Gran is a British short-lived stop motion animation television series narrated by Patricia Hayes and directed by Ivor Wood. There were only two main characters, namely Gran and her grandson, Jim, and they were lucky and kind.
| Gran | |
|---|---|
 Title card for the series | |
| Created by | Michael and Joanne Cole |
| Directed by | Ivor Wood |
| Starring | Patricia Hayes |
| Music by | Bryan Daly |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 5 minutes per episode (approx) |
| Production company | Woodland Animations |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC |
| Release | 17 February – 12 May 1983 |
Despite moderate popularity with young audiences in the mid-1980s, the series has not been seen on UK television since being repeated as part of the Tiny Living broadcasting block on Living TV in the late 1990s, and no further episodes were made. Universal Pictures released all 13 episodes on Region 2 DVD in the U.K. on 7 March 2005, but the release has since been discontinued.[1]
Synopsis
editAt first glance you may think Gran is like any other Grandma, but she's not. Along with her grandson Jim, she takes part in different crazy adventures. Each episode sees Gran performing weird and wacky tasks – growing her runner beans up a dinosaur's skeleton, hang gliding, knitting a giant scarf to wrap around her house in the winter, and cross country motorbike racing. But one thing's for sure – she'll always be wearing her pink slippers.
Production and broadcast
editThe programme made by Woodland Animations was created and written by Michael and Joanne Cole.[2] Ivor Wood produced thirteen five-minute short film episodes in 1982 and the series was broadcast on the BBC between 17 February 1983 and 12 May 1983,.[3] In 1984 the BBC also screened the series as part of its See-Saw children's television strand (the "new" name for the cycle originally known as Watch with Mother). The series was then regularly repeated until 1989. Children's books based on the series, written by Michael and illustrated by Joanne Cole were also released in 1983. The shorts were also shown in the United States as part of the Nickelodeon series Eureeka's Castle, in the Latin American release on Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang. and, the Canada version, release on Teletoon
Episodes
edit| No. | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Gran Gliding" | 17 February 1983 | |
|
Jim visits his Gran and persuades her to come with him to fly his kite. But something else called a 'hang-glider' catches Gran's eye. | |||
| 2 | "Gran Knits" | 24 February 1983 | |
|
Gran may not be very good at knitting, but when she gets going there's no stopping her, and the whole house is soon protected from the winter cold. | |||
| 3 | "Gran's Pets" | 3 March 1983 | |
|
Gran makes up for all the time she has lived without animals after she visits the zoo and takes a shine to the monkeys. | |||
| 4 | "Gran the Goalie" | 10 March 1983 | |
|
Gran soon learns from Jim how to save goals, before going to watch the local team and ending up as a goalkeeper for it. | |||
| 5 | "Gran's Old Bones" | 17 March 1983 | |
|
Gran and Jim dig up some strange bean poles in the garden. They visit the museum, convinced that they've found dinosaur bones. | |||
| 6 | "Gran's Gadgets" | 24 March 1983 | |
|
Gran thinks how to make life around the house a bit easier. | |||
| 7 | "Gran's Good News" | 31 March 1983 | |
|
Gran doesn't like watching the depressing weather forecasts on TV, so she gets her own show where she only gives the good news. | |||
| 8 | "Gran's Bike" | 7 April 1983 | |
|
Gran likes the look of Jim's pushbike but, being Gran, she takes up cross-country motor biking instead after taking a tumble in the garden with the shopping. | |||
| 9 | "Gran the Camper" | 14 April 1983 | |
|
Jim goes on a school camping trip in the hills, but when he gets to the top, he finds someone is already camping there – guess who?... | |||
| 10 | "Snow Gran" | 21 April 1983 | |
|
Gran finds tobogganing too tame and takes up skiing, but that doesn't go well when skiing in the garden leads to crashing into the snowman. | |||
| 11 | "Gran's Rare Bird" | 28 April 1983 | |
|
Gran and Jim go bird watching. Gran is so determined to spot a rare bird that Jim decides to help her out. | |||
| 12 | "Grandmother Clock" | 5 May 1983 | |
|
Gran repairs a clock, and from then on everything goes like clockwork with many clocks. | |||
| 13 | "Gran's Goat" | 12 May 1983 | |
|
Gran gets some goats to keep her grass down – but they get her down too. | |||
Music
editFinnish
editSongs in the Finnish dub were sung by the actors of YLE Import re-using the De Angelis's music but with new Finnish lyrics. In the Finnish dub some scenes are cut, which includes musical numbers in some episodes.
Home media
editUK VHS release
editCastle Communications released one video of Gran with 12 episodes on it and it later got repackaged as a single title by the Castle Communications 'Playbox' brand of children's video titles (Cat. No. PVC 121).
| VHS Title | Release Date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|
| Gran - 12 Classic Episodes (CVS 4083) | 20 September 1993 |
|
On 1 June 1999, Castle Home Video (a division of Castle Music Ltd) had released a single video of Gran with all 13 episodes of the entire show on it (including Gran's Old Bones as its first episode along with the 12 other episodes of Gran from its original Castle Communications video release).
| VHS Title | Release Date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|
| Gran (CHV 2051) | 1 June 1999 |
|
GOOF: The cover of Gran (CHV 2051) mistakenly contains 12 episodes on the back cover and credited as "12 classic episodes" on the front cover whereas the actual video cassette contained all 13 episodes of Gran.