The series follows the day-day exploits of Lucien Cramp (Kath Soucie) and Wayne Cramp (Tom Kenny), fraternal twin brothers who live with their germophobic mother Dorothy (Nicole Oliver) and their Western-obsessed father Horace (Ian James Corlett) in the fictional, industrial town of Soap City. Wayne and Lucien's personalities clash, and they hate one another. Wayne has a friend called Dirty Joe (Lee Tockar), who owns a dump, and neighbour Wendy Winkle (Jayne Peterson) has a crush on him, but he despises her. Wayne's and Lucien's teacher is Miss Hillary Hissy (Cathy Weseluck). Lucien's friends include swamp-dweller Tony Parsons (Terry Klassen) and socially-awkward Mari Phelps (Tabitha St. Germain).
Two seasons of The Cramp Twins were made altogether. In the United States, season 1 aired as two separate seasons, and did not get broadcast until long after it had aired in its home country. All episodes were aired 2–3 years earlier in the UK leaving one episode from season 2 (4 in the US) unaired.
Wayne Cramp (voiced by Tom Kenny) is the periwinkle-skinned younger of the twins, but is taller than Lucien.
Lucien Cramp (voiced by Kath Soucie) is Wayne's older twin brother, as the opening credits indicate. Lucien is the smarter of the twins, and is considered an "eco-nerd".
Dorothy Cramp (née O'Neil) (voiced by Nicole Oliver), is the yellow-skinned strict mother to the twins, and wife of Horace Cramp.
Horace Cramp (voiced by Ian James Corlett) is the green-skinned and inept father of Wayne and Lucien and husband of Dorothy Cramp.
Tony Parsons (voiced by Terry Klassen) is Lucien's best friend and a swamp child.
Wendy Winkle (voiced by Jayne Paterson) is the only daughter of Walter Winkle.
Mari Phelps (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain) 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.
Dirty Joe Muldoon: (voiced by Lee Tockar) A dim-witted, lonely, middle-aged man who owns the local junkyard frequented by Wayne. He is Wayne's best and only friend. He is an unseen character (except for a hand and part of his clothes).
Walter Winkle: (voiced by Colin Murdock) Mr Cramp's boss and Wendy's father. He owns the city's soap-producing factory.
Hillary Hissy: (voiced by Cathy Weseluck) Hillary (Miss Hissy) is Wayne's, Lucien's, Wendy's and Mari's oversized teacher.
Seth Parsons: (voiced by Terry Klassen) Tony's father and a swamp person.
Mr. Pretty: (voiced by Jay Brazeau) is the overly peppy principal of the school introduced in the second season.
Lillian "Lilly" Parsons: (voiced by Pauline Newstone) Seth's wife and the mother of Tony and his siblings.
Mrs. Phelps (voiced by Kath Soucie): Mari's mother. She is the strictest member of the family.
Mr. Phelps (voiced by Colin Murdock): Mari's dad. He works at the opticians.
Agent X: A mysterious and charismatic character portrayed as an FBI Agent (or similar).
Mrs. Winkle: (voiced by Cathy Weseluck) Wendy's mother and Walter Winkle's wife. She behaves more or less like her husband, but ignores/denies the fact they're related to Swamp People.
Barber: Dorothy 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: (voiced by Kath Soucie) A bull rider and country yodeler who turns out to be a fraud. Horace is a big fan of hers, and has a crush on her; the revelation did almost nothing to affect his opinion of her.
Big Baby: The boys' unnamed female cousin. Although she is five years old, she can barely speak or walk.
Marsha and Tandy: Dorothy's so-called friends. Marsha is voiced by Ellen Kennedy and Tandy is voiced by Iris Quinn. They are often seen arguing or insulting each other and often take delight in Dorothy's domestic misfortunes (i.e. Wayne and/or Lucien embarrassing her, behaving in an unsanitary manner, etc.).
In October 2000, Sony Wonder's TV arm was acquired by German company TV-Loonland AG, putting The Cramp Twins under the control of Loonland.[10]
In March 2001, TV-Loonland AG pre-sold the British terrestrial rights to the series to the BBC.[11] In September, the series was pre-sold in Germany to KI.KA.[12] By late 2001, the series pre-sold to TF1 in France,[13] and TV-Loonland subsidiary Salsa Distribution pre-sold the series in Latin America to Fox Kids.[14]
In 2002, the second season was produced by Telemagination, a British animation company that TV-Loonland owned. By that time, the series was picked up in over 50 countries worldwide.[15]
The Cramp Twins premiered in the United Kingdom on 3 September 2001 on Cartoon Network and on BBC One during the CBBC programming block, later airing on the CBBC channel itself in February 2002.[16] The show achieved high popularity with children in the UK, pulling in 1.5 million viewers a week on CBBC and becoming the top-rated weekend series on Cartoon Network during its initial broadcast.[17] Although the series ended, reruns continued to air on CBBC and Cartoon Network for a few years afterwards, with Cartoon Network airing the show well into the mid-2010s at night, in order to fill European content requirements alongside Skatoony and Robotboy. It was also repeated on Boomerang UK and Cartoon Network Too.[18]
In early 2003, 4Kids Entertainment acquired the exclusive merchandise licensing, television broadcast and home video rights for the series within the United States. The series premiered in the country on the company's FoxBoxSaturday morning block on Fox on 8 February on the same year.[19][20] It would continue to air on the block at various intervals until 19 August 2006. The series also aired on Cartoon Network in the US from 14 June 2004[21] to April 2005.[citation needed]
In Canada, the series aired on YTV, premiering in 2004.[22]
In the UK, the series was released on DVD (with Volume 1 also released on VHS) by Metrodome Distribution, a home video company that TV-Loonland AG majority-owned at the time. Volumes 4 and 5 were released under the distributor's "Mini Metro" budget range.[citation needed]
All episodes released on DVD in the country made up the entirety of Series 1. Volume 5 also includes a Season 2 episode.
