Genie in the House

Infobox television
show_name = Genie in the House


format = Children's, Comedy
runtime = 30 mins
creator = Phil Ox, Isabelle Dubernet, Eric Fuhrer and Steven Bawol
developer =
executive_producer = Phil Ox and Steven Bawol
starring = Adam Morris
Vicky Longley
Katie Sheridan
Jordan Metcalfe
Angus Kennedy
Victoria Gay
country = UK
network = Nickelodeon, Canal J
first_aired = May 29 2006
last_aired = Present
num_episodes = 27 Episodes -
Series 1
26 Episodes -
Series 2
imdb_id = 0795111
tv_com_id =

[http://www.genieinthehouse.com Genie in the House] is a British sitcom that is on Nickelodeon about a widowed Dad (Philip) with two teenage daughters (Emma and Sophie) who find a dusty old lamp while exploring the loft of their new home. A quick rub of the lamp releases Adil, a trainee genie from Balamkadaar who has been confined to life in the lamp for 1000 years. Philip has banned any use of magic in the house and yet the girls and Adil the Genie find ways to get themselves into trouble using Adil's wish granting powers.

The show is based on an original idea, the collective work of Phil Ox, Steven Bawol, Isabelle Dubernet and Eric Fuhrer, and is a French/English co-production, produced in English by Moi j'aime la television, a French company. At one point, "You Wish!" was considered as a working title, and was used for the pilot show, but it was discovered that there had been an American sitcom, "You Wish", with the same name, so "Genie in the House" was chosen instead.

The show's theme song was written especially for the show, with music by Jean de Aguiar and lyrics by Kevin Eldon. It is sung by Vicky Longley and Katie Sheridan.

Series 1 was recorded at Elstree Film & Television Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire and was first aired on 29 May 2006. It is currently being repeated on Nickelodeon in the UK. Series 2 started recording at the BBC Elstree Centre in Borehamwood on June 29 2007, for broadcast in October 2007. The show has been sold, sometimes in dubbed form, to Turkey, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Ukraine, India and Australia. Filming for the third series took place at Twickenham Film Studios, London in June 2008, for broadcast in autumn 2008.

Main Cast

* Adam Morris as Philip Norton
* Vicky Longley as Emma Norton
* Katie Sheridan as Sophie Norton
* Jordan Metcalfe as Adil the Genie
* Angus Kennedy as Max Baxter

Also Staring

* Ellen Lister as Melissa Fox
* Philip fox as Mr Preston
* Peter Peralta as Ali Baba
* Nicholas Khan as Abadab
* Victoria Gay as Caroline Smart
* Hannah Tointon as Anabell Scott
* Arabella Wier as Peggy
* Theo Fraiser steele as Owen

Others

* Richard Freeman as Dull Hull
* Leyla Pellegrini as Aisha
* Nathan Guy as Prince Otto
* Jessica Ashworth as Shona
* Katy Bartrop as Miss Mayer
* Harry Lloyd as Nev
* Kayleigh Batchelor as one of The Rejects
* Lyneah Johnson as one of The Rejects
* Danielle Mitchell as one of The Rejects
* Eleanor Wild as one of The Rejects
* Johnnie Lyne-Pirkis as Mr. Osterman
* Matthew Leitch as Mamoun
* Olivia Caffrey as Nanette
* David McMullen as Frank
* Georgia Slowe as Bonnie Swift
* Alexander Wilson as Len
* Tom Underwood as The Mummy
* Deborah Alobah as Djamola
* Susan Kyd as Jamilla
* Elizabeth Conboy as Lady Isabella
* Glyn Angell as Hunk
* Joshua Bowman as Royal Hunk
* Jermaine Lynch as School Friend

Characters

Adil the Genie

Adil was born in the sixth century in the suburbs of the fictional city of Balamkadaar. He has the outward appearance of being 15 years old, but has actually lived for 1500 years. His father was a genie (to be found today in a bottle of pop at the bottom of the Nile) and his mother was a teacher of the Dance of the Seven Veils. Like all children, Adil went to school, only his was a Genie School, the world famous School for Genie Arts and Sciences. Adil was not a perfect student. One day he climbed into a lamp for a dare, strictly forbidden for first year students, and got himself stuck. Unfortunately the forty thieves chose that very night to burgle the school and steal the lamp. Forgotten for a hundred years or so in Ali Baba's cave, the lamp eventually passed from hand to hand, before ending up in the attic of the Norton family's new home.

