Mark Rylance narrates and voices Flop, the calm knitted guardian to Elliot Kerley's Bing, a black-furred preschooler who approaches each miniature crisis, lost balloons to shared toys, with the gravity of a state occasion. Each seven-minute instalment lands on a single emotional lesson, delivered through dialogue that mirrors real toddler syntax and the books’ watercolour palette rendered in soft digital pastels.
Production began in 2013 after Acamar Films optioned Ted Dewan’s picture-book series; Brown Bag Films animated in Dublin while 23 freelance writers, three Montessori teachers and developmental linguists ground every script in recognised early-years psychology. The first two runs totalled 105 episodes and ended in 2019, yet the property stayed alive through foreign dubbings, a 2023 soft-toy line and a continuing French-language revival that has pushed worldwide transmissions past 150 territories.
Awards followed the quiet success: an International Emmy Kids nod for preschool animation and, more recently, a Made For Mums Gold for the Peek-a-Boo plush that repeats Flop’s low-key catchphrases. The show’s staying power lies in never raising its voice; tantrums dissolve into a singsong recap that lets the viewer, not an adult, pronounce the day salvageable.
Production Details
CBeebies / 4 Seasons / 157 Episodes / 2014 - Present
Created by: Ted Dewan
Showrunner(s): Philip Bergkvist, Howard Litton, Lucy Murphy
Producer(s): Mikael Shields
Music: Julian Nott
Main Cast
Mark Rylance as Narrator / Flop (voice)
Elliot Kerley as Bing (voice)
Eve Bentley as Sula (voice)
Shai Portnoy as Pando (voice)
Bryony Hannah as Padget (voice)
Akiya Henry as Amma (voice)
Poppy Hendley as Charlie (voice)
Tamsin Greig as Molly (voice)
Jocelyn Macnab as Coco (voice)
Xavi Nixon as Nicky (voice)
