Audrey and Friends (partially found Milkshake! animated series; 2002)

The logo for the show.

Status: Partially Found

Audrey and Friends is a British animated TV series created and directed by David Bennett that ran on Channel 5's both Milkshake! and Shake! blocks from August 3 to December 27, 2002.^[1] The series' last airing was on December 29, 2002. The series revolves around a teenage girl named Audrey with her pet dog named Rounball and her friends Meena and Constance (Stan for short) living in a world of the internet, texting and medieval love potions. The show was animated, produced and distributed by Impossible Television.

The Series

Bennett pitched the show to Channel 5 with a pilot that ended up airing on December 26th, 2000 on the channel's Milkshake! block as a Christmas special.^[2] The network then picked it up as a series that lasted for 26 episodes. The show was animated in a mixture of 2D and CGI animation similar to the distributor's other series that aired on the block at the time.^[3] After the initial episodes aired, the show ended up getting cancelled with no home media release ever made for it.

Reception

According to one of the writers of the show Adam Peters, the show didn't have good ratings in the UK due to the cheap animation and character design that traumatized people, and especially the fact that the show was made on an extremely low budget, however, the show had a minor cult following in New Zealand where the show aired on Prime for several years.

Findings

For a while no footage or images from the show were available online as the only evidence of this show's existence came from an IMDb page and footage of a promo for the series. At some point, a user named LovelyAngel1004 discovered some footage of the show from a 2012 showreel from Impossible TV along with a Soundcloud upload of the theme.

On January 3rd, 2023, YouTuber Lucas’s Archive found and uploaded the pilot to his channel. The pilot served as the show's Christmas special with the most notable differences is the different voice cast and Meena's original name being Mona.

On February 22nd, 2023, LovelyAngel1004 contacted one of the writers Adam Peters via email about the show. A day later, he sent her scans of the inlays from the 5 fake VHS releases he made with information on each episode, the voice cast and other members of the production team.

On March 5th, 2023, LovelyAngel1004 then contacted Bennett via email only to confirm that he doesn't have any full episodes on hand. He then sent a photo of his old portfolio page with concept art from the series, a couple of days later he sent a WeTransfer containing more artwork and a small clip from the show.

On April 21st, 2023, Lucas’s Archive uploaded a Milkshake! December 2002 continuity and found the 26th and final episode of the show titled "Away", but has yet to upload the entire episode due to issues with his capture card.

Voice Cast

The voice cast for the pilot of the show had 3 voice actors while the voice cast for the 2002 series had 5 and more voice actors as the whole tone changed for the show.

Pilot

Nicola Stapleton as Audrey
Kate O'Sullivan as Meena (originally named as Mona), Constance, Valerie (Audrey's mom), Sienna (Audrey's dad's girlfriend)
Simon Schatzberger (credited as Simon Shatzberger) as Audrey's Dad, Jonny, Dave, Mr. Edgar

2002 Series

Elly Fairman as Audrey
Marina Niel as Meena
Lucinda Chambers as Constance
Tim Whitnall as various male characters
Catherine Vandome as Valerie (Audrey's mom), various characters

