From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

BB3B is an animated UK children's television series produced by TellTale Productions in 2005. The entire series consists of thirteen episodes of twenty minutes each. It is shown on CBBC in the UK.

BB3B stands for 'Billy Bob 3rd Brother' and the show is about two children, Lucy and Louis Jenkins, who think their new baby brother, Billy Bob, is an alien sent to lead an invasion of Planet Earth by 'sprogs', having gotten all their knowledge of aliens from the sci-fi 'B' movies they watch with their babysitter Chubba (a teenage boy with spiky red hair, who calls virtually everyone "dude"). The stories involve everyday incidents but are seen through the misconceptions of the older children. To help foil what they thought were BB3B's invasion plans, Lucy and Louis occasionally called upon the help of four friends; one of whom, named Tipper, was so much bigger than the rest that the viewer only ever saw the lower half of his face, the top half either being out of shot or obscured by a conveniently placed foreground object (such as a lampshade, for example). Each episode would end with a shot of sprogs, all looking exactly like BB3B, heading (and farting) relentlessly through space towards Earth or at least, according to Lucy and Louis's imaginations.

Lucy and Louis's eccentric grandmother Nana, who comes from Rochdale in England, lives in a trailer in the front yard of the house. Seldom seen dressed in anything other than her stetson and cowgirl outfit, Nana is constantly pursuing the love of her life, the wealthy but very elusive Mr. Weinberger, a bald gentleman whose face is never seen on-screen and who seldom speaks. Unfortunately, Nana's feelings for Weinberger are never reciprocated, as he has a tendency to quickly leave the scene at the first sight or sound of her.

The catchy theme song of the series was performed by Scottish rock band Bis. Members Steven Clark (Sci-fi Steven), John Clark (John Disco), and Amanda MacKinnon (Manda Rin), along with their fictional drummer, appear at some point in all bar the first episode performing a song relating to the plot (which would be heard again during the credits). They turned up to sing in a variety of strange places during the series' run: the roof of a toy store, the back of a truck travelling along the street, the roof of the Jenkins' home, and even in a large tank at the local aquarium (though how they were able to perform whilst underwater is anyone's guess!). However, Bis played no part whatsoever in the storylines; they never interacted with the show's characters, and the characters never seemed to see and/or hear them either – which is a bit of a shame, as knowing Nana, she would probably have enjoyed bopping along to the songs. Perhaps it's just as well, as the Jenkins family's lives were complicated enough without them wondering why a rock band was constantly appearing in the neighbourhood, performing a very catchy number in the strangest of locations, and then disappearing as mysteriously as they had arrived!

• CBBC
• CBBC Channel
• BBC

• BB3B at the Internet Movie Database