Inspired by Bluey and Bondi Rescue, another Australian cartoon is making waves overseas

Bluey, a Bondi Rescue lifeguard and a screenwriter’s memories of Nippers training have all contributed to the international success of children’s animation Kangaroo Beach. A hit with preschoolers in Britain, China, Mexico, Canada and Finland, the series – featuring Australian native animals (and a panda) having fun and staying safe in the water – breaks the rules.

As with trailblazer Bluey, the characters retain their Australian accents in all English-language broadcasts. And by tackling one of the biggest no-nos in television for this age group – water play – Kangaroo Beach spreads a lifesaving message around Australia and the world. With the introduction of a new character this Boxing Day special, and a storyline that ventures inland to the rivers and waterfalls, that message is as crucial as ever.

The Kangaroo Beach crew – Frizzy, Neville, Gemma and Pounce – head inland in the Boxing Day special. Credit:

“A big number of incidents in the water in Australia actually happen inland, away from the ocean and swimming pools,” says series creator Tim Bain, who has written for Bluey and who grew up in the bush township of Freshwater Creek, inland from Victoria’s surf coast. “So we wanted to expand our remit from the beach and at the same time explore the gorgeous Australian landscape.”

While developing the series for its ABC Kids launch in 2020, Bain built on his early beach safety experiences, such as watching his lifesaver father rescue a family of tourists from a sandbar. The writers also spent a day on Manly Beach with series consultant Bruce “Hoppo” Hopkins from Bondi Rescue and other lifeguards.

“They took us all out into the water on rescue boards, straight into a rip,” Bain says. “We were thrust into the water away from shore, and then they showed us how the rip curves around and takes you back to the beach. I was learning stuff as a 40-year-old that I never knew.”

While the series is produced in Sydney, Bain has lived in Britain for the past three years, where he has also worked as a writer and voice actor on children’s series such as Fireman Sam and Thomas and Friends.

Kangaroo Beach creator Tim Bain (in black) as a nipper at nippers. Credit:

“I was attracted to the kids’ television industry over there, which is just incredible,” he says. “They make the best preschool television in the world in the UK.”

Returning to Australia this summer to live in Victoria with his banker husband and three children aged under eight, Bain reflects on writing Kangaroo Beach from a colder climate.

“I wrote the second series in winter, and it was just such a nice escape,” he says. “I think that’s why the show does so well overseas. It’s the reason why Home and Away is so popular – you can get a suntan watching the television. You feel like you’re invited into this blue sparkling sea paradise.

“Hopefully, there’s an appeal for Australians who’ve grown up with that lifestyle, but there’s also a great appeal for people to whom the beach is quite foreign … I just love the idea of Finnish kids huddled around the television watching this beautiful, warm landscape.”

The Boxing Day special introduces new character Spyke the echidna, a “gutsy bush kid” who lives with her Aunty Bev (Deborah Mailman). As with all the lifesaver cadets (which include a kangaroo, platypus, koala, wombat and galah), Spyke is voiced by a child actor, in another diversion from industry protocol. The adult voice cast includes Kitty Flanagan and Miranda Tapsell.

“Kids’ voices are a little scrappier, and they are a little more unrehearsed and unprofessional, but that’s great,” Bain says. “They’re finding language for the first time and making up things and mispronouncing words, and it’s funny and real.”

With season three of Kangaroo Beach hitting ABC Kids on January 20, and production beginning in February on a new ABC commission – a mixed-media puppet series called Knee High Spies, directed by Sesame Street director Jack Jameson – Bain is thrilled to be “reliving my childhood”.

Tim Bain working from home with his children in 2021.Credit:

“I was talking to Jack, and we were saying how excited we are about just getting to play like kids,” he says. “We’re total Peter Pans. I don’t think there’s any better job than making kids laugh.”

Kangaroo Beach Summer Special: Mountain Mystery screens on Thursday, December 26, at 5.10pm on ABC Kids.

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