I’m a 47-year-old father of two small children and I love the kid’s TV show Bluey. I didn’t mean that to sound like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, but hey. For those not in the know, Bluey is an animated TV show aimed at younger children. It features the Heeler family of dogs. You have Dad, Bandit. Mom, Chilli. Little sister, Bingo and of course, Bluey herself.

Over the years, I’ve always had people telling me to watch this show or that show. “You have to watch The Walking Dead, it’s amazing!”. I watch a couple of episodes and soon grow bored. “Breaking Bad is the greatest TV show ever made”. Really? Not from what I saw. I did get into Cobra Kai for the first three seasons and lost interest about midway through season four. I don’t know, I just find that these highly acclaimed TV shows lack any depth or interesting stories. They tend to be hour-long shows with about 10 minutes of story really being stretched out. And then there’s Bluey, short 7-minute-long episodes that cram in more depth and storytelling than a whole season of something like The Last Of Us. Yes, I really am comparing a kid’s TV show to more adult ones.

Set in Australia, Bluey is a 6-year-old Blue Heeler pup (hence the name) who gets up to all sorts of adventures with her family and friends. Secondary characters are made up of other dog breeds and you have a pretty full roster of loveable characters. Pat/Lucky’s dad is my favourite.

I got into watching Bluey by ‘accident’. As I said at the very start of this article, I’m a 47-year-old father of two, I’m a stay-at-home dad too, so I have to endure a lot of kid’s TV. Most of it, I’d be more than happy to never see ever again. But Bluey? I can’t get enough of it. On the surface, it’s just another kid’s cartoon with bright colours and bouncy music to keep the nippers happy. But under that surface is a brilliantly observed and written show about being a family and parenting.

My kids were getting hungry and wanted a sandwich. So, they sat there watching TV while I was in the kitchen. Bluey was on and they went quiet, transfixed to the TV. This meant that I could be in the kitchen making their sandwich while they were happily occupied, 5 minutes of peace, every parent’s nirvana. I wasn’t really paying the TV much mind as I had already had my fill of annoying kid’s shows for the day. Sandwiches done, and I bring them in from the kitchen. Bluey was still on and the kids were still transfixed. I sat down with a cup of green tea, grateful for the respite of looking after two young children. Then, I found myself watching Bluey along with the kids.

The Takeaway episode came on and the very brief synopsis for this one is that dad, Bandit takes Bluey and Bingo to pick up a Chinese takeaway. The restaurant forgets the spring rolls so Bandit and the kids have to wait a few minutes. This is when Bluey and Bingo become restless, begin playing around and (inadvertently) start annoying Bandit. That was when I realised that this show was capturing my life. Well, the life of any parent with restless kids. There were things that both Bandit and the children were doing that I and my kids do. The kids playing at running a restaurant while the dad tries to keep his sanity. One of the kids ‘busting’ for a wee and more. Dad desperately tries to maintain some kind of calm while the kids are doing all sorts. Then, it ends with Bandit opening a fortune cookie and learning to just let kids be kids. I smiled and from that moment, I was hooked on Bluey.

This is exactly what Bluey does so damn well. It’s a kid’s show that is so well crafted that grown-ups can enjoy it on a different level. The writing is sharp there’s always some kind of nice message somewhere in the episodes. Not preachy stuff, but just nice family value stuff. It can even get a bit ‘adult’ at times and features things that will go over the heads of kids, but hit home with adults.

There’s one episode called The Show that has a pretty hard-hitting moment that I missed the first time around. In this one, Bluey and Bingo put on a show for Bandit and Chilli on Mother’s Day, that details the parent’s meeting and such. Bingo is play-acting as Chilli and has a balloon up her shirt, pretending to be pregnant with Bluey. The balloon pops and Chilli’s (who is watching the show) reaction suddenly changes. She was smiling and enjoying the kid’s little show, but the second the balloon pops, the smile goes and Bandit grabs her hand to comfort her. But why did Chilli get so upset over a balloon popping that was being used to show a pregnancy? Because she had suffered a miscarriage before having Bluey. Nothing is said in the episode (or the show at all) of a miscarriage and it’s not as if anything is spelt out for the kids watching to pick up on anything either. It’s a really quick and subtle reference that only an adult would pick up on.

You may think I’m overanalysing a simple kid’s TV show, but it is true. Bluey creator, Joe Brumm even confirmed that the scene was in relation to Chilli suffering a miscarriage himself. The whole thing is even covered on the Gotta Be Done Bluey podcast. Again, this is a kid’s show and it slips in a miscarriage reference. Bluey is full of little details like this and wonderful story beats that kids won’t get, but will hit home with adults. Whether they be hard-hitting moments like this and dealing with miscarriage, or just silly humour that a younger audience may not get.

There’s another episode called Onesies where Chilli’s sister, Brandy comes to visit. Brandy hasn’t really had much to do with the family and has avoided them for 4 years. The main plot of the episode is Brandy buying Bluey and Bingo some animal onesies and the kids playing with them. However, there’s a subplot where it is revealed that Brandy has avoided the family for years because she finds it hard being around the kids. She finds it hard being around the kids because Brandy wants to have children herself, but can’t. Yup, an infertility sub-plot, but handled really delicately and just as with the previous miscarriage reference, it’s there for the adults to understand and not the kids.

