ZZZap!

ZZZap!
Genre	Children's Slapstick Comedy
Starring	Richard Waites Neil Buchanan Sarah Pickthall Deborah McCallum Sophie Aldred Claire Macaulay
Voices of	Neil Buchanan Sophie Aldred Richard Waites Claire Macualay
Theme music composer	Ron Aspery
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English text only, aimed at the hearing impaired
No. of series	10
No. of episodes	131 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Dan Maddicott Richard Morse Janie Grace
Producer(s)	Neil Buchanan Tim Edmunds Driana Jones
Editor(s)	Jim Lownie Chris Jackson Simon Cruse
Running time	15 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV Network (CITV)
Original run	8 January 1993 – 21 September 2001

Zzzap (rendered ZZZap!) was a British children's television comedy programme. The concept of the show was a giant comic that has been brought to life. The show ran from 8 January 1993 until 21 September 2001^[1], and was produced by The Media Merchants and Meridian Broadcasting. A spin-off titled 'Cuthbert's Diary' was also produced.

Format

The programme follows the same format throughout its run. A Title Intro is shown consisting of a couple of short clips for Each character from the season. It is then followed by a series of short two or three minute long segments, followed by the credits. Each segment is introduced by the camera zooming in on a corresponding panel on a giant comic, shot in reverse (e.g: The Camera starting at the Panel, and pulling back) and then played in reverse. This giant comic has a set of nine frames on it, some of which contain a character representing their segments.

Episodes

Main article: List of ZZZap! episodes

Season		Eps.	Year	Originally aired
	1	10	1993	8th January - 12th March
	2	10	1994	7th January - 11th March
	3	10	1995	6th January - 10th March
	4	16	1996	5th January - 14th May
	5	15	1997	4th January - 12th May
	6	16	1998	10th January - 26th April
	7	16	1998	1st September - 14th December
	8	13	1999	7th September - 30th November
	9	13	2000	9th September - 3rd December
	10	15	2001	3rd September - 21st September

Syndication

The series was repeated throughout 2002-2003 on the CITV on ITV1. The series was more recently broadcast on the CITV Channel in 2006, 2007 and 2009. ITV currently have no plans for any future repeats, as of 2011.

The Smart Arty elements and The Handymen were repeated in the USA as part of 'It's Itsy Bitsy Time on Fox Family, as Art Arty and The Handymen respectably, from 1999 until 2001.

Cast

Main article: List of Zzzap! characters

Main

Actor(s)	Character	Series
Richard Waites	Cuthbert Lilly/Tricky Dicky series 1	All
Neil Buchanan	Smart Arty	1 - 7
Sarah Pickthall	The Handymen	All
Deborah McCallum Claire Macaulay	Daisy Dares	2 - 10
Sophie Aldred	Minnie the Mini Magician	8 - 10

Recurring

Actor(s)	Character	Series
Barry Lee-Thomas	Mr. Snooty	All Series
Anita Reynolds	Old Lady	All Series

Background Voices

Actor(s)	Character	Series
Richard Waites	Cuthbert Lilly and various male co-stars	10
Neil Buchanan	Cuthbert Lilly, Smart Arty, Daisy Dare and various others	1 - 9
Clare Macaulay	Daisy Dare and various female co-stars	9 - 10
Sophie Aldred	Minnie The Mini Magician	8 - 10

Crew

Job	Crew Member
Series Producers	Neil Buchanan Tim Edmunds
Producer	Driana Jones
Executive Producers for Meridian Broadcasting	Richard Morse Janie Grace
Executive Producer for United Productions	Dan Maddicott
Directors	Alistair Clarke Adrian Hedley Simon Pearce Ian Bolt
VTR Editors	Kevin Harrison Simon Cruse Jim Lownie Chris Jackson
Production Supervisor	Nicky Tasker

Media Releases

The first VHS release of Zzzap.

• ZZZap! The Bumper Video Comic (VHS).
• ZZZap! Vol. 2 - Holiday Special (VHS).
• ZZZap! Vol. 3 - Goes Bonkers (VHS).
• ZZZap! Vol. 4 - Goes Completely Crazy (VHS).
• The Wildest Ever ZZZap! Video (VHS).

References

1. ^ http://www.tv.com/show/31198/summary.html. Retrieved on 28 November 2007.

External links

• ZZZap! at the Internet Movie Database
• ZZZap! at TV.com