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Construction Site
Genre	Children's television series
Developed by	CITV
Starring	Brian Herring Mark Jefferis Mak Wilson Charlotte Bellamy Angie Greaves
Opening theme	That's What They Do (short version) by Mark Jefferis (2000s)
Ending theme	That's What They Do (different version) by Mark Jefferis (2000s)
Composer	Ed Welch
Country of origin	United Kingdom United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	52
Production
Executive producer	Angus Fletcher
Producer	Sue Taylor
Running time	10 mins
Production company	The Jim Henson Company
Original release
Network	ITV (CITV)
Release	September 10, 1999 (1999-09-10) – March 9, 2002 (2002-03-09)

Construction Site is a live action children's television series created by The Jim Henson Company in 1999, featuring a group of seven anthropomorphic construction vehicles. It was originally produced for and shown on CITV starting on September 10, 1999. In March 9, 2002, it was nominated for a Children's BAFTA for the Best Pre-School Live Action. Two 13-episode seasons were produced. Episodes are packaged as 52 x 10' or 13 x 26'. The show had a range of video releases by Universal Australia.

The characters

The main characters consist of a range of different construction equipment. They are as follows:

• Diggs is a blue male backhoe loader
• Bozer is a red male bulldozer
• Scooch is an orange male dumper
• Carrie is a purple female forklift
• Carl is a green male crane
• Lug is a yellow male dump truck
• Maxine is a brown female cement mixer

There were also mentioned/visiting characters:

• Flatty the Flatbed
• Skatch the Dumper
• Big Rig the Large Dump truck
• Dumper the Jumper Truck
• Big Rig the "Supertruck"
• Kevin the Crane
• Truckzilla the Monster Truck

There are also other vehicles and machines:

• The Low Loader
• The Tall Crane
• The Conveyor Belt
• The Wrecking Ball Crane

Episodes

Season 1 (1999)

1. "Who's the Boss" – Carrie thinks she'd make just as good a boss as Bozer and when he gives her the chance she's determined to prove it.
2. "Cool Fuel" – The machines must clear an old dumpsite to make way for a new car park in just one day.
3. "What I Do Best" – When Diggs starts treating everyday jobs on the construction site as a competition, Bozer decides to introduce a real contest—the Machine Challenge
4. "Carnival Capers" – On Maxine's mileage day, Bozer enlists the help of the others to organize a party to celebrate.
5. "Big Bozer Is Watching" – Scooch is terrified to work on top of a tall building after spilling salt earlier in the day, as he believes it's bad luck.
6. "Big Rig" – Lug scoffs when he sees the new machines pretending to be a superhero named Big Rig, but he might need some of those powers.
7. "Listening Troubles" – When Bozer tells Diggs that he's full of good ideas he thinks he'll share them with Scooch and Carrie—but Carrie has her own ideas, and they bicker.
8. "The Way of the Bodger" – Diggs learns the merits of doing a job properly after he does mediocre work to save time.
9. "Look What I've Got" – Diggs is proud of his shiny new attachment. But when Bozer tells him it's needed on an important job, Diggs realizes that he doesn't know what it does.
10. "Tread Carefully" – Diggs wears some new, fashionable treads, but his quest for fashion leaves Scooch in a tight spot.
11. "A Good Mixer" – The new machines have a lot of bricks to move, so many in fact that Diggs thinks they could use a little help from Maxine.
12. "Almost Famous" – When Diggs, Carrie and Scooch dig a trench in the wrong place they think they've struck oil and dream of riches.
13. "Sunk" – When the younger machines accidentally knock a load of oil drums into the dock they are too scared to own up to their mistake.

