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 | Paul Lovatt-Cooper |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Phil Chalk and Andrew Burrell |
| Running time | 22 mins. |
| Production companies | 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, a conscientious schoolgirl who tries her best to get out of whatever problems she gets involved in; and the sometimes dull and robotic Templeton, who comes up with bizarre quips and interpretations, 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.
