| Kerching! | |
|---|---|
Kerching! title card |
|
| Genre | Children's, comedy |
| Format | Sitcom |
| Created by |
Juliet Dension |
| Starring | Devon Anderson Tendayi Jembere Jamie Sweeney |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 28 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 24 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC One |
| Original run | 6 January 2003 – 24 February 2006 |
Kerching! was a children's comedy drama on CBBC devised by Juliet Denison and Chris Cockerham in the later series. It follows the lives of teenagers Taj, Danny and Seymour. The programme revolves around Taj's website, Rudeboy, and his money-making schemes. The fictional Rudeboy website sells ringtones, computer games, concert tickets, designer clothes and other merchandise and is central to the plot of the programme. The title of the show comes from Taj, Danny and Seymor's catchphrase "Kerching!", used when they make money through their business schemes.
Contents |
Taj Lewis owns Rudeboy, a website he created to make £1,000,000 for his widowed mother. Danny loves Kareesha and is always trying to ask her out but she is not interested in him at all. Seymour is Taj's smarter friend and loves cooking, his idol is Ainsley Harriot.
Taj's rival is Ricardo Murray. Ricardo's girlfriend is Tamsin. Taj has a big crush on Tamsin and he wants Tamsin to be his girlfriend but never quite manages to ask her out. Missy is Taj's older sister and she works at the Chill out Grill with Kareesha ("Sha") Lopez, her friend.
Their lives revolve around boyfriends and shopping and they come to work mainly to have a good chat. Taj's little brother Omar is usually seen getting up to mischief with his young, sheeky attitude. Their boss is Carlton (who is never seen as you can only hear his voice from the intercom speaker). Carlton is very tight with money and often complains that Missy and Kareesha don't work hard enough at the Chill. Ricardo's Dad (Mr. Mike Murray, who is never seen) runs the Record Shop (Murray's Hip City). When it looks like the Chill will be sold, Rudeboy buys a half share in it so that Carlton can carry on running it.
Tamsin has moved away and Taj is absolutely devastated until he sees Alex who is very independent and prefers to do everything on her own. Alex always has different hairstyles with different colours in her hair. Both Ricardo and Taj want Alex to be their girlfriend. She says no to Ricardo straight away but she knows she likes Taj. At the end of the series when Taj and Alex are getting on really well she finds out about Taj being Rudeboy before he tells her and so she finishes their relationship. And the end of this series we see her talking to a dog about her situation, and in the end she decides to give it one more shot with Taj after the dog agrees she should.
At the beginning of this series Alex and Taj fake a split because they are fed up with being left out all the time. Omar starts secondary school and, to start with at least, finds it very big and a bit scary. Now that Ricardo Murray and his Dad have left the area there is a new guy on the block and he has taken over Ricardo's dad's music shop. Michael starts talent scouting for his business, Dudeboy. He finds a young girl named Stacey Martin. He loves her voice and talents, but isn't much keen on her boyfriend, fishing-fanatic Robbie. Ricardo wins a 'search for a band contest' and becomes a member of '20-20' a new boy group. He is in a sticky situation when he is dropped from the band and his mum wants him to live with her in Italy but his dad wants him to live with him in Manchester.
In the second to last episode in this series Taj, Danny and Seymour look back on all the fun, sadness and frustrating times they spent together after Taj reveals he is ending RudeBoy. But, Taj has an idea whilst at the Chill Out Grill thanks to Danny's hand-made junior partner cards he made. The last episode shows that his great idea was to make designer RudeBoy clothes and earn the 1 million pounds he has waited for! Missy flies back from L.A when she hears Taj is presenting their mum with the 1 million pound cheque but not all goes to plan. Danny and Seymour find out about Alex and Taj not really splitting up and Danny gets mad with Taj though they make up later. Everything is looking down but bright spirits are held when Taj realises he hasn't done quite enough. He decides Rudeboy will be going global and the series ends with one last KERCHING!
