The fifth series premiered in the UK on CBeebies in April 2002 with being re-shown on the main BBC channel between April 03 to June 26, 2002. This series was also shown on Nick Jr. (UK and Ireland version) sometime in late 2001 or 2002. In the US, the fifth series premiered between December 10, 2001 to October 17, 2002 on Nick Jr. (US block) with later being re-shown on Noggin, Sprout and Qubo. In Australia, the fifth series first premiered sometime in Spring 2002 on the ABC Kids block.
Episodes
(Note: ** means the episode was only released digitally in the US and never on DVD)
(Note: *** means the episode was released both digitally and on DVD in the US)
(Note: **** means the episode was only released on a Hit Favorites DVD in the US)
| Screenshot | Episode Number |
UK title (top) US title (bottom) |
Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
53 (1) | Scruffty's Big Dig | Diane Redmond | 04/01/2002 |
| Bob, Wendy and the Machines are going to Mrs. Broadbent's House who had a big hole in the wall but, Scruffty gets stuck in the rabbit hole. Passing the field, Muck hears a weird howling sound and thinks it's a ghost. Bob shines a torch into the hole and sees Scruffty. Lofty lowers his hook into the hole and Scruffty manages to hold on whilst Lofty hauls him out of the rabbit hole. | ||||
 |
54 (2) | Inspector Spud | Simon Jowett | 04/02/2002 |
| Mr. Bentley inspects a pipe, he gets soaked. Spud tries to take over, but he has no qualifications. | ||||
 |
55 (3) | Cock-A-Doodle Spud*** | Diane Redmond | 04/03/2002 |
| Farmer Pickles' hen has abandoned her eggs, so Bob is building a hen coop. Spud decides to look after the chicks. | ||||
 |
56 (4) | Wendy's Surprise Party** | Ruth Estevez | 04/04/2002 |
| Wendy is inviting the whole town for a barbecue party for her sister, Jenny. But the machines have just laid a garden path and they are too tired to come. | ||||
 |
57 (5) | Skateboard Spud** | Ross Hastings | 04/05/2002 |
| Using an old ironing board, Spud makes a skateboard and rides it all over town. Bob has just put up some traffic calming measures. When Spud comes across Bob, Dizzy, Roley and Scoop, he crashes into the dumpster. His skateboard was finally lost and broken. | ||||
 |
58 (6) | Muck's Monster | Ben Randall | 04/06/2002 |
| Wendy, Muck and Dizzy are clearing a blocked drain. Muck is spooked by the gurgling noises coming from the drains. Dizzy convinces her that it's a drain monster. | ||||
 |
59 (7) | Spud the Dragon**** | Ian Carney | 04/07/2002 |
| Mrs. Percival is preparing costumes for the school play. Spud borrows the dragon costume and pretends to be a magic dragon when he sees Muck. | ||||
 |
60 (8) | Pilchard Steals the Show** | Jimmy Hibbert | 04/08/2002 |
| Scoop notices that Farmer Pickles has entered Scruffty into the dog show, which determines him to also enter Pilchard, even though she is a cat. | ||||
 |
61 (9) | Bob's Hide Bob's Bird Blind |
James Henry | 04/09/2002 |
| Bob's gang are making a bird hide at the nature reserve and also want to get a glimpse of the rare Grebe Warbler. But Spud appears instead dressed like a bird. | ||||
 |
62 (10) | Bob's Auntie | Jimmy Hibbert | 04/10/2002 |
| Auntie Dora is coming to visit and she is a stickler for tidiness. Already the yard is in a complete mess and the machines try to clean it up, but they only make it worse. | ||||
 |
63 (12) | Bob and the Big Freeze | Simon Jowett | 04/11/2002 |
| Scoop and Wendy try to clear the roads, but they bumped into the porcupine crossing. Spud tries to skate on the frozen duck pond, but the ice is not thick enough. Dizzy sends Bob and Lofty out to rescue him. | ||||
 |
64 (11) | Clumsy Roley Roll On Roley |
Ian Carney | 04/12/2002 |
| Roley almost crushes Bob's toolbox. This causes anxiety from him to think he is always clumsy. This always makes him more accident-prone. | ||||
 |
65 (13) | Eskimo Bob Bob of the North |
Chris Trengove | 04/13/2002 |
| It is winter in the town. Bob wears a big parka to look like an Alaskan Eskimo. Wendy's sister, Jenny, visits after a ski trip. | ||||
Characters
- Bob
- Wendy
- Scoop
- Muck
- Dizzy
- Roley
- Lofty
- Pilchard
- Bird
- Travis
- Spud
- Farmer Pickles
- Scruffty
- Mrs. Potts
- Mrs. Broadbent
- Mrs. Percival
- Mr. Bentley
- Mr. Dixon
- Mr. Fothergill
- Mr. Ellis
- Mr. Beasley
- Jenny
- Fin
- Squawk
- Lennie Lazenby (mentioned)
Characters Introduced
Trivia
- Two episodes from this series (Bob and the Big Freeze and Bob of the North) aired in North America in December 2001 before the rest of the series premiered in Spring/October 2002.
- Six episodes for the UK were released in late 2001 on home video before premiering on TV in 2002.
- Some TV guide sites incorrectly state this series aired between January to March 2001.
- This series marks the first and last of a few things:
- First series to premiere in 2002 on the BBC and CBeebies for the UK.
- First series to feature Jenny in physical appearance as before they were only mentioned.
- First series to reveal Mr. Fothergill's surname as before he was just known as the computer repair man when he originally appeared in "Bob's Day Off" (Series 3).
- This series marks the first appearances of Hamish, Doris Ellis, Jenny.
- First series to air on the BBC after CBeebies (block and channel) was launched in the UK.
- Last series to premiere in 2001 for Australia.
- This series is considered the middle series of the Original Series.
- The episodes from this series to never make it to UK DVD's (although they appeared on UK VHS) were "Inspector Spud" "Pilchard Steals the Show" "Bob's Hide" "Bob's Auntie" and "Clumsy Roley".
- This is the only series from the Original Series to be exclusively released on CBS All Access in its entirety without being released prior. Series 1-4 were released on complete DVD sets and Series 6-9 were released on the BBC iPlayer in complete sets.
- However, this series was later released completed in the BBC iPlayer in September 2020.
- This series was most likely produced between January to July 2001.
Source
UK BBC Premier Date:
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=scruffty%27s+big+dig&page=1 - April 01, 2002
US Dates:
- https://nickstory.fandom.com/wiki/December_10,_2001 - Bob and the Big Freeze/Bob of the North
- https://nickstory.fandom.com/wiki/April_12,_2002 - Bob's Auntie/Wendy's Surprise Party
- https://nickstory.fandom.com/wiki/March_25,_2002 - Pilchard Steals the Show/Scruffty's Big Dig
- https://digiguide.tv/programme/Animation/Bob-the-Builder/10896/season-all/ - North American episode order for Series 5 & 6
- https://nickstory.fandom.com/wiki/October_18,_2002 - Series 6 & remaining Series 5 titles premiering in October 2002
| Original Series |
|---|
|
Series 1 • Series 2 • Series 3 • Series 4 • Series 5 • Series 6 • Series 7 • Series 8 • Series 9 |
| Project: Build It |
|
Series 10 • Series 11 • Series 12 • Series 13 • Series 14 • Series 15 • Series 16 |
| Ready, Steady, Build! |