Dramarama is a British children's anthology series broadcast on ITV between 12 September 1983 and 21 August 1989. The series tended to feature single dramas with a science fiction, supernatural and occasionally satirical theme. It was created by Anna Home, then head of children's and youth programming at TVS; however, the dramas themselves were produced by a total of twelve ITV regional companies.[2] Thus, each episode was in practice a one-off production with its own cast and crew, up to and including the executive producer. Some episodes (not listed in the episode guide below) were originally produced for the 1981 ITV children's anthology series Theatre Box and then were re-screened as Dramarama episodes.
| Dramarama | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Drama Science fiction |
| Created by | Anna Home[1] |
| Starring | varied by episode |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | varied by episode |
| Producer | varied by episode |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company | Various ITV contractors |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV (CITV) |
| Release | 12 September 1983 – 21 August 1989 |
Dramarama was largely a showcase for new talent to television and offered debuts for Anthony Horowitz, Paul Abbott, Kay Mellor, Janice Hally, Tony Kearney,[3] David Tennant and Ann Marie Di Mambro. It was also one of Dennis Spooner's last works.[4]
One of the stories, Thames' "Dodger, Bonzo And The Rest" from 1984, proved so popular that it was spun off into its own series and Christmas special the following year - the series starred Lee Ross and recounted life in a large foster home.[4] Another story, Granada's "Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night" from 1988, was developed into the long-running series Children's Ward.[4] The original Dramarama story was co-written by Paul Abbott and Kay Mellor - at the time, working as staff writers for Granada.[5]
The series has rarely been repeated in recent years, although two episodes - "Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night" and "Back to Front" - were broadcast on the CITV Channel as part of a 30th anniversary weekend in January 2013.[6]
Only four ITV companies of the time did not contribute to the series: Anglia, Channel, Grampian and LWT. TVS produced the greatest number of episodes.
Availability and archive status
editA videotape containing the episodes "Big T for Trouble", "Just Wild About Harry" and "Venchie" (all Tyne Tees productions) was released by Video Gems, c. 1990. It is now out of print.
All episodes produced by Thames Television have been released on DVD by Network on 13 January 2012,[7] who have also released the 1983 series Spooky which was shown under the Dramarama banner on 15 August 2011.[8] The home video rights to the remaining episodes are held by ITV Studios, aside from those produced by Scottish, TVS and the one episode produced by TSW. The TVS episodes cannot be released commercially but some have appeared on YouTube, and STV itself placed all its episodes on YouTube in 2010, but has since removed them.
Three episodes produced by TVS, Rachel and Rosie, The Creature Beyond Torches End, and Now You See Them, are currently listed as missing according to archive television research organisation Kaleidoscope.[9] However, the first two of these have appeared on YouTube.
Episodes
editSpooky (1983)
edit| No. in series | Title | Company | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "War Games with Caroline" | Thames | 18 April 1983 |
| 2 | "The Exorcism of Amy" | Thames | 25 April 1983 |
| 3 | "The Danny Roberts Show" | Thames | 9 May 1983 |
| 4 | "The Ghostly Earl" | Thames | 16 May 1983 |
| 5 | "In a Dark, Dark Box" | Thames | 23 May 1983 |
| 6 | "The Restless Ghost" | Thames | 30 May 1983 |