The BBC announced on Saturday 11 January 2006 that a new series was coming soon. On Monday 13 February 2006, the first episode of the new series was shown. Jo (Taj's mum) falls in love with Seymour's dad Des and get engaged to each other to the shock of Taj , Omar , Seymour and Danny. Taj is against the marriage while Seymour is more sympathetic. On the wedding day Jo is hesitant and does not think she is ready for marriage again and so the Wedding was postponed. The series concluded on Friday 24 February with the final episode in which Taj finally makes his million.
Played by Devon Anderson is the star of Kerching!. His alias is Rudeboy, an internet businessman who is well known among kids everywhere. Taj wants to keep his identity secret until he has made £1,000,000 for his Mum, following his father's death. Taj has made Danny and Seymour junior associates of Rudeboy, at 1½% of the profits. Taj was also secretly dating Alex until they split near the beginning of the 4th series. At the end of the 4th series it seemed there was a slight spark between them and they ended up getting back together. Taj made £1000000 in the end.
Played by Tendayi Jembere, one of Taj's best friends, and handsome chef, Seymour enjoys insulting other friend Danny using everyday objects such as "you pushchair", "Danny - you bin-liner" and "you glovepuppet", but his main passion in life is cooking and was heartbroken when he got an A in cooking, as he is used to getting A*s. There are hints that he may love Jasmin. His hero is Ainsley Harriott.
Played by Jamie Sweeney, Danny is a lonely character of very little words but when he does speak it is usually "I don't know?" "ummm?" or just mumblings. Danny is well known for never answering any questions , instead he would turn the answer into another question He is often seen in the background of most scenes grinning wildly. He is the least clever of the three and it seems that sometimes he is quite unsure of his surroundings. However, Danny occasionally appears to be the most down-to-earth and least fashion-conscious of the group, for example, on one occasion, Taj attempts to make a large profit by selling "Buster Grimes" designer trainers on his website, and criticises Danny for instead selling generic trainers from his father's market stall, Danny is the only one who appears to be able to recognise that the two brands of plain white trainer are identical. Dannys favourite pastimes are going to the vending machine , fiddling with things and trying to stay out of everyones way. He has a crush on Kareesha Lopez, which annoys her greatly but it is occasionally revelaed she has a soft spot for him. His pet name for her is 'Kareesha-sha-sha'.
Played by Judy Browne, Josephine "Jo" Lewis is Taj, Missy and Omar's mum. Unknown to her,he is the reason that Taj started Rudeboy, as he wanted to make £1,000,000 for her. She is a nurse. In the third series, she meets Seymour's dad, and starts dating him. In the fourth series, she accepts a marriage proposal from Seymour's dad, and nearly marries him, but decides to give it more time just when they are at the altar. In the final episode of series four, she is shocked when she discovers that her son is Rudeboy. She eventually decides to spend the money.
Played by Tanya Vital, Jazmin is a waitress at local diner, The Chill Out Grill, and moved in with Taj's family. She works with Kareesha as Missy's replacement. Carlton is her uncle who doesn't find it hard to give her an excuse to take a lunch break (on the contrary for Kareesha). She believes in enjoying herself and doing lots of shopping. At first her and Kareesha don't get on but after Kareesha finds out about Jazmin being Carlton's niece she forgives her and they get on really well.
Played by Velile Tshabalala, Kareesha is a waitress at local diner, The Chill Out Grill. She enjoys nothing more than going on a shopping-spree and is extremely work shy. Danny has a crush on Kareesha, and refers to her as "Kareesha-sha-sha-sha". Kareesha's best friend is Missy, Taj's sister, who is currently in Los Angeles trying to make a movie career. Kareesha's mum makes a brief appearance in one episode. She is portrayed as a mad party girl, distracting Josephine Lewis from her studies, until Jazmin intervenes.
