| Super Gran | |
|---|---|
Gudrun Ure as Super Gran |
|
| Format | Children's |
| Created by | Forrest Wilson |
| Written by | Jenny McDade |
| Starring | Gudrun Ure Iain Cuthbertson Bill Shine Alan Snell Brian Lewis |
| Narrated by | Bill McAllister ("The Reporter") |
| Theme music composer | Phil Coulter & Billy Connolly |
| Country of origin | UK |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 27 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Keith Richardson (1985) Graham Williams (1986-1987) |
| Editor(s) | Mike Pounder |
| Cinematography | Graham Brown |
| Running time | 25 mins Special: 50 mins (excluding adverts) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV Network (CITV) |
| Original run | January 20, 1985 – May 31, 1987 |
Super Gran is a 1980s children's television programme, about a grandmother with super powers. The show was adapted by Jenny McDade from books written by Forrest Wilson and was produced by Tyne Tees Television for Children's ITV. The titular character was played by Gudrun Ure, with Iain Cuthbertson as her arch nemesis, The Scunner Campbell.
Two series, each consisting 13 episodes, were produced, alongside a Christmas special. All episodes have been released by Network DVD. The show inspired two computer games.
Contents |
An elderly grandmother, Granny Smith (Gudrun Ure), acquires superpowers when she is accidentally hit by a magic ray created by Inventor Black (Bill Shine). Under the guise of 'Super Gran', she protects the residents of the fictional town of Chiselton from villains such as the Scunner Campbell (Iain Cuthbertson) and his gang, The Muscles (Alan Snell and Brian Lewis) and Tub (Lee Marshall, Jason Carrielies[1]). Super Gran was usually accompanied by her grandson, Willard (Iam Towell, Michael Graham[1]) and Inventor Black's assistant Edison (Holly English, Samantha Duffy[1]).[2]
Episodes were narrated by Bill McAllister.
SuperGran was created by author Forrest Wilson. He says that the character was a combination of three characters: Pansy Potter from The Beano, his own mother-in-law, and an unnamed Scottish actress who looked and sounded like he imaged the character should.[3] The first book was published in 1978, followed by several others, many illustrated by David McKee.[4][5][6][7] Following the television series' success, Wilson adapted McDade's scripts as: Television Adventures of Super Gran,[8]More Television Adventures of Super Gran,[9] and Super Gran to the Rescue.[10] Wilson, with Graham Kennedy, also released Super Gran: The Picture Book.[11][12][13][14]
Gudrun Ure read Super Gran: Complete & Unabridged for an audiobook release in 1991.[15] Tyne Tees published an annual in 1985.[16]
The show was filmed in various locations around North East England, including Tynemouth, Whitley Bay, South Shields and Beamish Museum. Inventor Black’s laboratory was housed in an empty church on Tynemouth Front Street, which became Land of the Green Ginger. Sets were housed in an old warehouse in North Shields; its corrugated roof caused sound difficulties when it rained.[17] A stone cottage in Church Way, Earsdon, near Whitley Bay, was used as Super Gran's home.[18] A huge crane used to hoist Super Gran into her flying position was parked in the neighbouring school.[19]
Gudrun Ure, who was 59 when she first appeared in the show, had only one stunt double and did a lot of stunts herself.[20] Tyne Tees executive Andrea Wonfor said that they 'used to do all the special effects with trampolines and things.'[21] Filming the Christmas special and the second series took about nine months of 10-hour days (one hour for lunch), beginning in April 1986.[22] Sue Sweeney, who appeared in many episodes, recalls that she "did everything from sunbathing on the beach at Cullercoats in the rain to a Gorilla at the fancy dress party."[23]
The young actors were all local children from the Newcastle area, and the Scunner's two toughies (Alan Snell and Brian Lewis) were local stand-up comics who performed in clubs at night.[22] Many guest stars appeared on the programme, including George Best, Spike Milligan, Roy Kinnear, Geoff Capes and Charles Hawtrey.[17] It was Patrick Troughton's final television appearance.
