Budgie the Little Helicopter is a series of children's books and animated television series relating to a fictional character 'Budgie' and his friends. The characters were based on the books by Sarah, Duchess of York, who was influenced by her flight training in the Royal Navy. The show was produced by Fred Wolf Films Dublin for HTV and Sleepy Kids Company, and originally aired on British television in 1994 on CITV, then, was aired later on in the United States of America on Fox Kids. The TV Show ran for 39 episodes, and a range of videos, books, and toys were released under the 'Budgie' label. Budgie the Little Helicopter merchandise is now quite rare. On release of the first book, the Duchess was forced to deny she had copied the idea for the series from the earlier Hector the Helicopter book by A.W. Baldwin. The voice of Budgie was originally performed by Richard Pearce.