The Caribou Kitchen

The Caribou Kitchen is a British preschool animated television series, particularly intended for children aged between two and five years old, which aired on the ITV network's CITV block from 5 June 1995 to 3 August 1998, running for 52 episodes over 4 series. The series was created by Andrew Brenner, and was his first television writing role. It mainly aired in a Monday timeslot throughout its run.

It was produced by Maddocks Cartoon Productions and World Productions for Scottish Television. Ealing Animation was credited as a production company in the third and fourth series.

The show's main character is an anthropomorphic caribou called Claudia who runs a restaurant in the fictional town called Barkabout, assisted by her staff, the chef Abe the Anteater, and waiters Lisa the Lemur and Tom the Tortoise. The kitchen serves a number of talking animal guests, including Mrs Panda, Caroline the Cow, Gerald the Giraffe and Taffy the Tiger. Each of the 52 episodes lasts about ten minutes, and intends to teach its pre-school audiences important lessons.

The Caribou Kitchen's narrator is Kate Robbins who also voiced all of the show's characters (both male & female) and sang the show's theme song. The rights to the show are currently owned by DreamWorks Classics and Universal Television, the current successor of Entertainment Rights, who had previously owned the rights.

Characters

 * Claudia the Caribou: the title character and owner of The Caribou Kitchen
 * Abe the Anteater: the chef or "cook"
 * Lisa the Lemur: the waitress
 * Tom the Tortoise: the waiter
 * Cyril the Squirrel: an assistant staff member
 * Caroline the Cow
 * Mrs Panda
 * Taffy the Tiger
 * Kevin the Chameleon: an interior decorator
 * Hector the Hippopotamus: who runs the local fruit & vegetable shop
 * Godfrey the Goat: a gardener
 * Helen the Hamster: the truck driver
 * Betty the Beaver: a carpenter
 * Flora the Frog
 * Sophie the Swallow
 * Penelope the Porcupine: runs the Barkabout Corner Shop.
 * Gerald the Giraffe
 * Susanna the Snake: a doctor