Following production, memorabilia from the show was displayed at The Land of Green Ginger shopping centre in Tynemouth. After owner Gordon Reed put the props up for sale after deciding to revamp the mall, local electrician Mark Simms bought Super Gran's flying bike and magic ray machine for £403.[24]
The theme song was performed by Billy Connolly. The full version was released as a single in March 1985 and reached number 32 in the UK singles chart.[17]
The transmission of the first episode in 1985 was preceded by a "making-of" documentary.[25]
| Episode title | Original airdate | Directed by | # | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Supergran and the Magic Ray" | 20 January 1985 | Anthony Simmons | 1 | ||
| While watching her grandson play football, Granny Smith (Gudrun Ure) is hit by a ray created by Inventor Black (Bill Shine), giving her magical powers. | |||||
| "Supergran and the Skimmer" | 27 January 1985 | Gerry Mill | 2 | ||
| "Supergran and the Course of True Love" | 3 February 1985 | Tony Kysh | 3 | ||
| "Supergran and the Pearl of Pinnell's End" | 10 February 1985 | Anthony Simmons | 4 | ||
| "Supergran and the Super Match" | 17 February 1985 | Tony Kysh | 5 | ||
| "Supergran Grounded" | 24 February 1985 | Tony Kysh | 6 | ||
| Geoff Capes injures Supergran during an event at a stadium. Meanwhile the Scunner Campbell plans to kidnap honorable Bertrand Battenburg and Supergran is too weak to help! | |||||
| "Supergran and the Magic Ian" | 3 March 1985 | Gerry Mill | 7 | ||
| "Supergran and the TV Villains" | 10 March 1985 | Gerry Mill | 8 | ||
| "Supergran and the Doppelganger" | 17 March 1985 | Tony Kysh | 9 | ||
| "Supergran and the Day at the Sea" | 24 March 1985 | Tony Kysh | 10 | ||
| "Supergran and the Raid on Race Day" | 31 March 1985 | Anthony Simmons | 11 | ||
| "Supergran and the Raving Beauty Contest" | 7 April 1985 | Roger Cheveley | 12 | ||
| "Supergran and the Missing Hissing" | 14 April 1985 | Roger Cheveley | 13 | ||
| Guest starring Spike Milligan | |||||
| Episode title | Original airdate | Directed by | # | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Christmas Supergran: The World's Worst Circus" | 24 December 1986 | Gerald Blake | 1 | ||
| Episode title | Original airdate | Directed by | # | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Supergran and the Racing Cert" | 8 March 1987 | Tony Kysh | 1 | ||
| Rock star Newcastle Brown (Gary Glitter) arrives to enter his pigeon in a race. | |||||
| "Supergran and the Treasure Trovers" | 15 March 1987 | Roger Cheveley | 2 | ||
| "Supergran and the Birthday Dambusters" | 22 March 1987 | Tony Kysh | 3 | ||
| "Supergran and the Yankee Doodle's Boodle" | 29 March 1987 | Gerald Blake | 4 | ||
| Chistleton celebrates American Week. | |||||
| "Supergran and the Rookie Recruit" | 5 April 1987 | Tony Kysh | 5 | ||
| "Supergran and the State Visit" | 12 April 1987 | Gerald Blake | 6 | ||
| "Supergran and the Chiselton Street Blues" | 19 April 1987 | Tony Kysh | 7 | ||
| "Supergran and the School for Scoundrels" | 26 April 1987 | Tony Kysh | 8 | ||
| "Supergran and the Media Star" | 3 May 1987 | Roger Cheveley | 9 | ||
| "Supergran Snookered" | 10 May 1987 | Roger Cheveley | 10 | ||
| "Supergran and the Fancy Dress Fanciers" | 17 May 1987 | Tony Kysh | 11 | ||
| "Supergran and the Chronic Crooner" | 24 May 1987 | Tim Dowd | 12 | ||
| "Supergran and the Heir Apparent" | 31 May 1987 | Tony Kysh | 13 | ||
Super Gran won an Emmy, and sold to over 60 countries worldwide. According to director Tony Kysh, "Tyne Tees was one of the first Western companies to sell to China TV where Supergran was a big success."[26] The show became a ratings hit in Cuba in the early 2000s, where the show was redubbed into Spanish.[27]
The character of Super Gran came seventh in The Glasgow Herald's 2003 poll, "The Most Scottish Person In The World". The University of Nottingham cited SuperGran as an example of perceptions of 'grandmothers is being reshaped by socio-cultural messages as well as personal experience.'[28]
Two videos were released, each containing three episodes. The first series was released by Network DVD on a 2 disc set on 10 August 2009, and the second series on 16 May 2011. The Whitley Bay Playhouse is scheduled to host a Super Gran evening in February 2012.[17]
Tynesoft produced two games based on the show in 1985.
The game Super Gran was an action game involving Supergran's anti-gravity belt. It was released for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 16, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum.
Super Gran - The Adventure was a text adventure based on the show, written by Adventure Soft's Brian Howarth. The premise is that Super Gran has to save people whilst looking out for Scunner Campbell.[29] This game was released on the Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, C16, C64 and Spectrum.