Neil Morrissey, voice of Bob
I’d done voices for BBC One’s stop-motion animation The Enchanted World of Brambly Hedge in 1996 and, three years later, I was approached to play Bob the Builder. The original designs had him with a moustache, but we agreed that he looked a lot more child-friendly without one, while still being macho in his overalls and shirt.
I’d been singing for years, at school, in musicals at drama school, and in 1992 western spoof The Ballad of Kid Divine: The Cockney Cowboy, with Michael Elphick and Martin Clunes. I’m no Bruce Springsteen, but I think they were surprised I could hit the big notes.
The TV show was going bonkers all around the world. By the time it came to the end of 2000, someone said: “Why don’t we re-record the theme tune as a single?” We didn’t think anything would come of it, even though it was a lot of fun. Then Chris Evans kept playing it on the Virgin breakfast show, which gave it a massive push. It entered the charts at No 2, then knocked Stan by Eminem off No 1 the week after – for which I’m sure he’s never forgiven me. Then it stayed at No 1 for Christmas, beating What Makes a Man by Westlife.
I was flying out to Australia to film travel show Men Down Under with Clunesy. This was when you could make an actual phone call from the aeroplane, and I had to speak to Neil Fox on Capital FM’s chart show, as Bob, about what it was like being Christmas No 1. I was travelling first class and sitting next to Ronan Keating, talking to Foxy as Bob: “I’ve just had to fix Mrs Pott’s plumbing and she doesn’t know where to put herself …” Then I said: “You’ll never guess who I’m sitting next to.” Ronan Keating leaned over and whispered: “Don’t you fucking dare.” So I had to say: “No one.”
We didn’t get to go on Top of the Pops – they just showed the video. I was, though, dragged to the Ivor Novello awards in 2001, which is rammed with the most brilliant musicians and singers. I was sitting between Annie Lennox and Stevie Wonder when they opened the envelope and Bob the Builder was announced as the winner for bestselling single of the year. All I could hear was Pete Townshend, who was sitting somewhere behind me, going: “What the fuck is this shit?” You can’t argue with that.
Paul K Joyce, composer, arranger, orchestrator
I fancied myself as prog-rock superstar. I got a synth, wrote pop songs, and toured Europe with Depeche Mode as part of synth pop trio Sense. Then I took a sideways step into doing the music for film and TV and then animation. I worked with Richard Briers on an animation called Coconuts, which led to me doing the music for Noddy, the BBC’s flagship children’s show in 1991, and in 1998, I was asked to pitch for Bob The Builder.
We went to Abbey Road studios to record the theme tune. Neil Morrissey was absolutely brilliant and even managed to nail the high harmonies at the end. It was a very happy experience. We knew the show was getting quite a big launch, but we had no idea it would be so instantly successful.
I lived in Nottingham at the time and was walking home at 11pm soon after the show had started, and these lads were all singing: “Can we fix it? Yes we can!” I thought: “How do they know the words?” It was for preschoolers, not students.
Then the BBC rang and said they were thinking of doing a single. I wrote some extra material to extend the theme to about three minutes long, and handed over the audio files from the theme song.
They got in a producer – Grant Mitchell – because my skill wasn’t in the business of creating a pop single – who went away and created the single version with free rein to make something with as broad an appeal as possible. My TV theme had a much more straightforward rock rhythm section to it – it was a lot more Oasis. Mitchell’s version is a lot denser with a breakbeat – a lot more like a pop single so younger kids would engage.
The BBC got very excited and produced an animated video. I was invited to my niece’s school. I stood in the middle of the hall, they put the record on, and the children went absolutely wild. I just thought: “Crikey.” I still hadn’t realised quite how popular it was.
When Barack Obama came into office and started to say “Yes we can”, all the time, I said: “Here’s an opportunity – we could phone up Bruce Springsteen and see if he wants to record a version.” But Hit Entertainment, who owned the rights, weren’t biting. I don’t think they wanted Bob to get in any way political.