Season 2 (2000)

1. "What's the Plan" – Diggs and Scooch thing they're saving Bozer some time by digging a pond, but they put it in the wrong place.
2. "Idle Time" – When there's cement mix to be moved and Carrie's feeling fired up, nothing can stop her—nothing except a dead battery that is.
3. "A Riveting Story" – Carrie chooses to horse around when the machines are clearing out an old dock, and has to be rescued by Carl.
4. "There's No Place Like Home" – Preoccupied because he misses his birth site, Carl almost drops a pipe on Diggs, leading the others to try and cheer him up.
5. "Truckmate" – Diggs is jealous when Scooch chooses to work with Carrie instead of him, so Diggs impersonates Carrie to win back his friend.
6. "Grown Up for a Day" – When Diggs saves Carl from a nasty accident, the older machines decide it's time he started hanging out with them.
7. "Mid-Mileage Crisis" – After reflecting on his carefree youth, Lug decides that he's not ready for old age and joins Diggs and Scooch for some 'top gear' fun.
8. "Loud and Clear" – Scooch's voice is too quiet to stop Lug from crashing, and Scooch worries that the older truck will never forgive him.
9. "Junkyard" – Diggs frightens Carrie and Schooch on a junkyard run with tales of a scary monster named "Truckzilla."
10. "From Start to Finish" – Diggs, Carrie and Scooch are tired of the old machines always telling them what to do, and want to prove to Bozer they can work on their own
11. "Out with the Old" – Bozer tells the machines that it's "out with the old and in with the new," to Carl and Lug's chagrin.
12. "Feeling Flat" – Scooch wants to find something he can do that Diggs can't. But when he tries to max out his load all he ends up with is a flat tire.
13. "One Roll at the Time" – Diggs discovers Bozer is scared of water, but in an effort to help Bozer conquer his fear, Diggs ends up in trouble.

Season 3 (2001)

1. "Cool Fuel" – The machines must clear an old dumpsite to make way for a new car park in just one day. Bozer gives the machines a new batch of fuel as a treat but because Carrie is an electric machine she misses out - while the others enjoy their treat together Carrie worries because she is 'difierent. But, when the new fuel turns out to be a bad batch and all the machines have to be cleaned out, it's down to Carrie alone to get the job done and save the day. As the others praise her for a job well done, she realises that sometimes being different isn't so bad after all
2. "The Way of the Bodger" – Diggs and Scooch are working on some foundations and are tired and fed up. When Maxine and Lug start to reminisce about their younger days when they would 'bodge' a job to get it done more quickly, Diggs believes he's on to a winner. On his next job he digs a very mediocre hole which Scooch then fills in -finishing the job in record time. When Bozer drives over to test the foundations and sinks however, Diggs quickly learns the merits of doing a job property.
3. "Big Bozer Is Watching" – When Scooch spills some salt grit, Diggs fills his head with the notion that it is 'unlucky', so when Bozer tells them they are working on top of a very high building, Scooch is terrified. There is a camera feed from the top of the building to a TV below so Bozer asks Cart and Lug to keep an eye on the little machines. And they certainly make for some great viewing as Scooch's worst fears are realised when the lift malfunctions setting him up for a very bumpy ride!
4. "Truckmate" – Diggs is jealous when Scooch chooses to work with Carrie instead of him. In an attempt to win back his friend's allegiance, Diggs performs his best Carrie voice while silhouetted behind some tarpaulin. 'Carrie' informs Scooch that in fact 'Diggs is the cleverest machine on the site, more so than Bozer even'. When Bozer and the real Carrie arrive, Diggs is exposed and given a stern telling off. But they do all agree on one thing, Diggs is very clever at doing voices.
5. "Out with the Old" – Bozer tells the machines that it's "out with the old and in with the new," to Carl and Lug's chagrin.
6. "Junkyard" – Diggs frightens Carrie and Schooch on a junkyard run with tales of a scary monster named "Truckzilla."
7. "Carnival Capers" – On Maxine's mileage day, Bozer enlists the help of the others to organize a party to celebrate.
8. "Almost Famous" – When Diggs, Carrie and Scooch dig a trench in the wrong place they think they've struck oil and dream of riches.
9. "I'm Having Fun Today" – Carrie teaches Diggs that even his boring job of moving stones can be fun when she turns it into a game.
10. "Tread Carefully" – Diggs wears some new, fashionable treads, but his quest for fashion leaves Scooch in a tight spot.
11. "A Riveting Story" – Carrie and Diggs are scouting for rivets for their collections when Bozer telis everyone that today's job is to clear out an old dock. Carf is to lit the smaller machines into the dock to start the clearing. While in the dock, Carrie spots a trunk full of rivets and greedily tries to pick the whole lot up with her forks. Accidentally, she rams the side of the dock and water starts to pour in. After a heart stopping rescue by Carl, Carrie has to let her precious rivets go and learns the hard way that there is definitely a time for play and a time for work.
12. "Sunk" – When the younger machines accidentally knock a load of oil drums into the dock they are too scared to own up to their mistake. They take Carl's hook to try and retrieve them but-things just get worse as the hook falls into the water as well. Meanwhile, Bozer is worried when he finds all the oil drums missing while Cart searches frantically for his hooky. The young machines have no choice but to tell Bozer what has happened and Carl successfully lifts all the drums out of dock, Everyone agrees it's better to own up to an accident straight, just as Bozer reverses into the drums sending the whole lot back into the water again!
13. "Mid-Mileage Crisis" – One day as the younger machines play by the docks, Cart and Lug reffect on their own carefree youth. Lug decides that he's not ready for old age just yet and joins Diggs, Carrie and Scooch for some top gear' fun Carl and Maxine look on aghast while Lug initiates an overly enthusiastic round of Follow My Leader. When things get out of hand - resulting in total chaos - he realises that while it was fun being the young and careless

