Mintered is a British-American adult animated sitcom created by Jeremy Jones and David Roberts for Channel 4 and the Fox Broadcasting Company.
Development[]
The show first dates back to 1991, when with the pilot and a series of 18 shorts created by Jeremy Jones and David Roberts aired on The Animated Area. The series, which aired on Channel 4 in the UK, was an animation showcase for experimental animators around the world. After a string of shorts, skits and pilots, Jones and Roberts were appointed by Channel 4 in late 1993 to pitch ideas for a British animated sitcom.
The network were determined to find a "British version of The Simpsons". Whilst there was an inital idea for simply transplanting the Simpsons formula to the UK, there was later efforts made to make the series distinctive, including giving the series a more dry and deadpan sense of humour to suit the UK audience and heavily altering the setting to a large family in a zany, offbeat alternate part of London.
Mintered was commisioned by Channel 4 and went into production in the summer of 1994, at which time the FOX network in the United States began to look for new series from other countries for throughout the 1995-96 season.
A production deal was reached in which the show would be co-produced with 20th Century Fox Television alongside Roberts and Jones's production company DJ Studios and Hat Trick Productions, who entered production of the show after Geoffrey Perkins shown interest.
The voice talent of Mintered was to be pooled from the already sucessful British animation and comedy industries, with the initial voice cast for series 1 boasting names including David Jason, Hugh Laurie, Michael Fenton Stevens, Emma Wray, Harry Hill and Kate Robbins.
Plot[]
The show centres around the Minter family, a family of Doodles, species with faces of triangles, with human-like bodies. Each has a different color.
Each episode centres around the family’s adventures and antics around the show’s main setting of London. The version of London in Mintered is from an alternate universe, in which anthropomorphic animals and objects are existent, alongside fictional characters and other imaginative beings. As revealed in Series 10’s “Orangebolt and the Minter Factory”, the show takes place in the same universe of all other animated shows set in the UK, and the show often references other British animated series, both well-known and obscure.
The Minter family are as follows.
- Yellowsilk Minter (voiced by Kate Robbins) - a stressed mother in her late 30's, who's last particular wish was to be raising six children. Her job is as a highly paid social worker and therapist, working with London's seemingly never ending barrage of people who need a lot of help, although she can have trouble balancing this with her extensive family life.
- Emeraldwolf Minter (voiced by Hugh Laurie) - the relaxed father, around the same age as Yellowsilk. A keen creative man, who spends his days using his imagination writing, drawing, painting, composing, editing and filming.
- Bluey Minter (voiced by Tim Snowdon) - The second-eldest child of the Minter family, who initially is a 11 year-old who gets used to transitioning to secondary school, but having dropped out of school later in the series finds himself having difficulty navigating the troubles of teenhood, but without any of the courage to properly speak up about it. He is autistic, which makes his experiences of growing up unique and different to everyone else he knows.
- Pinkstone Minter (voiced by Liza Tarbuck) - Bluey's twin sister, Pinkstone has a split personality. a sporty, tough cookie who is ready to fight for anything flipped with being a soft but lazy person who can't help but slack and shy away from stressful situations.
Movie[]
Sources reported in 1997 that a movie based on Mintered produced by 20th Century Fox was in production. It was released in 2000.
Episodes[]
| Season | Episodes | First air date | Finale Date | Time slot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot | 1 | September 17, 1995 | 8:30pm | |
| 1 (US) | 15 | March 17, 1996 | December 15, 1996 | 9:00pm |
| 1 (U.K.) | September 22, 1995 | November 10, 1995 | 9:30pm (C4)
10:30pm (S4C) | |
| 2 | 18 | September 14, 1997 | Febuary 1, 1998 | |
| 3 | 17 | September 13, 1998 | January 3, 1999 | |
| 4 | 20 | September 11, 1999 | January 22, 2000 | |
Broadcast[]
Syndication[]
In Spring 1996, 20th Century Fox Television announced that Mintered would make it’s syndicated debut that fall on TBS Superstation, and began on September 7, 1996, exactly a year after Fox began airing the show, airing in a 8:30pm timeslot. Initally, only airing once every fortnight, due to a small amount of episodes, TBS Superstation gained rights to the second season in November, and began airing once a week, alternating between seasons 1 and 2. Episodes were also aired on TNT and sometimes on Cartoon Network, TNT stopped around 2000, due to TNT moving into dramas, while it was little seen on CN, leaving altogether with the launch of Adult Swim in 2001. In the fall season of 1999, Mintered began airing in local syndication.
