Underground Ernie

Underground Ernie is a 2006 British-animated children's television series produced by Joella Productions for the BBC on both CBeebies and BBC Two, and sold internationally by BBC Worldwide. It is set in International Underground, a fictional worldwide underground railway network, based on the London Underground, and focuses on the everyday adventures of Ernie, an underground supervisor, Millie, his colleague, and Mr. Rails, the maintenance man.

The locomotives under Ernie's watchful eye all have characters of their own. There is Victoria, Bakerloo, Jubilee, Circle and the twins, Hammersmith & City. From time to time they are joined by their friends from across the world including; Brooklyn, Paris, Sydney, Osaka and Moscow.

The show is aimed at children between the ages of 3 and 8 years. The series had twenty six episodes, lasting twelve minutes each. In October 2005, the series was officially announced, with it premiering the following year. Its first showing on was on 5 June 2006 on BBC Two at 9:00am. It later premiered on CBeebies until 23 December 2006, and was last aired in 2009

Writer John Deery and musician Sid Rainey, formerly of the band Compulsion, formed a production company in 2000 by the name of Joella Productions. During a brainstorming session, Sid came up with the idea of a children's TV series based on the names of tube stations, which is how Underground Ernie was born.

The series is focused on the adventures of Ernie, the controller of International Underground. He works with his colleagues, computer expert Millie who loves all things international, and Mr. Rails, the maintenance man who's been working at the railway for over 25 years. The trains have their own characters too. Victoria is the oldest and has seen it all. She acts as a grandmother figure to all the trains, offering a helping hand whenever they need guidance, Bakerloo is the detective of the Underground, while Hammersmith and City are two fast and furious twins who love quizzes and banking, Jubilee is the youngest of the team, and he's gadget mad, as well as being very mischievous, and Circle is the hippy chick, who loves nature and animals, as well as helping her friends out. Over the course of the series, they are joined by their friends from across the world, such as the snooty Paris, gentle giant Moscow and fun-loving Brooklyn. In each episode, Ernie comes across a problem that he needs a fix, needing the help of the trains or passengers, or both.

In its premiere run, Underground Ernie was broadcast twice a day five days a week, firstly on BBC Two at 9 am, and then repeated on CBeebies at 4.30 pm.

In the series premiere, "Pop Decoy", pop superstar "Sam 7" is performing at the theatre, and Jubilee has to get him there without hundreds of fans finding out. Alas, the excitable Jubilee can't keep a secret, and he and Ernie have to come up with a plan to get Sam 7 safely to the theatre.

At one point during production, Canadian-based distributor Fremantle Corporation was involved in the distribution.