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Grandpa in My Pocket

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Grandpa in My Pocket
StarringJames Bolam
Jay Ruckley
Josie Cable
Zara Ramm
Sam Ellis
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series3
No. of episodes52 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time12 minutes
Original release
NetworkCBeebies
Release10 February 2009 (2009-02-10) –
present

Grandpa In My Pocket is a comedy drama series commissioned by Michael Carrington for CBeebies, the BBC's dedicated pre-school and nursery channel targeting children under the age of 6 years. The programme stars James Bolam, Jay Ruckley, Josie Cable, Zara Ramm and Sam Ellis. The story centres on Grandpa (James Bolam), who owns a magical Shrinking Cap, which only his grandson Jason (Jay Ruckley) knows about. This cap enables him to shrink to about 4 or 5 inches tall and experience many magical adventures which are told via voice-over narration by Jason, including finding a hamster under the floorboards and bringing a home-made robot to life.

When miniaturized, he has enough magic power to make Jason's toy car and toy biplane and toy railway locomotive work as the real vehicles including making engine noise, and drive them. Jason has a simple toy glider made of two pieces of wood in the shape of a seagull which he calls Gordon; Grandpa, when miniaturized, can ride on this and make it fly like a real seagull.

When miniaturized, Grandpa can jump much farther in proportion than in full size, and can also "run for all he's worth", as Jason puts it.

Grandpa is never identified on-screen with a proper name, so we never learn whether he is Mr. Mason or Mrs. Mason's father – both refer to him simply as "Grandpa" in much the same way as the parents of comic strip characters – such as The Beano's Dennis the Menace, for example – call each other "Mum" and "Dad". Even Grandpa's own sister, Great Aunt Loretta, only ever calls him "Grandpa".

According to the BBC press office, "Grandpa In My Pocket explores the hugely important relationship between grandchildren and grandparents by turning it on its head".[1]

In March 2009 it was announced that CBeebies had commissioned Adastra Creative to make a second series of Grandpa in My Pocket, ordering 26 new episodes of the show following the success of the first series.[2] Following the success of Series 2, a 3rd Series had been commissioned to be filmed in Wales in Summer 2010. It will be broadcast first on CBeebies in 2011.

The show is set in a fictional location called "Sunnysands". The exterior scenes are filmed on location in the towns of Southwold and Aldeburgh, in Suffolk.[3]. The Masons' house is in Crabbe Street, Aldeburgh. The pier and the lighthouse are in Southwold. The bike and other shop is in Walberswick.

A similar idea was used in The Dandy comic in the 1980s comic adventure strip Peter's Pocket Grandpa, which was based on a prose text story from a 1940s Dandy Monster Comic annual called Jimmie's Pocket Grandpa. This was also the basis of Viz's Mickey's Miniature Grandpa, a spoof of the Dandy strip in which the grandfather character suffers from dementia and only believes himself to be able to shrink.

Characters

  • Grandpa (James Bolam)
  • Jason Mason (Jay Ruckley)
  • Mum (Zara Ramm)
  • Dad (Sam Ellis)
  • Jemima Mason (Josie Cable)
  • Mr. Whoops (Steve Elias)
  • Beowulf (Tinkerbell) (dog)
  • Great Aunt Loretta (Susan Jameson)
  • Troy (Shaheen Jafargholi)
  • Miss Smiley (Lorna Laidlaw)
  • Mr. Liker Biker (Phil Gallagher)
  • Troy's Dad (David Davies)
  • Lady Prigsbottom (Liza Goddard)
  • Princess Purpelovna (Rula Lenska)
  • Igor (David Kendall)
  • Mr. Krumpgrumble (Brian Herring)
  • Miss Snip (Heather Williams)
  • Baby Boris (Izaak Jameson-Lys)
  • Mr. Hackitt (Simon Lys)
  • Josh (Arthur Byrne)
  • Bubbles (Elizabeth Franks)
  • Mr Marvelloso (Sam Ellis)
  • Cousin Alvin (Harry Jackson)
  • Miss Pointy-Pencil (Meera Syal)
  • Speedie Edie (Alex Tregear)
  • Horatio Heave Ho (David Rintoul)
  • Lord Shipshape (Alex Jennings)
  • Mrs. Maridadi (Vivien Heilbron)
  • Rodger Splodger (Sanjeev Bhaskar)
  • Mr. Mentor (Alan McMahon)
  • Granddad Gilbert (Geoffrey Palmer)
  • Dora (Maia Tamrakar)
  • Shanay (Paaras Bhardwaj)
  • Floyd (Luke Perry)
  • Max (Benjamin Greaves-Neal)
  • Mrs. McWhiskit
  • Brenda Balderdash
  • Bernard Balderdash
  • Madame Vibrato ([Anne Reid])
  • Lenora ([Sian Thomas])
  • Squeak (Tommy)(Hamster)
  • Mr. Scoffbucket (Oscar)(goat)
  • Thando. Ibtomi (Jay Feddi)

