THE week before Christmas has always been a precarious time for serious pop stars. There you are at Number One, basking in teenage adoration, when along comes St Winifred's School Choir, Mr Blobby or Sir Cliff Richard to knock you off your perch.
| Platinum Bob: Can We Fix It? has sold 240,000 copies in one week |
Spare a thought therefore for Eminem, the American rapper whose carefully cultivated bad boy image proved no defence against Bob the Builder. The animated children's character, whose voice is supplied by Neil Morrissey, co-star of Men Behaving Badly, has climbed to the top of the charts with his song Can We Fix It? The record sold 240,000 copies in one week and has gone platinum.
BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm, announced yesterday that it was creating its own children's record label to capitalise on the success of Bob and other synthetic stars like the Tweenies, whose record No 1 has chalked up sales of 300,000. Bob's triumph over Eminem will be welcomed by parents alarmed by the latter's latest offering, Stan, a heart-warming ballad about a rap fan who kills himself and his pregnant girlfriend.
And then there is the building profession, which could do with a little rehabilitation. Bob is like no builder encountered in the post-Pyramid era. When he gives you a quote, he actually means it, and he doesn't disappear to Ibiza for a fortnight after tearing up your dining room floor and ripping out the wiring.
His tax returns are immaculate, he knows what a load-bearing wall looks like and he can actually fit his bottom into his trousers. Aided by his friends, Lofty the crane, Scoop the digger and Muck the bulldozer, Bob just gets on with it. As the song goes: "Bob the Builder. Can we fix it? Bob the Builder. Yes we can!"
Since making his debut on the BBC in April last year, he has captured almost half the pre-school audience. The builder has become the centre of a merchandising operation worth £60 million. The programme has been sold to more than 100 countries and made a fortune for its creator, Keith Chapman, an advertising agency artist.
But despite his popularity, Bob is expected to be toppled from his Number One slot before Christmas Day. The smart money appears to be on squeaky-clean boy band Westlife, who were top of the chart last Christmas.
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