Synopsis

Johnson and Friends is an Australian childrenâ€™s television programme broadcast on ABC from 12 November 1990 to 25 December 1995. It was produced by Film Australia and lasted seven seasons. In the UK it was shown in the 1993 on TCC, CBBC, and then on UK Living's Tiny Living strand for under-fives. It was aired in the United States as a segment on the Fox Cubhouse, an educational children's… program on Fox, from 1993 to 1996.

The ABC bought broadcasting rights later on that year and the series premiered worldwide on the ABC on 3 September 1990, to instant praise.

The series garnered a video release and the ABC agreed to co-produce the second series of 14 episodes, which premiered in 1991.

This also marked the beginning of many successful international sales including to the BBC in the United Kingdom, RTP in Portugal and StÃ¶Ã° 2 in Iceland, among many others.

A music album based on the Johnson and Friends characters was produced by series composer Chris Neal and his son, Braedy for Film Australia and ABC Music.

Ron teamed up with director Ian Munro to bring this idea to life, and after cycling through many writers, they found John Patterson - who impressed them immediately with his trial script.

The first series of 12 episodes was shot at AFTRS' studio complex in Sydney in 1990.