International[]
- See also: Mintered/International broadcast
In the United States, new episodes of Mintered are broadcast on Fox. In syndication, Adult Swim and TBS have aired the show since 2006/2009 and joined FXX and Freeform in 2019.
In the UK, it was originally broadcast on Channel 4 on 8th September 1995, and aired all of the first series before Fox broadcasted them. E4 began airing the show in 2005 (however was slated to air from 2001 launch, but right issues stopped this, they only started airing Mintered after the channel became free). Sky One shows it on pay TV and has since April 1996 and Fox since 2008 has showed the pay TV repeats. Channel 4 also sydnicated many Mintered episodes with the Welsh channel S4C until 2010, due to C4 being unavailable in Wales. S4C mainly showed it later at night than the C4 showing, and only the first 5 series aired on S4C in tandem with the Channel 4 broadcast.
In Ireland, Mintered made it‘s Irish debut on Network Two (shortly after a channel rebrand) in September 1995, where episodes were simulcast with Channel 4 in the UK. From 2006, the show was moved over to new entertainment network Channel 6, and subsequently 3e. RTÉ 2 began to air Mintered again from September 2018, due to 3e dropping Mintered as a result of rebranding as Virgin Media Two.
In Kuboia, the show is broadcast on Vision One, and debuted in June 1996. It typically airs in the 9:00p.m. timeslot.
In El Kadsre, the show originally broadcast the first 2 series on El TV Kadsre 2, and those series aired in reruns on youth focused sister channel El TV Kadsre 3, from January 1999, Mintered moved to ETVK3, while ETVK2 continued to air reruns until 2005, when the show moved to Viva 2 (later V2) but for Series 12, Mintered returned to El TV Kadsre 3, and starting in 2019, classic episodes will air on El TV Kadsre’s youth channel, ETVKK. On pay television, Mintered airs on Fox EK. The French dub airs on El TV Kadsre Francias.
In New Zealand, the show currently airs on TVNZ 2, TVNZ Duke and Sky 5, and previously on TV3, C4 and Four.
In Canada, Mintered airs on CityTV, Adult Swim and Much. It was aired previously on Global and Teletoon.
In Australia, Mintered was originally broadcast on Channel 10, in the slot following Neighbours and before The Simpsons. In 2011, it moved to sister channel Eleven. Starting in 2018, Mintered moved to rival channel 7mate after it acquired all Fox series after Network 10 (which included 11) was bought by CBS. Mintered also began airing on cable network Fox8 since 1997 and has since.
In Germany, It airs on Pro7, Comedy Central, Pro7 Maxx and Pro7 Fun. It previously aired on Viva Germany and MTV. Despite this, the show was intended to broadcast on Premiere (now Sky Cinema). In other German-speaking countries, In Switzerland, it currently airs on 3 Plus TV, 4 Plus TV and 6 Plus TV, and also on TV25, while in Austria, it broadcasts on ORF 1.
In the Euro Republics, Mintered began airing on October 31, 1995, at 10pm, on Channel 4. The actual series made it‘s debut the following May on TV3, along with reruns on Spark, Sky One and Spark 2. When Spark Animation was launched in 2018, Mintered began airing on that channel, with first run rights.
