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The Cramp Twins is an animated series created by cartoonist Brian Wood. The show was produced in association with Cartoon Network Europe. It is about Lucien Cramp (Kath Soucie) and Wayne Cramp (Tom Kenny), not-so identical twins who live with their hygiene-obsessed mother (Nicole Oliver) and their Western-obsessed father (Ian James Corlett) in the fictional town of Soap City. Sadly, but obviously, neither get along. Wayne's friend is Dirty Joe (Lee Tockar) and the girl that has a crush on him is Wendy Winkle (Jayne Paterson), though he hates her. His enemies are Miss. Hillary Hissy (Cathy Weseluck, who also plays Tony's mom, Lily, and Mrs. Winkle) and Lucien's friends are Tony Parsons (Terry Klassen who also plays Tony's dad, Seth) and Mari and Luke Harrison (Adam Little).

The series season one premiered in the UK in September 2001 on Cartoon Network (UK) and on February 2, 2002 on CBBC on BBC One respectively and has reached high popularity with children. Season one ended on 21 June 2002. A second season premiered in Autumn 2003. Season 2 finished in 2003. Season 3 started in 2004 and ended in 2005. Season 4 began in 2006 and ended that same year. A fifth season is upcoming. The show is currently licensed to Cartoon Network.

This show was originally canceled in the US in February 2005, when Mew Mew Power (aka "Tokyo Mew Mew") was airing in its slot February 19, 2005, and it was originally intended to be a sneak peek for the series to air September 2005 with Cramp Twins continuing to air there, but 4Kids TV decided to cancel The Cramp Twins to put Mew Mew Power in its slot. A press release went out about a possible 3-part finale answering any unanswered questions, but the show returned in the summer of 2006, and later with more new episodes. However, despite this, Season 5 is upcoming announced by Cartoon Network.

Main characters

• Lucien Cramp: Lucien is the smarter out of the two twins, but also considered the 'eco-loser' and is not really a fighter. He enjoys science, nature and is a vegetarian. He keeps pet worms, which is unknown to everyone else, except Tony and Mari and hides them underneath his bed. He has been shown to be able to knit. He likes to go to the swamp (the only place he gets peace from Wayne, who is scared of going anywhere near the swamp) of Soap City, his home town, with his friend Tony. Lucien is technically the oldest one of the two twins as he was born first in the opening credits. Lucien is voiced by Katherine Soucie. Lucien is often called "nerd" or "girlpants" by Wayne.
• Wayne Cramp: The main villain of the series. The taller and less intelligent of the two brothers. Normally spending time thrashing/beating up Lucien, Wayne has a blue skin. He is obsessed with junk and spends most of his time at the junkyard, which is owned by his only friend, Dirty Joe. Wayne is constantly annoyed by Wendy Winkle, who has a crush on him. He also frequently uses insults that have the suffix "pants", eg. "Girlpants". Wayne is extremely in love with anything sugary. He likes to give the impression that he is the best-behaved of the twins to his mother but he is a horrible bully and troublemaker, and often it is Lucien who gets blamed for his misbehaviour. Wayne is voiced by Tom Kenny.
• Mrs. Cramp (Dorothy Cramp): Mrs Cramp is mother to the twins and wife of Mr Cramp. She is a clean freak, someone who cannot abide the sight of dirt See Obsessive-compulsive disorder. She wrongly believes that Wayne is an angel and that Lucien is the troublemaker. It is revealed in a number of episodes that her first name is Dorothy, or as Wayne puts it in one episode, 'sometimes Dot, never Dotty'. She has a crush on fellow clean-freak Agent X. Mrs Cramp is voiced by Nicole Oliver.
• Mr. Cramp (Horace-Herman-Neville Cramp): Mr Cramp works at the local soap and cleaner products factory. He is also a third-rate cowboy (and is obsessed with "cowgirl" Rodeo Rita), and is always fruitlessly trying to impress his boss, Mr Winkle. In reality, he is an incompetent idiot. Mr Cramp is voiced by Ian James Corlett.
• Tony Parsons: Best friend of Lucien (although they have been know to fall out) and a swamp kid. He possesses a vast knowledge about the swamp and his people's traditions. He has many brothers and sisters. His dad's first name is Seth and his mom's first name is Lily. He is extremely short (about 1 ft tall) and often finds trouble because of this. He and Mari are really the only friends Lucien has. Tony is voiced by Terry Klassen.
• Wendy Winkle: Wendy is the daughter of Walter Winkle, rendered a spoiled brat by her lifestyle. Wendy is ruthless in her demanding of anything that can be attained within her parents' immense wallet. She is also tremendously rude to all except Wayne. She has an obsessive crush on him, and does anything she can to win his heart (unfortunately she has been unsuccessful, since Wayne hates her). She threatens kids by asking her father to sack their parents and hates the swamp, even though she is possibly descended from it. Wendy is voiced by Jayne Paterson.
• Mari Phelps: Mari is Lucien's other friend. She often co-operates with Lucien on his environment-conserving efforts, but often can't help desiring a bit of power. She is a foster child and is looked after by a happiness-obsessed, brown-haired family with strange customs. She is like the black sheep of her foster family. (Alternative spelling: Marie.) Mari is voiced by Tabitha St. Germain.