Adil is proud to be a genie and is always ready to serve his new master and mistresses. But he does have a problem. Unfortunately, he often skipped his classes and never finished the academic year. Because of this, he has not quite got the hang of magic, and does not always — actually, almost never — get things right, and most wishes are granted more or less 'approximately'.

Adil is played by Jordan Metcalfe. It's a role very different from his previous most notable television work, as Timon in Maddigan's Quest, and stage work, the title role in Neil Bartlett's acclaimed stage production of Oliver Twist. Jordan seems to be on-screen most of the time, Adil is always at the root of whatever is going on, and his costume (red pantaloons, red waistcoat and red turban) rarely changes. When he does swap his genie costume for a dress, high heels and a wig, Adil turns out to be probably the least convincing female impersonator ever.

Philip Norton

Philip has his hands full. Though he is a talented and successful designer, he constantly has to meet the deadlines set by his boss, Max, as well as bringing up two teenage girls. Add an over-eager genie to the mix and it's no wonder that Philip sometimes feels a little bit put upon. However, given the chaos of living with world's worst genie, Philip seems to be coping rather well.

Adil is categorically forbidden to grant Emma and Sophie wishes for two reasons:

# It's a very bad habit to get what you want simply by clicking your fingers.
# If anyone finds out there is a genie in the house, life could become very difficult.

If the girls break this rule, he has no hesitation in using the full range of traditional punishments. He'll ground his daughters, withhold their pocket money or forbid them from staying at their aunt's house in the country, or all of the above.Despite his dislike of magic, Plhilip seems to like Adil as a person! The genie's presence means that Philip is no longer the only man in the house, and gives him someone to watch sport with on the TV! He has encouraged Adil to become a rugby fan, an F1 fan, a fan of the Olympic Games... in fact he has made him a fan of every single sport you can watch. But if Adil does break the rule and grant his daughters their wishes, he is severely punished, the most effective punishment is being locked up in the lamp for an entire weekend.

Philip has forbidden his daughters to use Adil's services and extends that ban to himself. But you never know what might happen in the future and it's extremely likely that one day, he just might crack.

Adam Morris, who as Wayne Morris was the hapless Robin in Maid Marian and her Merry Men, is a well-known actor, with a string of fine performances, both stage and screen, under his belt. He obviously enjoys his role as Philip Norton, the slightly bemused and bewildered father of the house. Adam gets to play many characters, as he usually bears the brunt of Adil's wishtakes, including a caveman, hippy, a nine-year-old and an ancient Philip, a garden gnome, a James Bond type secret agent, a stunt man, and his own daughter.

ophie Norton

Passionate about what makes the world tick, Sophie's favourite lessons are physics, chemistry, history and geography and she would love to go to university and to study as many subjects and languages as possible. Days off, weekends and holidays are full of activities, sports, and educational visits of all kinds. She is not particularly interested in romance, often being oblivious to the attentions of boys until Emma 'kindly' points it out.

Sophie thinks Adil is great. He never, ever stops asking questions and Sophie just loves to answer as many as she can. On several ocassions, she has defied her father by making wishes, and has decided that, if she's going to risk breaking her father's rules, she must take the utmost care.

Emma Norton

Emma finds schoolwork intensly boring. She manages to get by at school without too much difficulty, but without any brilliance either. She does appear to enjoy reading, but much prefers a good story to boring facts and figures in textbooks. Her days off, her weekends and holidays are organised around going to see a film with her friends, spending hours lying on the grass watching the clouds, dancing or moving the furniture around in her room...

She loves her friends and her favourite topic of conversation is boys. She gets on well with Adil, she loves to hear his stories of Louis XV , whether they are true or not. If she wasn't frightened of her father's punishments, she would be making wishes all day! The risk of Adil's botching the magic does not phase her; indeed, she seems to derive some fun out of the ridiculous situations which ensue.

She forgets many things, never puts anything away and has great difficulty in finishing what she's started; however, she does not see this a fault, since existence is not an exact science. She lives for fashion, friends and parties. Her dream is to work with a top designer and one day have her name on the label of fashionable clothes.

