Strange Hill High
Strange Hill High is a children's puppet-animated series for CBBC. The show is a co-production between CBBC, FremantleMedia and Factory.
| Strange Hill High | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Animated series, mystery fiction, fantasy, Adventure, sci-fi |
| Created by | Yoshimi & Katoi Josh Weinstein |
| Written by |
|
| Directed by | Geoff Walker & Chris Tichbourne |
| Starring |
|
| Composer(s) | Paul Lovatt-Cooper |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Phil Chalk and Andrew Burrell |
| Running time | 22 mins. |
| Production company(s) | Factory FremantleMedia Enterprises CBBC |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBBC |
| Original release | 8 May 2013 – 15 December 2014 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
| Production website | |
Out of the many writers, it was noted that Josh Weinstein (who worked on The Simpsons and Futurama) would be involved in the series,[1] with its visuals created using an animation technique combining puppets, Japanese vinyl toys and digital effects.
Premise
Strange Hill High mainly follows a group of three students: Mitchell Tanner, a pupil with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder who comes up with plans to resolve various conflicts, while avoiding studying for tests; Becky Butters, who tries her best to get out of whatever problems she gets involved in; and the sometimes dull Templeton, who comes up with bizarre quips, as they explore their extraordinary school, uncovering absurd and outrageous occurrences as they go.
The students meet a variety of people involved in the oddities of their school, but have to be wary of some of the students and faculty members - mainly Mr. Abercrombie, who is easily angered by any disturbance.
Cast
Main Cast
- Doc Brown as Mitchell Tanner, Bishop and others
- Emma Kennedy as Becky Butters
- Richard Ayoade as Templeton
- Jonathan Keeble as Mr. Abercrombie
- John Thomson as Peter Dustpan and others
- Caroline Aherne as Stephanie, Croydonia and others
- Marc Silk as Matthews, Tyson, the Ghosts in Detention and others
- Melissa Sinden as Miss Grackle and others
- Matt King as Mr. Creeper
Guest Stars
- Chris Johnson as Ken Kong
- Alison Moyet as Terpsichore (a.k.a. Joy)
Episodes
Series 1 (2013)
| # | Title | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "King Mitchell" | Mark Oswin and James Griffiths | 8 May 2013 |
| 2 | "99 Cool Things to do with a Time Machine" | Ben Teasdale | 15 May 2013 |
| 3 | "The Lost and Found Boy" | Josh Weinstein | 22 May 2013 |
| 4 | "Snoozical" | Reid Harrison | 29 May 2013 |
| 5 | "Big Mouth Strikes Again" | Mark Oswin and James Griffiths | 5 June 2013 |
| 6 | "The Most Boring Book In The World" | Ben Teasdale | 12 June 2013 |
| 7 | "Read All About It" | Stuart Kenworthy | 19 June 2013 |
| 8 | "Health & Safety" | Emma Kennedy | 26 June 2013 |
| 9 | "The Ghost Writers of Strange Hill High" | Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris | 3 July 2013 |
| 10 | "Teacher's Pets" | Mark Oswin and James Griffiths | 10 July 2013 |
| 11 | "Lucky Becky" | Kirstie Falkous | 17 July 2013 |
| 12 | "Becky vs Bocky" | Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris | 24 July 2013 |
| 13 | "End Of Terminator" | Josh Weinstein | 31 July 2013 |
Series 2 (2014)
| # | Title | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Curse of the Were-Teacher" | Josh Weinstein | 29 April 2014 |
| 2 | "Invasion of the Templetons" | Andrew Burrell | 6 May 2014 |
| 3 | "The 101% Solution" | Mark Oswin and James Griffiths | 13 May 2014 |
| 4 | "Little School of Horrors" | Bede Blake | 20 May 2014 |
| 5 | "Big Templeton is Watching You!" | Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris | 27 May 2014 |
| 6 | "Crushing Embarrassment" | Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris | 3 June 2014 |
| 7 | "Mitchell Who?" | Mark Oswin and James Griffiths | 10 June 2014 |
| 8 | "Innercrombie" | Andrew Burrell | 17 June 2014 |
| 9 | "Ken Kong" | Stuart Kenworthy | 24 June 2014 |
| 10 | "Mitchell Junior" | Emma Kennedy | 1 July 2014 |
| 11 | "The MCDXX Men" | Mark Oswin and James Griffiths | 8 July 2014 |
| 12 | "The Snide Piper" | Ben Bailey-Smith | 15 July 2014 |
| 13 | "A Strange Hill Christmas" | Josh Weinstein | 15 December 2014 |
Ratings
Episode ratings from BARB.[2]
| Episode No. | Airdate | Viewers | CBBC Weekly Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 May 2013 | Under 244,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 2 | 15 May 2013 | 298,000 | 8 |
| 3 | 22 May 2013 | 360,000 | 3 |
| 4 | 29 May 2013 | 317,000 | 6 |
| 5 | 5 June 2013 | Under 205,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 6 | 12 June 2013 | Under 248,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 7 | 19 June 2013 | 224,000 | 10 |
| 8 | 26 June 2013 | 283,000 | 4 |
| 9 | 3 July 2013 | Under 198,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 10 | 10 July 2013 | 294,000 | 2 |
| 11 | 17 July 2013 | Under 262,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 12 | 24 July 2013 | Under 212,000 | Outside Top 10 |
| 13 | 31 July 2013 | 278,000 | 6 |
Awards and nominations
| Awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Award | Category | Recipients and nominees | Result | |
| 67th British Academy Film Awards[3] | Best Animated Series | Nominated | ||
| Kidscreen Awards[3] | Best Animated Series | Won | ||
| British Academy Children's Awards[4] | Animation | Nominated | ||
See also
- Grange Hill – unrelated 1978–2008 British television children's drama series that also takes place at a school
- Strange Hill – unrelated British comic strip with a similar name that also takes place at a school
References
- "Simpsons writer Josh Weinstein launches British TV show". BBC. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
- "Weekly top 10 programmes - BARB". www.barb.co.uk.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 February 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Children's in 2014". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. 23 November 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