Major characters

• Dirty Joe Muldoon: An middle-aged man who lives in a trailer and Wayne's friend. He is an unseen character (except for a hand and part of his clothes). According to an episode, he has never bathed or showered in his life, but he showers for the first time in his life when he comes to live with the Cramps.
• Walter Winkle: Mr Cramp's boss and Wendy's father. He owns the city's soap-producing factory. He is a very unlikeable man who practically owns the town, since many of the residents work for him and don't dare to cross him. The only person he obeys is his spoiled-brat of a daughter. He is (as is hinted in many episodes) the brother of Mr. Parson and therefore descended from the swamp.
• Hillary Hissy: Hillary (Miss Hissy) is Wayne's, Lucien's, Wendy's and Mari's oversize teacher. She hates Wayne and she is a friend of Dirty Joe. They were thought to be dating once, but it turned out she was only tutoring him. Miss Hissy has also been shown to have a crush on Mr Cramp (Wayne and Lucien's father). She is very unlikeable and her teaching methods usually involve bullying her students. Her catch-phrase is "toute suite". In one episode it is revealed she was a Karate expert and does Martial Arts. She owns a long stick with bells on it (called 'The Crank') and threatens students into behaving by shaking it in an aggressive manner, inevitably to hit them.
• Seth Parsons: Tony's dad and a swamp person. He and the Parson family live near the swamp. His wife is Lily (who did not appear until later episodes). In episode three, "The Bad Seed", it is shown that, in the western era, he was the outlaw Bad Seed's sidekick Little Hat in his childhood.(he looked like and was the same size as Tony, Little Hat wears a cowboy outfit and has a hat that covers his head, The Bad Seed wears a cowboy outfit and a mask). It is also shown The Bad Seed is someone who looks like Lucien - possibly Mr Cramp or an ancestor of the Cramps.
• Mr. Pretty: A "friend" of Wayne and Lucien's. He is also known as a bully (his mom bullied Dorothy Cramp, his father bullied Horace Cramp.) In the European version he is the overly peppy principal of the School, whose methods to an extent annoy the Cramps. He is often quick to blame Miss Hissy for his own incompetence.
• Lillian "Lily" Parsons: Seth's wife and the mother of Tony and his siblings. Lucien once had a crush on her, much to Tony's annoyance.
• Horace Phelps: Mari's dad. He worked as a barber in his first appearance and then as the vice principle of the school. (he is neither in the European version, instead an optician).
• Principal Earlington Richard Quartermaine: Earlington is the principal of the school and Hillary's boss. He was Mrs. Phelps' ex-boyfriend. He is absent from the European version, and has never appeared.
• Agent X: is a cleaning agent. There is evidence that he is an undercover spy, such as when he gave Mr Cramp a suitcase containing "spy protection gear", which probably he wanted to have Mr Cramp test the suitcase.

Minor characters

• Mrs. Winkle: Wendy's mother and Walter's wife. She behaves more or less like her husband, but ignores the fact he may be a swamp person.
• Barber: The barber who replaced Mr. Phelps. Mrs Cramp takes Lucien and Wayne to see him, and due to a number of circumstances, ends up shutting down his shop entirely. He appears to dislike and to be scared of Tony, as Tony did not pay his hair shaving fees.
• Rodeo Rita: She is a bullrider, country yodeler, but later turns out to be a fraud. Mr Cramp is a big fan of her.
• Big Baby: The Boys' female cousin who is a normal girl but the only problem is that she is 5 years old and yet she cannot even speak nor walk. According to Mrs Cramp, she "puts all her energy into growing".

