By the numbers
17 days, 19 hr
Time in Odyssey
Projected from 1,072 timed episodes averaging 23.7 min
40 yrs
On the air
1987 to 2026, without a gap
10.0
Cast per episode
Average across 1,077 logged episodes
1988
Busiest year
49 episodes aired
2,823
One-episode wonders
Characters who appeared exactly once
10,815
Total roles cast
Every character-in-episode credit on file
New faces per year
How many characters turned up for the very first time.
’87
’91
’95
’99
’03
’07
’11
’15
’19
’23
When every episode aired
One tick per broadcast, placed on the day it went out.Most-heard characters
Episodes each character appears in.
John Whittaker 699 Connie Kendall 475 Eugene Meltsner 324 Tom Riley 140 Wooton Bassett 135 Jason Whittaker 131 Bernard Walton 92 Jack Allen 90 Katrina Meltsner 87 Penny Bassett 76Hardest-working actors
Episodes recorded, any role.
Katie Leigh 487 Will Ryan 396 Hal Smith 263 Andre Stojka 230 Paul Herlinger 221 Phil Lollar 217 Walker Edmiston 208 Jess Harnell 154 Bob Luttrell 149 Townsend Coleman 141Most prolific writers
Episodes credited as writer.
Paul McCusker 296 Phil Lollar 258 Marshal Younger 189 Kathy Buchanan 139 Nathan Hoobler 69 John Fornof 45 Bob Hoose 44 Dave Arnold 36 Abigail Geiger 30 Sam Suksiri 12Most prolific directors
Episodes credited as director.
Phil Lollar 394 Paul McCusker 232 Marshal Younger 161 Kathy Buchanan 85 Nathan Hoobler 68 Dave Arnold 53 Bob Hoose 51 Steve Harris 34 John Fornof 22 Abigail Geiger 16Odd corners
Things the archive only admits once you count it up.85%
Aired on a Saturday
914 episodes — a Saturday-morning show, and the calendar agrees
7
Jobs held by one person
Dave Arnold is credited in every role the archive records
9
Actors have played John Whittaker
More than any other named part, across 699 episodes
273 days
The longest silence
Between 2008 and 2009, the longest gap between two broadcasts
29%
Part of a longer story
315 episodes are one instalment of a serial
51
Biggest cast
Speaking parts in one episode, in episode 500
209
Parts played by one actor
Phil Lollar, more than anyone else in the cast
81%
Appear on one album only
3,168 characters turn up for a single release and are never heard again
3.4M
Words of dialogue
At least — attributed speech across 1,064 episodes, and a third of all lines cannot be attributed at all
267 hrs
Of people talking
Measured line by line, and understated for the same reason
Most heard
Time speaking on air, estimated.
John Whittaker
699 episodes
30 h 5 min
Connie Kendall
475 episodes
18 h
Eugene Meltsner
324 episodes
13 h 11 min
Wooton Bassett
135 episodes
5 h 53 min
Bernard Walton
92 episodes
4 h 51 min
Jason Whittaker
131 episodes
4 h 30 min
Penny Bassett
76 episodes
3 h 57 min
Olivia Parker
68 episodes
3 h 41 min
Jay Smouse
71 episodes
3 h 38 min
Tom Riley
140 episodes
3 h 37 min
Emily Jones
54 episodes
3 h 5 min
Jack Allen
90 episodes
2 h 41 min