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The Beano's Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Show

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The Beano's Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Show
Also known asDennis the Menace and Gnasher Show
Genre
Based onCharacters
from The Beano comics
Written byMike Barfield
Bob Harvey
Directed byBob Harvey
StarringLogan Murray
Theme music composerJohn Du Prez
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes100
Production
ProducersBob Harvey
Dan Maddicott
Robb Hart
Running time5 minutes
Production companiesUltimate Animates Productions Ltd
D.C. Thomson & Co.
Starstream
Original release
NetworkThe Children's Channel
Release5 November 1990 (1990-11-05) –
29 November 1991 (1991-11-29)
Related

The Beano's Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Show is a British puppet series based on characters from The Beano comic, which aired on The Children's Channel between 5 November 1990 and 29 November 1991.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] The show was directed and produced by Bob Harvey, Dan Maddicott and Robb Hart and written by Mike Barfield, with voices by Logan Murray.[8][9]

Plot

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The series follows the adventures of Dennis the Menace and his pet dog Gnasher, who cause chaos and destruction around Beanotown. They torment and play pranks on people, including Mum and Dad, who want less mischief from their son, and Walter the Softy, whom Dennis delights in terrorising. However, the menaces find themselves receiving their comeuppance in the end, with their victims getting the last laugh.[10]

In addition to the regular episodes, Dennis and Gnasher also appeared in "Dennis Link Shows". These segments took place in the Dennis' den, where he and Gnasher would read viewer mail and present other programming on The Children's Channel.[7]

Production

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Mike Barfield had been the producer, writer, researcher and co-presenter of Comic Cuts for British Satellite Broadcasting, produced by The Children's Channel's parent company Starstream.[8] DC Thomson had partial ownership of The Children's Channel,[11] who had been hoping for a long time that they would let them make a show based on Dennis the Menace from The Beano. When Starstream realised that Barfield was a fan of comics from doing Comic Cuts, they offered him the chance to write the pilot. DC Thomson liked it, and the show got commissioned.[8]

Barfield had been reading The Beano since he was a child in the 1960s. He had old annuals and a few comics, but he did not read so many Beano comics once he was a teenager. Fortunately, DC Thomson sent him some comics so that he could catch up with Dennis's further adventures.[12] He wrote all 100 episodes, with one of them co-written by director and producer Bob Harvey. The episodes consisted of story segments written by Barfield in his flat in Shepherd's Bush, and "Dennis Link Shows" set in Dennis' den, where he and Gnasher would read viewer mail, before presenting other programming on The Children's Channel.[8][7] John Du Prez composed the series' punk-style theme song.

The Children's Channel approached puppet company Ultimate Animates Productions, owned by David Barclay, about creating 3D puppets for the show. The first series featured only three puppets; Dennis, Gnasher and Walter.[13][14][15] All other characters could only appear as drawings or be heard offscreen. The puppets were filmed against a green screen and superimposed over hand-drawn backgrounds, done in Paintbox by John Bonner and Bob Jobling.[16] For the second series, two more puppets, Dad and Mum, were made. The comic's creators, including David Sutherland, praised Ultimate Animates for making the most successful 3D versions of their characters that they had seen in 40 years.[14] The characters were puppeteered by Barclay, Mike Quinn, Karen Prell, Christopher Leith, Geoff Felix, Ian Tregonning and Gillie Robic.[17][18] All the character voices were supplied by Logan Murray.[9]

References

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  1. ^ "AAAARGH! Great gnews for Dennis and Gnasher fans - the softy-bashing troublemakers are up to their tricks on The Children's Channel! (November 3-9, 1990)". TV Guide. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  2. ^ "Aberdeen Press and Journal: CHILDREN (5 November 1990)". British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  3. ^ "Ulster Star: MISS (29 November 1991)". British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  4. ^ "Birmingham Mail: He's a menace and he's on the loose (31 July 1993)". British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  5. ^ AARGH! It's Dennis the Menace!: 1951-2001: 50 Years of Mischief. D.C. Thomson & Company. 2000. ISBN 9780851167350. Retrieved 23 August 2024. Dennis was no longer a comic star - a puppet version of Dennis and Gnasher were up to mischief in their own show on The Children's Channel.
  6. ^ Kibble-White, Graham (2005). The Ultimate Book of British Comics. Allison & Busby. ISBN 9780749082116. Retrieved 22 May 2024. On 26 June 1990, the comic celebrated its 2500th issue with Dennis doing a 'twenty-one catty salute!' With children's weeklies finding life increasingly tough, The Beano was adapting to survive. That same year witnessed witnessed the launch of a 'Dennis the Menace' cartoon on the Children's Channel and then, in October 1993, The Beano Video arrived.
  7. ^ a b c "Happy Birthday, Dennis (the Menace)! Beano Celebrates a special 70th Anniversary (plus, 70 facts about the comic rebel)". downthetubes.net. 17 March 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d "Work History". Mike Barfield. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  9. ^ a b "About Logan". Logan Murray. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  10. ^ "1990: Dennis and Gnasher, TV Stars!". Beano.com. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  11. ^ Chalaby, Jean K. (19 February 2009). Transnational Television in Europe: Reconfiguring Global Communications Networks. Bloomsbury. ISBN 9780857737526. Retrieved 22 May 2024. A company was created for The Children's Channel with four main shareholders: Thorn EMI, Central Television, British Telecom and DC Thomson.
  12. ^ "Minor Pleasures". Mike Barfield. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  13. ^ White, Steve (January 1993). "It's the computer skill that breathes life into puppets... ANIMATRONICS!". Bad Influence! Magazine. Europress. p. 76. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  14. ^ a b "Ultimate Animates Productions Ltd". Dave Barclay. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  15. ^ "1990: Extra! Behind the Scenes!". Beano.com. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  16. ^ "About". John Bonner. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  17. ^ "Curriculum Vitae". Geoff Felix. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  18. ^ "TELEVISION". Gillie Robic. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
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