational computer game, First Class with the Shoe People, was released for various platforms in 1991 by Gremlin Interactive.