Max Baxter

"Uncle Max" is an old school chum of Phillips (Back to the 80's) who now runs Max Baxter Industries and employs Phillip as its designer. He is in an out of the family home constantly and thinks that Adil is some strange Foreign exchange student. He is a classic buffoon. Selfish, self important, childish. A flash dresser he has a taste for clashing ties and his idea of casual clothing is a nice golfing jumper. He is accused by the girls in "Living Doll" of eating constantly, he drinks like a fish, and listens to phil Collins CD's. He's harmless really and is very fond of the girls and sometimes is called on to mind them when Phillip is away. He is married to Majorie who we never see and as far as we know he mercifuly doesn't have any children.

Caroline Smart (Series 1 Only)

Philip's helping hand around the house and with the girls. Although, technically she lived next door, she managed to persuade Philip years ago to give her a key to the house so she could come and go as necessary.

Caroline recently moved to France, and no longer features in the show.

Growth

"Genie in the House" has changed very rapidly since its debut on 29 May, 2006 and first three or four episodes.

Debut

To begin with, the episodes were not highly popular, and instead the show was treated as a regular program. The first episode, "The Clones", featured a small amount of sound effects, background music and laugh track, and dialogue was spoken less clearly. Though the characters' facial expressions rarely varied, the special effects were admired (such as the clones of Sophie and Emma, (both as themselves and dressed as clowns), the large gaping hole in the Norton's kitchen wall, and the green monster that is accidentally conjured. The character Caroline was first introduced in "Cave Dad", and was highly disliked by viewers and criticised for her jumpy speech and "damp, housewife-like" posture. On genieinthehouse.com, she was voted as the worst character in the show, and is now thought of as a "filler" character. However, as episodes continued, the plots became more comedic, and viewers increased by the week. The episode "Puppy Love" was popular, and soon "Genie in the House" was accepted as decent.

Rise in Popularity

As episodes went on, "Genie in the House" was treated as very good. The episode "Girlband" is now the highest-rated episode, and voted the greatest on www.genieinthehouse.com. Episodes after ascended in audio, special effects and sets, rather than the constant use of the living room and kitchen, frequent Egyptian musical scores and four different background laughs. "Cuckoo in the Lamp" was very high-rated, and beyond that episode, almost every one was very popular.

Peak

From the episode "Maxed Out", the first episode of the second half of Season One which aired 3 June, 2007, "Genie in the House" became extremely popular and was soon named the No. 1 comedy in the United Kingdom on Nickelodeon, surpassing shows such as "Drake and Josh" and "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide". The episodes onwards, such as "Game On", "For Your Spies Only" and "Emma TV", featured far more complex sets (S.O.P.H.I.E. Base, Emma TV Studio, castle, etc.) than simple rooms, more complex musical scores, highly expensive special effects, such as the futuristic background in "No Time Like the Future", the animated "Tyrannosaurus rex" at the end, the DVD-control effects in "Control Freak", and more. These episodes are still among some of the most popular, and as weeks have passed, they developed into the community.

Comeback

Season Two began on November 5, 2007, which so happened to be Bonfire Night in the United Kingdom. "The Blob" skyrocketed to the top, surpassing the "SpongeBob SquarePants" episode "Boat Smarts/Good Ol' Whatshisname". The next four episodes, "I Feel Like Singing", "Return of Abdab", "Genie Swap" and "Soap Opera" were just as popular, and though "Genie Swap" was quite criticised, Season Two was blooming well. The following week saw a decline. "Eau de Sophie" which had a much smaller amount of views, has been quite low-rated. The next scheduled episode, "Super Max" was postponed for another two weeks. In its place, "Genie Swap" was instead broadcast. A very low amount of viewers tuned in after the postpone was decided. However, luckily, the episode "Juice Wars" which aired the next day rose the ratings once more, featuring an entirely new set (The Juice Bar) and the first fursuit costume ever featured on a show. The lovable character Fuzzy very much satisfied fans. The final two, "My Chair Lady" and "Junior Genie" rose even higher. "Super Max" eventually aired at the end of the following week. Season Two's second set began April 13 2007.

Episode Guide

This is a list of episodes of "Genie in the House", including details of Series 1, first broadcast in 2006, and Series 2, to be broadcast from October, 2007, when details are available.

Series 1

Episode list
Title = Genie Rock
OriginalAirDate = unknown
EpisodeNumber = 70

ShortSummary = Similar to CAMP ROCK but with genies.
LineColor = 3377BB