Played by Tisha Martin, Missy Lewis is Taj's sister, and she left her job as a waitress at The Chill Out Grill to pursue an acting career in Los Angeles. Missy returned in the last episode. She likes shopping, partying and boys.
Played by Joe Fox, Michael is Taj's rival. He styles himself as Dudeboy, a spoof of Rudeboy. Michael's father bought Ricardo's father's record shop. During the third series he is an equal to Taj, has a good head for business, is fair and is kind. During the fourth, he takes over Ricardo's role; portraying a dim-witted idiot, who fancies Alex. The abrupt change in his character is notable, when he is forced to dress up in a Bunny costume, and is beaten up by a bunch of year seven's at his school. He tries to get his father to notice him, but is unloved by his father.
Played by Elspeth Rae (Elspeth Katharine Rae), Alex is a good organiser and listener. Taj, Ricardo and Michael all fancy her, but she was Taj's secret girlfriend until near the beginning of the fourth series. They pretended to split in series three because Alex was fed up of being left out of Kareesha and Jasmin's plans and parties. She also can be annoyed at Taj for spending too much time on his laptop or mobile phone keeping Rudeboy in order.
Played by Danny Young, Ricardo Murray was Taj's rival but the pair made up when he left. Ricardo believes he is "God's gift to women" and in winning a "Search For A Band" competition, became the 40th member of band 20-20, before he was dropped from the group and left to live with his mother in Italy. Ricardo is portrayed as a complete idiot, who is the opposite of Taj, Alex and Tamsin, and after Danny, he is the most slapstick character in the show (for example, being squirted by mustard during one episode). In the first and second series, he and his dad ran a music shop and in series two Taj, Omar, Missy and Ricardo thought that Taj's mum was going out with Ricardo's dad.
Played by Curtis Walker, Carlton is the owner of The Chill Out Grill. He is never seen on screen. Only his voice can be heard in loudspeakers in the Chill Out Grill. Who Carlton really is or what he looks like is very mysterious, but various characters have mentioned seeing him (for example, Omar refers to seeing Carlton running around in Scooby-Doo pyjamas when The Chill catches fire.). Carlton is described as a miser - to the extent that he waters down the ketchup - and rarely does something that does not benefit him. Jazmin is his niece, and because of this, he is constantly making jokes about Missy, Kareesha or Jazmin. Missy and Kareesha always call him a "tightwad."
Played by Hannah Tointon, in series one, Tamsin is portrayed as Ricardo Murray's girlfriend but Taj Lewis has a secret crush on her. She usually dumps Ricardo for such reasons that she will not wear fur and that he does not spend enough time with the elderly.
Patrick is one of Omar's friends and is the brother of Danny Spooner, although unlike Danny, he is very intelligent at mathematics, able to perform complex calculations in his head instantly, but shares Danny's stupidity in all other subjects (answering "F" to "What is the capital of France?"). He believes that Danny was popular in school, due to stories told to him by Danny over the years, and has not been disillusioned as he does not advertise his familial connection, hoping to develop his own popularity rather than live off his brother's. In Series 4 Omar and Leon get Patrick to be a "Homework Doctor", where he did other people's homework for a fee. He first appeared in the episode "Child's Play", the second episode of Series 4.
Leon is Patrick and Omar's friend. While Omar is the leader of his gang, Leon often takes over. He is shown as being rather sneaky and greedy. He is the most annoying of Josephine's guests.
| Role | Actor |
|---|---|
| Taj Lewis | Devon Anderson |
| Seymour Franklin | Tendayi Jembere |
| Danny Spooner | Jamie Sweeney |
| Missy Lewis | Tisha Martin |
| Kareesha Lopez | Velile Tshabalala |
| Josephine Lewis | Judy Browne |
| Omar Lewis | Jaeden Burke |
| Ricardo Murray | Danny Young |
| Carlton | Curtis Walker |
| Tamsin | Hannah Tointon |
| Leon | Joe Gritt |
| Alex Moss | Elspeth Rae |