Someone correct me if I’m wrong but is Bob the Builder actually a British program that is shown here in the US with dubbed-in American accents? Or are the voices we get the same as in the UK?
Also, does anyone know if the Thomas the Tank Engine shows are now synchronized between the UK and US (Lord I hope the UK never had Alec Baldwin voicing the trains like we did, ugh!)
They certainly are.
In the UK the voices for BtB are done by Neil Morrissey (of Men Behaving Badly fame) and TtTE is narrated by some guy called Ringo Starr.
Is Ringo still doing them? I thought they’d got someone else relatively recently. I haven’t watched myself, so I can’t see if it’s a new voice. I hope not - Thomas with Ringo’s voice is one of my childhood memories 
“What’s my name? Fuck you, that’s my name!”, huffed Gordon.
It hasn’t been Ringo in years, though one son is slightly too old and the other slightly too young for me to have reminded myself lately who is the narrator on the newer tapes…
Bob the Builder’s dad, in some of the recent episodes, was voiced by Richard Briers, a truly inspired piece of casting if ever there was one.
His mum is June Whitfield, which is even cooler.
What really got me was seeing George Carlin play Mr. Conductor. Of all the people to play a part in a kids program, I was not expecting him.
It is Paul Angelis of Liver Birds fame, among many other British TV credits. He sounds quite like Ringo and indeed his brother Paul did Ringo’s voice in Yellow Submarine.
Sorry, Michael Angelis is the Thomas the Tank Engine narrator.
My ex-girlfriend’s dad is June Whitfield’s hairdresser. Beat that! I move in high circles.
Is The Fat Controller still called The Fat Controller on the American-dubbed TtTE?
In the early seasons (with Ringo) they did. Then they started calling him Sir Topham Hatt.
In America, him being fat is not enough to distinguish him from the crowd 
Among the narrators on our Thomas DVDs and the ones we see on TV are Ringo Starr, Alec Baldwin, George Carlin, and some other guy who’s name I can’t remember.
FWIW, I like Ringo the best, and George Carlin next-best. After that, it’s a toss-up. I don’t think Alec Baldwin is bad.
Slightly off-topic, but what the heck–does anybody else think Bob the Builder might be a bit of a closet case? I don’t think he’s even admitted it to himself yet. You’d think Wendy would have figured it out by now, but hey, love is blind.
OP here; I’m not sure if my original question got answered: do the Bob the Builder characters have British accents in the UK? IMDB confuses the issue because they only list one voice (not distinguishing between US and UK airings).
Yes.
He must be, because Wendy is a total hottie. A nice looking blonde who’s a whiz with tools? Yowza!
I think at least one of the Bob the Builder tyke-books features “Wendy’s Valentine,” which means either Bob isn’t totally clueless, or that one of the Machines has the hots for her…
I think some of the more recent Bob the Builder cartoons in the US/on PBS have featured the original un-redubbed British accents – I’ve seen a few of the episodes and have been thrown that Bob et al have sounded “wrong”.
You’re assuming, of course, that Wendy is straight.
That’s a no-brainer if ever there was one. The way Wendy’s little bosom heaves over him in Buffalo Bob would be evidence enough. No, I think Bob just needs belting round the head with a clue-by-four.
As I’ve stated before, my wife’s uncle was John Entwhistle; read and weep.
Incidentally, WTF with the dubbing of Bob and Thomas into American? Could you, like, not understand the original? Do you think we voice over Mickey Mouse in Brit accents? 