Bluey is drenched in stuff like this. Little details that adults can pick up on while the young ‘uns enjoy the silliness of the cartoon. Bluey’s genius isn’t just about the really clever and subtle writing though. The animation is just as amazing and something else where you can begin to look a bit deeper. While each episode is a self-contained story, there can be references to previous events. Some episodes work as sequels and prequels to others. As an example, an episode in season 2 had Bandit, and others, remove a tree stump from the garden (Stumpfest) because Chilli wants to have a pond put in. Then, in season 3, there’s an episode (Tradies) where Chilli hires some workers to put that pond in. Both are their own stand-alone stories, but they also work as a sequel/prequel.

In some episodes, you might see something happening in the background that relates to another episode. In the Army episode from season 2, you can see Bluey and Chloe playing princesses from season 1’s The Adventure episode. In the Bedroom episode from season 3, you can see the sticky gecko toy, from Sticky Gecko from season 2, on the wall. The show is stuffed with little details like this and a keen eye can serve you well as you can spot nods and references all through Bluey.

Some episodes are very experimental and push creative concepts. Sleepytime has Bingo trying to be a big girl and learning to sleep in her own bed and not with her parents. She then enters a dream world that ties into the actions going on in the real world as everyone in the family begins to move around bedrooms and beds trying to get to sleep. Rain sees Bluey trying to build a makeshift dam in the front yard during a heavy rainstorm. What’s great about this episode is that it features pretty much zero dialogue. There are only 9 words said in the whole episode and the music and animation do all of the storytelling.

My favourite creative episode is Handstand, which is a sequel to Duck Cake where Bandit makes Bingo a cake for her birthday. Anyway, in Handstand, it is Bingo’s birthday party (complete with the cake Bandit made previously) and there are loads of family and friends at the house. The episode starts with Bingo trying to do a handstand in the kitchen. Then, Bandit walks in and makes some pikelets for the party. Then, Chilli comes into the kitchen and takes the pikelets that Bandit made outside. Bingo is still trying to do a handstand and Bandit cooks more pikelets, for Chilli to come back and repeat her action. Add another layer of animation of someone else doing something, on top of Bandit coking and Chilli taking the pikelets outside. Then another layer of animation on top of the previous one and another and another and another and so on. Each new party guest adds a new layer to the animation as the episode grows and grows. The episode eventually leaves the action of the kitchen to go outside and you see what everyone else has been up to while Bingo was practising her handstand, with the adults getting the party ready and the kids running in and out of the kitchen. It really is a creative idea. Not exactly original as it put me in mind of this Ariston advert from the ’90s. Which itself was based on Tango, a short film from 1981 (contains sex/nudity). While the concept may not be unique, the Bluey version is still amazing and has some fantastic animation. This is one of those episodes where you need to keep an eye out in the background, foreground and ‘anyground’ as there is a lot going on to spot. Even outside of the layered animation style, there’s a pretty heartwarming story that gets revealed at the end.

It’s not all about trying to be deep with hidden meanings and messages for adults, or throwing in clever animation and such. Some episodes are just a fun watch and full of nonsense. One of my favourites is Pass the Parcel and not just because it heavily features the awesome Pat (Lucky’s dad) character, it’s a damn funny story about longing for the ‘good old days’, not wrapping kids in cotton wool and we should stop ‘raising a nation of squibs’. I’m very much a Lucky’s dad rules kind of father.

Bluey has multiple layers, from its writing to its animation. It has silly episodes that are about a lot of nothing and are just there for fun. There are episodes with wholesome messages which are presented in a non-pretentious or preachy way. There are episodes that bring up some heavier issues but handle them in a clever way. Some episodes are really worth watching and re-watching to analyse them. Bluey even has a fun Long dog Easter egg to find too. There’s a long dog to find in almost every episode. For such a small show with 7-minute long episodes, they really do pack in a lot to keep you entertained and I’d even argue that Bluey is better written than most ‘must see’ TV shows today.

Whether I’m watching with my kids, or if I’m watching alone. I’m a 47-year-old who thinks an animated TV show about a family of dogs is one of the best things on TV right now. When I’m with my kids, I often (consciously and subconsciously) say or do something related to Bluey. Some of Bandit’s lexicon has now made its way into mine. Bluey creator, Joe Brumm even studied child psychology to help come up with some of the ideas, themes and stories, and Bluey has become a bit of a parenting guidebook for me, as a result. Bluey is a kid’s TV show that goes beyond being a kid’s TV show.

The only real negative I have with Bluey is that being here in the UK, we can’t get the episodes as they should be shown. Despite being co-commissioned by the BBC and them having worldwide rights to Bluey, only a small handful of episodes are available on BBCiPlayer. Loads of episodes missing from seasons 1 & 2 and there are (currently) none from season 3. Now, almost all of the episodes are on Disney+ here in the UK… almost all of them. There is, at least one episode missing (Dad Baby) as the subject matter does not fit with Disney’s ‘kid-friendly’ persona. Plus, some of the episodes on Disney+ have been edited/censored. I’d just like to have the full and uncut episodes available here in the UK. It’s really not too much to ask, is it?

We’re also a full year behind the episodes being aired in Australia. There are still episodes from season 3 that were shown between April and June this year in Australia, that we won’t see until that time next year. I do love Bluey, but the airing rights here in the UK are a bit of a joke… and not a funny one. Sort out the licensing agreement and give us all the episodes, uncut and when they first air too. Even so, Bluey is a fantastic show that is far better than a simple kid’s TV show should be.

Very recently, Bluey: The Videogame has been announced. And yes, as soon as I read the press release, I did put in a review code request.