Construction Site

Construction Site is a 15-minute children's series which ran in the UK from 1999 to 2003. Featuring animatronic puppets resembling machinery, the series focused on a group of friendly, talking construction vehicles. The show ran for four seasons; each episode was around ten minutes.

Each animatronic character was performed by a single puppeteer and a 'driver'. These 'drivers' were the makers and maintainers of the vehicular characters. Each character cost over $30,000 to produce with new techniques having to be developed to accommodate the vast number of servos in a small area and new silicon for the tyres.

The series was a production between Jim Henson's Creature Shop and Jim Henson Television and was also the first production to be shot entirely with a Motion Control camera, meaning every motion control camera shot had to be timed and pre-recorded. The first two seasons were shot at the Creature Shop's own motion control studio at the Camden base, with the second two seasons shot at Millennium Studios in Elstree after the motion control camera had been acquired by them.

Construction Site was nominated for the Live Children's BAFTA award two years running.

Cast

 * Diggs the Backhoe Loader: Voiced and performed by Brian Herring
 * Carrie the Forklift: Voiced by Charlotte Bellamy; performed by Steven Kynman (season 1 and 2), Wim Booth (season 3), Susan Beattie (season 4)
 * Scooch the Dumptruck: Voiced and performed by Mak Wilson
 * Bozer the Bulldozer: Voiced and performed by Mark Jefferis
 * Carl the Crane: Voiced and performed by Mark Jefferis
 * Maxine the Mixer: Voiced by Angie Greaves; performed by Steven Kynman (season 1 and 2), Wim Booth (season 3), Susan Beattie (season 4)
 * Lug the Large Dumptruck: Voiced and performed by Mak Wilson

Wilson was also the puppet co-ordinator, co-producer of the first two seasons and director of six episodes.

Characters
In 2002, Henson.com described the Construction Site characters:

"Diggs the Backhoe: Diggs the Backhoe is our hero. Fresh from the factory, Diggs is thrilled to be part of the team and eager to learn everything about construction. He is always full of big - if impractical - plans; his main weakness is that he wants to 'do it all' and often does not realize his limitations."

"Scooch the Dumptruck: Scooch is the newest machine on the site and Diggs' best friend, and usual work partner. Scooch admires Diggs' confidence and versatility, and is happy to be friends with such a cool digger."

"Carrie the Forklift: Carrie has been on the site longer than Diggs and Scooch and acts very much like an older sister to them both. Carrie can tease and gently boss Diggs and Scooch around whenever she likes; but she is not a trouble maker - just an enthusiastic kid who is a bit overzealous about proving herself."

"Bozer the Bulldozer: Bozer is the approachable, understanding leader of the construction vehicles. His authority is unquestioned and he has a great sense of his own responsibility. Fair and patient, he can be a gentle father figure to his younger charges and a good friend to the older machines."

"Carl the Crane: Carl tends to lose track of what he is doing and where he is going. Absent minded and forgetful, he is brilliant at what he does, but must count on others to guide him. Carl is calm and philosophical when something goes wrong, and almost surprised when something goes right."

"Maxine the Mixer: Maxine sounds mixed up but is really very wise. When she's mixing, she talks in a jumble, getting words mixed up. When she starts putting all her words in the right order, however, we know her cement is ready. She always looks on the bright side and very rarely gets flustered."

"Lug the Large Dumptruck: Lug lives in a self-satisfied reverie. Nostalgic through and through, he is continuously re-living the great events in his past; both in his head and to anyone who'll listen. His favourite subject is lugging dirt and he will talk endlessly of the great loads he has lifted and the grand buildings he has helped to build."

Credits

 * Written by Jocelyn Stevenson, Laura Beaumont, Mark Seal, Paul Larson, P. Kevin Strader
 * Directed by Simon Spencer, Mak Wilson, Dirk Campbell, John Stephenson