'Lugster' the older and wiser "Lug' plays a more vital role on the Construction Site,

1. "One Roll at the Time" – The machines are demolishing a beacon on the end of the jetty. Diggs discovers Bozer is scared of water, much to Bozer's embarrassment. In an effort to help him conquer his fear, Diggs reverses along the jetty, encouraging Bozer to follow him. But Carl accidentally catches the jetty with his hook and it starts to collapse. Bozer manages to overcome his fear in time to rescue Diggs. Afterwards, Bozer finds out all the other machines are all scared of something too and it's really nothing to be embarrassed about after all.

Season 4 (2002)

1. "The Call of the Forest" – Despite Bozer's warnings; Diggs plays a prank on Scooch, encouraging him to pursue the mysterious "the call of the forest.
2. "Space Invaders" – Scooch would like a bit more space in the idle house but Diggs and Carrie aren't giving an inch.
3. "Star Truck" – When the young machines decide to tell stories, Scooch shows that sometimes the smallest truck has the biggest imagination.
4. "Going Solo" – With Bozer off-site, Diggs mistakenly thinks Maxine has told him it's OK to do a job on his own.
5. "Magno Carrie" – Carrie doesn't understand how to work her flashy new recharger—so Diggs takes charge, despite the fact he has no idea what he's doing.
6. "Crane of the Year" – Carl has to knock a chimney down on the site today, giving him a chance to show why he is nominated for Crane of the Year.
7. "Parp Idle!" – Due to a wall of ice that Carl can't even shift, the machines get stuck on a slippery mountain road.
8. "Building Bozer" – When Diggs overhears Bozer talking to himself, it seems that their beloved boss is going to be leaving.
9. "Whodunnit" – The machines are shocked to find that during the night the new multistory parking garage they were building has been destroyed.
10. "Emission Impossible" – A new dump truck has come to the site—Skatch. He's so exciting and fun that Diggs and Carrie seem to be ignoring their old pal, Scooch.
11. "Hi Pitched Bozer" – Bozer returns from a servicing only to find that his deep voice has changed and is now high and squeaky.
12. "Frozen Bozer" – On a cold day, Bozer reminds the machines to put in their antifreeze. Trouble is, he's so busy reminding everyone else that he forgets to put some in himself.
13. "Fog" – The young machines procrastinate on a job, and pay the price when a thick fog rolls in.

Setting

The series was set around a large construction site, and the machines are rarely seen leaving its boundaries. There were no human characters due to the use of Muppet-like vehicles. The site consists of factories, a battery charge bay, a park, a dock, a few sheds, a tall bridge, a scrapyard, a mountain, a forest, and more.

Production

The models

The vehicle models are used by live-action animatronic puppet models. This is the first time The Jim Henson Company have used these, as these type of puppets were restricted to movies like Babe and Labyrinth.

References

External links

• Construction Site at IMDb
• Construction Site at Muppet Wiki

• 1999 British television series debuts
• 2003 British television series endings
• 1990s British children's television series
• 2000s British children's television series
• 1990s preschool education television series
• 2000s preschool education television series
• British preschool education television series
• British television shows featuring puppetry
• ITV children's television shows
• Television series by The Jim Henson Company