Bob and Margaret (1998)
Bob and Margaret is a Canadian/UK animated television series that was also shown in the United States and all over the world. The series was produced by Nelvana, a Toronto animation studio, and created by Canadian David Fine and Brit Alison Snowden. The series was based on the Academy Award winning short film Bob's Birthday, featuring the same main characters, which won the Best Animated Short Film Oscar in 1994. The series is one of the few Canadian TV shows to ever have regular American exposure. In Canada, it was the highest rated Canadian made animation series ever when it aired in prime time on Global Television. The show revolved around a married English couple named Bob and Margaret Fish, a middle class 40-ish working couple with no children and two dogs named William and Elizabeth. Bob is a dentist and Margaret is a chiropodist. Bob and Margaret struggle with everyday issues and mid life crisis. Stories often revolve around the mundane, but in a way which is eminently relatable. From the trials of shopping to dealing with friends who annoy them, but owe them a dinner. In the first two seasons, Bob and Margaret lived in England, in the South London community of Balham. For the third and fourth seasons, however, they moved to Toronto, Canada, allowing the writers to explore the humour of culture clash. The move was actually inspired by the realities of funding, with certain Canadian tax benefits dependent on stories actually based in Canada. As such, to keep the series funded, the move was necessary. The creators of the series chose to take an executive role on these latter two seasons, reviewing scripts and consulting, but not involved in the detail they were for the first two seasons. Snowden continued to provide the voice of Margaret, but Bob's voice, originally played by Andy Hamilton, was replaced by Brian George.
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Episode 1 - Bob Gets Wired
Release Date: 1999-08-19Margaret is accidentally arrested for shop lifting and treated like a terrorist. Bob is enlisted to entrap her.
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Episode 2 - No Trouble
Release Date: 1999-08-26Margaret's parents visit. They refuse to answer questions and bring their own toilet paper. They keep thanking Bob for having married their daughter
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Episode 3 - The Trouble With Mummy
Release Date: 1999-09-02When Bob's mother's best friend dies, Bob's brother and sister decide that Mummy might be best moved to a home. They are also excited about selling the house for a small fortune.
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Episode 4 - The Fly on the Wall
Release Date: 1999-09-09An old school friend of Bob's wants to make a documentary about his dental practice, but it doesn't go as Bob had hoped.
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Episode 5 - Problems
Release Date: 1999-09-16Margaret bumps into an old school friend she hasn't seen since she was six. The friend is very successful and this makes Margaret feel inadequate. Meanwhile, Bob agrees to attend an AA meeting and confronts some devils.
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Episode 6 - A Patient Dies in Bob's Chair
Release Date: 1999-09-23When a patient dies of a heart attack in Bob's chair, Bob is struck off and so hires a flashy lawyer to fight the ruling.
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Episode 7 - Cuckoo in the Nest
Release Date: 1999-11-20Margaret takes on a fawning young apprentice at the foot clinic. Meanwhile, Bob and Margaret have an unwanted house guest in the Clive, who tries to interest Bob in hookers. When Bob finds a pair underpants in Margaret's coat pocket he suspects the worst.
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Episode 8 - A New Life
Release Date: 1999-12-04Bob is impressed by a promotional video about living in the brand new town of Wordsworth Shakespeare and considers leaving London for this idyllic place where roads are straight and named after popular movies.
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Episode 9 - Animal Behavior
Release Date: 1999-11-27The dogs need more excitement in their lives, and so do Bob and Margaret, so they hook up with The Widgeners, a bitchy, artsy couple who live in a converted warehouse. This episode features an enormous corned beef penis!
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Episode 10 - Party Politics
Release Date: 2000-01-08Margaret unwittingly hosts a sex toy party, but can only manage to round up a feeble group of guests who include her elderly wheel chair bound aunt and the owner of the Indian restaurant below her office.
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Episode 11 - Going Dutch
Release Date: 2000-01-15Margaret wins a cycling holiday in holand, but Bob tries to get out of it because he never learned to ride a bike. Margaret takes Cathy instead.
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Episode 12 - My Foot Hurts
Release Date: 2000-02-01Margaret hosts a local radio phone in show called ‘My Foot Hurts'. To celebrate, they go to a new Indian restaurant, but the owners beg for radio support to help them so that they can afford fertility treatment.
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Episode 13 - A Bob or Two
Release Date: 2000-02-08Bob finds a clown on black velvet painting at a boot sale which ends up potentially worth a small fortune. Features a Godfather pastiche fantasy sequence in which Bob is gunned down by a clown.