In Sweden, it was originally broadcast on TV3 for it’s first nine seasons, before moving to TV6 when that launched.
| Country | Network | Name | Premiere date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | ORF 1 | Die Minters | October 10th 2006 - now |
| Latin America | Fox
TBS |
Les Minters | October 6, 2009 - present |
| Spain | Neox | Los Minters | November 5th 2006 - now |
| Canada | Teletoon (at Night)
Global CityTV MuchMusic |
Mintered | October 17, 1997 - March 30, 2019
1999 - May 28, 2018 September 30, 2018 - present April 5, 2019 - present |
| Australia | Channel 10
Eleven FOX8 7mate |
September 17, 1996 - 11th January 2011
12th January 2011 - 2018 28th October 1997 - present 2018 - present | |
| Germany | Pro7 Pro7 Maxx Pro7 Fun |
Mintered | 1st January 1997 - present 2017-present 2012-present |
| El Kadsre | El TV Kadsre 2 El TV Kadsre 3 ETVKK |
October 11, 1996 - May 2003 2003; 2017 - present 2019-present | |
| France | Canal+ France 3 M6 W9 6ter |
Les monnayeaurs | 8th December 1996-present 1997-2005 2005-2010 2010-present 2020-present |
| Ireland | RTÉ Network 2 Channel 6 3e RTÉ 2 |
Mintered | January 1996 - 2005 2006 - January 4, 2009 January 5, 2009 - August 30, 2018 September 19, 2018 - present |
| Italy | Italia 1 Italia 2 Fox |
2007 - present 2011 - present 2006 - now | |
| Kuboia | Vision One | 21st June, 1996 - present | |
| United Kingdom | Channel 4 S4C Sky One E4 FOX Sky Showcase |
22nd September, 1995 - present 22nd September, 1995 - 2010 10th April, 1996 - 31 August 2021 30th March, 2001 - present 1st October, 2010 - 1st July 2021 1st September, 2021-present | |
| Jalxinia | YepTV (YepTV at Night) MyTV Channel 7 |
July 17, 2002-October 31, 2020 September 23, 1996-present October 3, 1997-2010; 2016; 2020-present | |
| United States | Fox
FX Adult Swim WGN Superstation TBS FXX Freeform |
September 17th 1995 - present
April 26th 1999 - 2006 December 24th 1999 - 2020 January 7th 2006 - 2020 April 16th 2019 - present September 27th 2019 - present | |
| Hungary | Comedy Central
Humor+ |
A menta | July 6, 2007 - present
2018 - now |
| Marhi | Network 11 (now 2k) | Mintered | May 18, 1996-present |
| Middle East | FX | Mintered | Unknown |
| New Zealand | TV2 TV3 C4 FOUR TVNZ 2 TVNZ Duke |
Mintered | 2nd November, 1995 - 2003 2003-2010 2010 2011 - 2nd July 2016 3rd July 2016 - present 30th October 2017 - present |
| Pakistan | FX | Mintered | Unknown |
| Portugal | Fox
Fox Comedy |
Mintered | June 5, 2010
Unknown |
| South Africa | Vuzu | Mintered | November 29, 2010 |
Ratings[]
- USA - TV-PG (most episodes)
- USA - TV-14 (some episodes)
- USA - TV-Y7 FV (some episodes)
- Canada - PG (most episodes)
- Canada - 14 (some episodes)
- Canada - G (Full Circle; Teletoon)
- Kuboia - 9
- UK - PG (most episodes)
- UK - 12 (some episodes)
- Australia - PG (most episodes from season 10 onwards)
- Australia - M (some episodes from season 10 onwards)
- Australia - G (first 10 seasons)
- New Zealand - PG (TVNZ and most episodes on Sky 5)
- New Zealand - M (a few Sky 5 episodes)
- France - All ages (most episodes)
- France - 10 (some episodes)
- Germany - All ages (most episode
- Italy - Green label (most episodes)
- Italy - Yellow label (some episodes)
- Italy - Red Label (Belly & Jelly)
- Starzota - 15+ (most episodes)
- Starzota - 17+ (some episodes)
Games[]
- 1998 - Mintered (by Fox Interactive)
- 2001 - Mintered - London Lifestyle (by Fox Interactive)
- 2005 - Mintered Arcade (by Radical Entertaiment)
- 2009 - Mintered: 10 Years On (by Electronic Arts)
- 2010 - Mintered Mobile (by Electronic Arts)
- 2018 - Mintered The Sixth (by Electronic Arts, Rockstar Games and FoxNext)