ZZZap!

ZZZap!
File:Zzzap Series 1 Promotion.jpg
Genre	Children's Slapstick Comedy
Directed by	Paul Slater (1994) Ian Bolt (1997-1998) Alistair Clark (1993) Adrian Hedley(1995-1997) Simon Pearce (1999-2001) Bob Wild (1997-1998)
Starring	Neil Buchanan Sophie Aldred Richard Waites Sarah Pickthall Deborah McCallum Claire Macaulay
Voices of	Neil Buchanan Sophie Aldred Richard Waites
Theme music composer	Ron Aspery
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original 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 Laura Hayes (asst)
Editor(s)	Jim Lownie Chris Jackson Simon Cruse
Running time	15 minutes
Release
Original network	ITV (CITV)
Original release	8 January 1993 – 21 September 2001
External links
[{{#property:P856}} Website]

Zzzap (rendered ZZZap!) was a British children's television comedy programme. The concept of the show is a giant 18 ft comic that has been brought to life. The show was broadcast on ITV from 8 January 1993 until 21 September 2001 and was produced for ten series by The Media Merchants and Meridian Broadcasting.

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 series. 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. The show was designed with deaf children in mind, and so the style of the show is predominantly visual, with the sound only providing music and effects. The audience in "The Handymen" segments would also often sign clapping instead of actually clapping.

The introduction to Series 1 was filmed in Chequers Shopping Centre in Maidstone showing a boy buying a copy of a comic called "ZZZap!" from a newsagent. The newsagent pictured in the introduction was a branch of NSS, which became Forbuoys, Martin and More before closing in 2007. The comic contains a 'Free TV Zapper!' which he uses only to find that the comic has increased to an enormous 18 ft size. This introduction was abandoned from series 2 onwards, which instead showed the giant comic and then introduced each of the characters with a short video. Some computer generated additions were made in series 8, and for series 10 the whole sequence including the giant comic was computer-animated. The closing titles also changed between series.

Episodes

Main article: List of ZZZap! episodes

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

Syndication

The series was more recently broadcast on the CITV channel in 2006, 2007 and 2009. There were plans to broadcast the programme as part of CITV's 30th anniversary in January 2013, but this did not go ahead due to licensing issues.

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 respectively, from 1999 until 2001.

Cast

Main article: List of Zzzap! characters

Main

Character	Actor(s)	Series
Cuthbert Lilly	Richard Waites	All
Smart Arty	Neil Buchanan	1–7
The Handymen	Sarah Pickthall	All
Tricky Dicky	Richard Waites	1
Daisy Dares	Deborah McCallum	2–8
	Claire Macaulay	9–10
Minnie The Mini Magician	Sophie Aldred	8–10

Recurring

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

Media Releases

File:Zzzap video.jpg

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)

Music

The series mainly used Library music for most of the background music. The theme tune is Keystone Chaos, composed by Ron Aspery, from the KPM library. The background music used in the majority of The Handymen sketches is Memories of the Music Hall, composed by Roger Webb, from the de Wolfe Music Library. Quite a few additional pieces came from the Bruton library CD "Loony Tunes" (KPMLP-1164). Additional tracks also came from the Music House Library CD "Comedy Situations" (MHE-31), such as Cuthbert Lilly's tracks "Toytown" and "Clowns", and the track commonly used for the Dot-to-Dot/Eye Segments ("Pink Python" by Mo Foster).

Smart Arty's sketches were accompanied by Luigi Boccherini's String Quintet in E major, Op. 11, No. 5, G. 275.

External links

• ZZZap! at IMDb
• ZZZap! at TV.com