| 7 | "The Keeper" | Thames | 13 June 1983 |
Series 1 (1983)
edit| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Company | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Mighty Mum and the Petnappers" | TVS | 12 September 1983 |
| 2 | 2 | "Rip It Up" | TVS | 19 September 1983 |
| 3 | 3 | "The Venchie" | Tyne Tees | 26 September 1983 |
| 4 | 4 | "Jack and the Computer" | TVS | 3 October 1983 |
| 5 | 5 | "Because I Say So" | Central | 10 October 1983 |
| 6 | 6 | "Bully For Cosmo" | Central | 17 October 1983 |
| 7 | 7 | "Messages" | Tyne Tees | 24 October 1983 |
| 8 | 8 | "The Young Person's Guide to Getting Their Ball Back!" | TVS | 31 October 1983 |
| 9 | 9 | "Sweet Revenge" | Central | 7 November 1983 |
Series 2 (1984)
edit| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Company | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 1 | "Night of the Narrow Boats" | Central | 14 May 1984 |
| 11 | 2 | "Fowl Pest" | TVS | 21 May 1984 |
| 12 | 3 | "Dodger, Bonzo and the Rest" | Thames | 4 June 1984 |
| 13 | 4 | "Que Sera" | TVS | 11 June 1984 |
| 14 | 5 | "Stalemate" | Central | 18 June 1984 |
| 15 | 6 | "Snoop!" | Thames | 25 June 1984 |
| 16 | 7 | "Mr. Stabs [10]" | Thames | 2 July 1984 |
| 17 | 8 | "Josephine Jo" | Central | 9 July 1984 |
| 18 | 9 | "The Purple People Eater" | TVS | 16 July 1984 |
| 19 | 10 | "On Your Tod" | Thames | 23 July 1984 |
| 20 | 11 | "The Old Firm: Two For Starters" | Granada | 30 July 1984 |
| 21 | 12 | "Rachel and Rosie" | TVS | 6 August 1984 |
Series 3 (1985)
edit| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Company | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 1 | "Easy" | TVS | 1 April 1985 |
| 23 | 2 | "The Coal Princess" | Tyne Tees | 15 April 1985 |
| 24 | 3 | "Look at Me" | Central | 22 April 1985 |
| 25 | 4 | "The Young Person's Guide to Going Backwards in the World" | TVS | 29 April 1985 |
| 26 | 5 | "The Audition" | Tyne Tees | 13 May 1985 |
| 27 | 6 | "The Universe Downstairs" | TVS | 20 May 1985 |
| 28 | 7 | "A Proper Little Nooryeff" | Central | 3 June 1985 |
| 29 | 8 | "Frog" | TVS | 10 June 1985 |
| 30 | 9 | "Private Eye" | Scottish | 17 June 1985 |
| 31 | 10 | "Emily" | TVS | 24 June 1985 |
| 32 | 11 | "Silver" | Scottish | 1 July 1985 |
| 33 | 12 | "The Golden Conch" | HTV Wales | 8 July 1985 |
| 34 | 13 | "Purple Passion Video" | HTV West | 15 July 1985 |
Series 4 (1986)
edit| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Company | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | 1 | "The Come-Uppance of Captain Katt" | TVS | 30 June 1986 |
| 36 | 2 | "A Couple of Charlies" | Central | 7 July 1986 |
| 37 | 3 | "Wayfarers" | Scottish | 14 July 1986 |
| 38 | 4 | "Play Acting" | HTV Wales | 21 July 1986 |
| 39 | 5 | "Last Days at Black Bert's" | TVS | 28 July 1986 |
| 40 | 6 | "Maureen Reid Where Are You?" | Scottish | 4 August 1986 |
| 41 | 7 | "Flashback" | HTV West | 11 August 1986 |
| 42 | 8 | "Direct Action" | TVS | 18 August 1986 |
| 43 | 9 | "Waiting For Elvis" | Scottish | 1 September 1986 |
| 44 | 10 | "Just a Game" | TVS | 8 September 1986 |
| 45 | 11 | "Flyaway Friend" | Tyne Tees | 15 September 1986 |
| 46 | 12 | "Pig Ignorance" | Thames | 22 September 1986 |
| 47 | 13 | "Jessie's Place" | Thames | 29 September 1986 |
| 48 | 14 | "Frankie's Hat" | Thames | 30 December 1986 |
Series 5 (1987)
edit| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Company | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49 | 1 | "Cannondrum" | TVS | 30 March 1987 |
| 50 | 2 | "Snap" | TVS | 6 April 1987 |
| 51 | 3 | "The Horrible Story" | Thames | 13 April 1987 |
| 52 | 4 | "My Friend Julie" | Thames | 27 April 1987 |
| 53 | 5 | "The Creature Beyond Torches' End" | TVS | 11 May 1987 |
| 54 | 6 | "My Mum's a Courgette" | Scottish | 18 May 1987 |