The Winkles

There seems to be various evidence from sources that Mr. Winkle is actually a "swamp folk" and a relation of Tony by ancestors. In the episode where the toilet is clogged Tony and his father cites "the deeper you go, the more you know" in realization that their basement links to Mr. Winkle's mansion's foundations, where his "ancestors left for a pure and earthy existence". In hearing this he decided to pay Mr. Parsons the sum for cleaning the house that he before refused to pay. Other sources are when the swamp was to be replaced with his Wendy's "Sweet Dream Valley", Mr. Parsons pays a visit to Mr. Winkle reminding him "you can take the man out of the swamp but you can't take the swamp out of the man", reminding him they used to race and they won a prize, with his name as "eely", again, suggesting that he was a swamp folk. Mr. Winkle is almost always present and knows all swamp phenomenon such as the mystery egg which gave good luck, a swamp tradition. He also frequently visits the swamp to eat dumb radishes. Furthermore, he knows the "crested marsh swallow" and knows they were rare and orders them to be delivered to his residence, Tony Parsons beforehand telling Lucien they are "delicious". Mr Winkle shows he wants to eat them by his order. In the episode of "Soap Day" where it rains soap, Lucien stated that soap folk have an immunity that outsiders and swamp folk don't have to it. Later, Tony is seen delivering a package to Mr. Winkles house, where Mr. Winkle and his daughter Wendy were coughing because they lacked immunity. In compiling all of this data it can be argued Mr. Winkle is a swamp folk even though he repeatedly denies it to the public, though The Parsons have kept this secret. Mr Winkle and Parsons are friends, in the episode where they camp out in the night Mr. Winkle pays a visit to "old man Parsons" to prepare his food for him, perhaps like he did in his past.

Also his office full of various swamp objects and in a number of episodes Ms. Winkle refers to the office as "the ugly room." In the episode "Cow Son", when Lucien yells "Ukyuba" on the animal sounds contest, the eagle appeared and Mr. Winkle hits it like Mr. Parsons did. This can be a reference of Mr. Winkle's past, when he probably used to hit eagles along with Mr. Parsons.

Episodes

In total there are four seasons (fifth upcoming this year) of The Cramp Twins. In the USA, season 1 aired as two separate seasons, and did not get the show until long after it aired in its home country. Note: All episodes are listed chronologically in order of occurrence within the Cramp Twins universe. All episodes were aired 2–3 years earlier in the UK leaving one episode from Season 3 unaired.

DVD release

5 DVDs of The Cramp Twins has been released in the UK in a Region 2 format. 2 DVD's of The Cramp Twins has been released in the US The Cramp Twins Twin-Sult & The Cramp Twins Twin-Compatible.

Censorship

The only known controversy about the series was due to a scene in the episode "Count Crampula". In the scene, Mr. Pretty tells the class to respect culture and individuality. Shortly afterwards he shouts at Lawrence Yaku (a Sikh student) for wearing a Turban and then calls him baldy. In the CBBC viewing of the episode, the scene has been edited out, however it is available in the UK version of Cartoon Network. In the BBC version viewing of the episodes, it has been edited instead it shows Mr. Pretty begging down to his parents for forgiveness.

The Cramp Twins in other languages

• United States: The Cramp Twins Fox Box, Cartoon Network
• Bulgarian: Близнаците Крамп
• Russian: Близнецы Крэмп Cartoon Network
• Danish: Krampe tvillingerne
• Greek: Οι Απίθανοι Δίδυμοι Star Channel.
• Macedonian: Близнаците Крамп
• Norwegian: Krampetvillingene
• Polish: Bliźniaki Cramp
• Spanish (Spain): Los Terribles Gemelos Cramp
• Portuguese: Os Cramp Twins
• Hungarian: A Görcs ikrek Cartoon Network.
• Italian: I Gemelli Cramp Rai Due, Cartoon Network
• Irish: Cramp Twins TG4 Cartoon Network
• Arabic: التوأم المختلف MBC 3
• Romanian: Gemenii Cramp Cartoon Network
• German: Die Cramp Twins Super RTL
• Swedish: Tvillingarna Kramp
• French : Les Jumeaux Barjos Canal+, TF1, France 3, La Deux
• Hebrew: התאומים השובבים/התאומים לבית קראמפ Cartoon Network
• Turkish: Cramp İkizler
• Ukrainian: Близнюки Кремп ICTV, Malyatko TV, TET TV
• Tagalog: Ang Cramp Twins Promo 42, VeryGood Channel 48, Super 40, Spu Television