Episode List

#	Episode Title	Airdate	Synopsis	Status	Notes
0	Audrey and Friends^[4] (Pilot/Christmas Special)	Dec 26, 2000	It is almost Christmas, and Audrey's parents got divorced as Audrey's dad already got a new girlfriend named Sienna, but Audrey's mother hasn't got a new or old boyfriend, so Audrey asks Stan to help her find a new boyfriend for her while Mona (later renamed to Meena) does her audition for the Jack and the Beanstalk pantomime.	Found	DVR recording from December 22, 2001.
1	Valentine	Aug 3, 2002	Audrey is disappointed when she doesn't get any Valentine's Day cards, especially when she learns that her best friends have got loads.	Lost
2	Lost Dog	Aug 10, 2002	Meena loses Audrey's beloved dog Rounball and refuses to look for him, leading to terrible arguments between the girls.	Lost
3	Alt Healing	Aug 17, 2002	Stan teaches Audrey and Meena how to do yoga, before introducing them to aromatherapy, crystals and a whole world of weirdness and danger.	Lost	Screenshots exist.
4	Jailbird	Aug 24, 2002	Stan's mum is arrested on a political protest. As everyone at school starts picking on her, Stan turns to Audrey and Meena for help.	Lost
5	Fruit	Aug 31, 2002	Stan has started a fruit-only diet, but it's giving her terrible wind. How long can Audrey and Meena suffer without saying something?	Lost
6	Shampoo	Sep 7, 2002	Meena and Stan are both auditioning for a shampoo commercial, but who will get the part? And how well will the loser take it?	Lost
7	Fads	Sep 14, 2002	Audrey is worried that she's not 'cool' enough so she tries to change her ways. Can she transform herself into the coolest girl in town?	Lost
8	Popstars	Sep 21, 2002	The girls form a pop group in their quest for fame but soon find themselves arguing about which of them should write the group's songs.	Lost
9	Foreign Exchange	Sep 28, 2002	Audrey's school has an exchange programme with a school in France. The girls are excited to discover who will be coming to stay with them.	Lost
10	Ow	Oct 5, 2002	Uh-oh! Things are getting a little painful for the girls. Stan is taken ill and Meena has an appointment with her super-scary dentist.	Lost
11	Daydream Believer	Oct 12, 2002	The girls are queuing up for a gig at the town's main music venue. They imagine what sort of cute boys they might meet at the concert.	Lost
12	Rudley TV	Oct 19, 2002	A new local TV station is looking for presenters. The girls get hold of a video camera and set about filming their own programmes.	Lost
13	Sleepover Makeover	Oct 26, 2002	The girls are spending the night over at Stan's house. Cue midnight chocolate binges, girlie gossip and ill-advised makeovers.	Lost
14	Rounball in Love	Nov 10, 2002	Audrey's dog Rounball has fallen in love with girl dog Jojo, but Jojo doesn't want to know. Can the girls work their match-making magic on the two canines?	Lost
15	Stupid Boys	Nov 17, 2002	Audrey's next-door neighbours Jonny and Dave come to stay while their Gran's in hospital. Audrey tries to teach the boys to be more grown-up.	Lost
16	Heroes	Nov 24, 2002	Audrey and Stan become heroes and get their photos in the local paper. Meena is annoyed and sets about trying to become a hero herself.	Lost
17	Project	Dec 1, 2002	The girls have to write about their best qualities. Audrey and Stan end up doing Meena's essay, but what can they say about her that's nice?	Lost
18	Glam Stan	Dec 8, 2002	Stan is going on a first date with a cute boy. Meena gives her coaching and advice, but how good a teacher is the self-styled Queen of Lurve?	Lost
19	Silence	Dec 15, 2002	Audrey has lost her voice. Mischievous Meena uses the situation to set her up on a date with the ugliest boy in school. Special guest star: Inkey Jones.	Lost
20	Rounball at the Vets	Dec 22, 2002	Rounball has been bothering girl dogs and there have been complaints. Audrey and her friends try to cure him of this behaviour, with mixed results.	Lost	Screenshots exist.
21	Hideous!	Dec 24, 2002	Audrey wakes up to discover a huge spot on her chin. What can she do to get rid of it? Meena and Stan have some suggestions...	Lost
22	Stan and Judey	Dec 24, 2002	A cute boy is staying in Stan's house. Stan and Meena compete for his affections using increasingly desperate tactics.	Lost
23	Run Rabbit Run	Dec 25, 2002	Audrey's little brother Toby has just got an evil pet rabbit which is making her life hell. She enlists the girls to help her defend against it.	Lost
24	Meena vs the World	Dec 26, 2002	Meena's rudeness has gone too far, and the whole town has turned against her. Stan and Audrey have to teach her how to be nice - and fast!	Lost
25	Diet	Dec 26, 2002	Meena gets the other girls to join her in the new celebrity-endorsed Standing Diet. Is this the weirdest thing they've ever done? Sadly not...	Lost
26	Away	Dec 27, 2002	Audrey is moving to another town. Does this mean she'll never see Stan or Meena ever again? Time for tearful goodbyes.	Partially Found	VCR Recording from December 27, 2002; Screenshot exists.

Gallery

Footage

A Milkshake! promo that mentions the series.

Impossible TV 2012 showreel with a snippet of the show's opening.

YouTube upload of part of the show's intro.

A continuity of Milkshake! from December 27, 2002 that features the beginning of the Audrey and Friends episode "Away".

Images

Screenshot of David Bennett's old portfolio page.
Tape 1 with episodes 1-5 from the mock-up Audrey and Friends VHS box set.
Tape 2 with episodes 6-10 from the mock-up Audrey and Friends VHS box set.
Tape 3 with episodes 11-15 from the mock-up Audrey and Friends VHS box set.
Tape 4 with episodes 16-20 from the mock-up Audrey and Friends VHS box set.
Tape 5 with episodes 21-26 from the mock-up Audrey and Friends VHS box set.

Production Material

Background Artwork

Location sheet (1/4).
Location sheet (2/4).
Location sheet (3/4).
Location sheet (4/4).

Character Artwork

The main characters.
Top row: Audrey, Constance (mistakenly named Mona), and Meena (mistakenly named Penny)
Bottom row: Jonny, Dave, and Toby.
Early versions of Meena and Constance.
Early versions of Audrey and Rounball.
Another early version of Audrey.
Early version of Dave.
Rounball catching a ball.