Crapston Villas

Crapston Villas
Genre	Cringe comedy Dark comedy British dark comedy Black comedy Comedy drama Experimental Surreal humour Horror
Created by	Sarah Ann Kennedy
Developed by	Sarah Ann Kennedy Mike Davis
Written by	Sarah Ann Kennedy
Directed by	Sarah Ann Kennedy
Starring	Voice cast: Mathew Horne Chris Morris Mark Heap Kevin Eldon Amelia Bullmore Julia Davis Rebecca Front Tracy-Ann Oberman Catherine Tate Morwenna Banks David Holt Lizzie Waterworth Emma Tate Teresa Gallagher Rob Rackstraw Keith Wickham Felix Dexter Jane Horrocks Garth Jennings Beth Chalmers Polly Kemp Alistair McGowan Elaine MacKenzie-Ellis Etela Pardo Om Puri Claire Skinner Liz Smith Darren Walsh Steve Steen Hugh Dennis John Thomson
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	20 (over 2 series)
Production
Executive producers	Jesse Armstrong Sam Bain Phil Clarke Ian Wells Neville Astley Mark Baker Phil Davies Henry Normal Steve Coogan Christopher O’Hare Tony Collingwood Andrea Tran Sarah Ann Kennedy
Producer	Sarah Ann Kennedy
Animator	Sarah Ann Kennedy
Running time	10 minutes per episode
Production company	Spitting Image Productions
Original release
Network	Channel 4
Release	October 27, 1995 (1995-10-27) – January 19, 1998 (1998-01-19)

Crapston Villas was a British experimental animated television series, developed, written, created, animated, produced, and directed by Sarah Ann Kennedy, the show was made by Spitting Image Productions, which also produced their main puppetry/satire programme Spitting Image in which the characters were made from plasticine and filmed with stop motion clay animation. It was a comedy satire on inner-city London life, directed at a mature audience. It featured a set of characters, living in a grim apartment building in the fictional postcode of SE69, who were plagued by various dilemmas. Foul language, sex and violence are present.

Production

It was made by the Spitting Image Productions company and was originally broadcast on the UK's Channel 4 from 1995 to 1998. It was written by Sarah Ann Kennedy, who was also director (series 1) along with Peter Boyd Maclean (series 2). The music for the show was composed by Rowland Lee.

Voices were provided by a range of British actors and comedians

The show was cancelled after its thirteenth series by the incoming new head of Channel 4 Television, Michael Jackson, who then bought US import South Park to fill the late Friday night slot vacated by Crapston Villas.

The show would be one of the first animated series on British television to present openly gay characters, specifically Robbie and Larry.

Availability

Each series comprised ten episodes. Series 1 was subsequently issued on video, edited together as a single 100 minute piece ("Crapston Villas – City of Slummington"), while Series 2 was similarly released, but on two videos ("Health Hazard" and "Culture Shock"). In the USA five episodes from Series 1 were released on DVD by the independent production/distribution company Troma Entertainment, but so far no DVD releases of either series have occurred in the UK.

As of January 2012, all 20 episodes of Crapston Villas are available to watch on Channel 4's digital on-demand service 4oD (now called All 4). Reruns of the Series are also available to watch on G.O.L.D. late at night.

Awards

• 1996 Broadcast Awards: Best New Program

External links

• Crapston Villas at IMDb