| 55 | 7 | "Brainwaves" | Scottish | 8 June 1987 |
| 56 | 8 | "Undertow of the Armada" | Ulster | 15 June 1987 |
| 57 | 9 | "Stan's First Night" | Scottish | 22 June 1987 |
| 58 | 10 | "Living Doll" | TVS | 29 June 1987 |
| 59 | 11 | "Peter" | Central | 6 July 1987 |
| 60 | 12 | "The Halt" | Central | 13 July 1987 |
| 61 | 13 | "Mr. Magus is Waiting For You" | Thames | 27 July 1987[11] |
| 62 | 14 | "Tam" | Scottish | 3 August 1987 |
| 63 | 15 | "A Sprited Performance" | HTV Wales | 10 August 1987 |
| 64 | 16 | "Badger on the Barge" | Border | 24 August 1987 |
Series 6 (1988-9)
edit| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Company | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65 | 1 | "Forever Young" | Granada | 9 May 1988 |
| 66 | 2 | "The Macramé Man" | Scottish | 16 May 1988 |
| 67 | 3 | "The Wrong Button" | Central | 23 May 1988 |
| 68 | 4 | "Bubbles" | Granada | 6 June 1988 |
| 69 | 5 | "Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night" | Granada | 13 June 1988 |
| 70 | 6 | "Big T for Trouble" | Tyne Tees | 20 June 1988 |
| 71 | 7 | "Room for One More" | Scottish | 27 June 1988 |
| 72 | 8 | "Making Waves" | TVS | 4 July 1988 |
| 73 | 9 | "Just a Normal Girl" | Central [12] | 11 July 1988 |
| 74 | 10 | "Now You See Them" | TVS | 18 July 1988 |
| 75 | 11 | "Bogeyman" | TVS | 25 July 1988 |
| 76 | 12 | "The Alien" | Border | 1 August 1988 |
| 77 | 13 | "The Secret of Croftmore" | Scottish | 8 August 1988 |
| 78 | 14 | "The Bubblegum Brigade" | HTV West | 15 August 1988 |
| 79 | 15 | "Playing for Wales" | HTV Wales | 22 August 1988 |
| 80 | 16 | "Snap Decision" | Central [12] | 4 January 1989 |
Series 7 (1989)
edit| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Company | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 81 | 1 | "Codzmorf" | TVS | 12 June 1989 |
| 82 | 2 | "Ghost Story" | Granada | 19 June 1989 |
| 83 | 3 | "Badger" | Granada | 26 June 1989 |
| 84 | 4 | "Back to Front" | Yorkshire | 3 July 1989 |
| 85 | 5 | "Monstrous" | HTV Wales | 10 July 1989 |
| 86 | 6 | "The Pisces Connection" | HTV West | 17 July 1989 |
| 87 | 7 | "Rosie the Great" | Thames [13] | 24 July 1989 |
| 88 | 8 | "Snakes and Loofahs" | Border [14] | 31 July 1989 |
| 89 | 9 | "Just Wild About Harry" | Tyne Tees | 7 August 1989 |
| 90 | 10 | "Mitchin" | TSW | 14 August 1989 |
| 91 | 11 | "In the Pink" | Central [12] | 21 August 1989 |
References
edit- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Home, Anna (1938-) Biography". www.screenonline.org.uk.
- ^ "Looking back at Dramarama: series 1-2". Den of Geek. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ "'Scott and Jo' heading for Braehead to sign books". Paisley Daily Express. 1 November 2012.
- ^ a b c "Looking back at Dramarama: series 3-7". Den of Geek. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ Encyclopedia of television. Newcomb, Horace., Museum of Broadcast Communications. (2nd ed.). New York: Fitzroy Dearborn. 2004. ISBN 1579583946. OCLC 54462093.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ "CITV celebrates 30th anniversary with a weekend of classic children's programmes". Radio Times. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ Lewis, David (8 February 2012). "'Dramarama': Volume 1 DVD review". Cultbox.
- ^ "Dramarama: Spooky - The Complete Series DVD". Find-DVD. 15 August 2011.
- ^ "Dramarama archive status according to Kaleidoscope's Lost Shows database". TV Brain. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
- ^ The character Mr. Stabs previously appeared in Ace of Wands and Shadows.
- ^ Originally broadcast in 1986 in 3 episodes as part of the ITV Schools series Middle English.
- ^ a b c Husson Productions for Central.
- ^ Teliesyn Productions for Thames.
- ^ KPO Ltd for Border.