The Mason Family

  • Mr Mason "Dad" works in a bicycle shop. He is quite forgetful and is a typical annoying dad.
  • Mrs Mason "Mum" is a housewife and Grandpa's daughter
  • Jason Mason is the main character (apart from Grandpa) on the show. He alone knows about Grandpa's shrinking cap and has to deal with the trouble it leads, alone.
  • Jemima Mason is Jason's older sister. She loves pink and all her birthday presents are pink.
  • Bubbles is Jason and Jemima's babysitter. She is rather excitable and silly but is fun. She has brown curly hair and is always smiling about something or other.
  • Grandpa is what most people see as an ordinary Grandpa, but is actually in possession of a magic shrinking cap.
  • Great Aunt Loretta is Grandpa's sister. She is bossy and annoying and quite often comes to stay.
  • Beowulf is Grandpa's dog.
  • Thando Ibitomi is jason and jemima's boy

Episode list

Series 1

  1. "Beowulf the Brilliant"
  2. "How to Handle a Hamster"
  3. "Mr. Liker Biker's Big Mountain Mission"
  4. "The Robot to Beat All Robots"
  5. "Princess Purpelovna's Plan"
  6. "Mr. Krumpgrumble's Visit"
  7. "The Most Splendiferous Sandcastle in Sunnysands"
  8. "A Fabulous Family Photo"
  9. "Miss Smiley's Summer Show"
  10. "The Wonderful World of Mr Whoops"
  11. "Chaos in the Cafe"
  12. "The Day the Baby Came to Stay"
  13. "A Garden Full of Beasts"
  14. "A Toy for a Boy Called Troy"
  15. "Trouble for Bubbles"
  16. "Shake Up and Shape Up"
  17. "Mr. Marvelloso's Magic Show"
  18. "A Tuneful Toot on a Trumpet"
  19. "Getting Aunt Loretta Better"
  20. "Sweet Dreams for Cousin Alvin"
  21. "Something to Treasure Forever"
  22. "A Saturday Full of Surprises"
  23. "Magic in the Air"
  24. "Nothing Stops Grandpa"
  25. "Grandpa's Busy Bee Day"
  26. "Captain Dumbletwit's Spaceship Cake"

Series 2

  1. "Captain Dumbletwit's Toughest Mission Yet"
  2. "Mr. Mentor's Custard Puff Plopper"
  3. "No Two Rings the Same"
  4. "A Carrot Called Christopher and Other Odd Vegetables"
  5. "Taking Floyd for a Ride"
  6. "Trying to Play with Shy Shanay"
  7. "A Day for a Play in Miss Smiley's Cafe"
  8. "Jemima's New Best Friend"
  9. "Bubbles and Squeak"
  10. "No More Dolls for Dora"
  11. "A Very Needy Speedy Edie"
  12. "Making the Most of Max"
  13. "Miss Smiley's Strawberry Surprise"
  14. "In It To Win"
  15. "Horatio Heave Ho!"
  16. "Great Aunt Loretta's Not So Great Plan"
  17. "Mr. Whoops' Toy of the Week"
  18. "A Perfect Little Litter Picker"
  19. "Big Elf, Little Elf"
  20. "A Song for Miss Smiley"
  21. "Mr. Scoffbucket the Goat"
  22. "Miss Smiley's Dancing Tea"
  23. "A Sunnysands Tick Tock Shock"
  24. "Wulfy's Day With Mr Whoops"
  25. "Captain Shipshape and a Fish Called Bryan"
  26. "Grandpa's Greatest Escape Ever"
  27. " Jason,s missing jemima

Series 3

  1. "The Magic Of Christmas"
  2. "No Ordinary Pig"
  3. "The Lighthouse View, As Good As New"
  4. "Boom A Boom Whoop Zing Zoo
  5. "Leonora The Explorer
  6. "A Captain Dumbletwit Box Of Tricks"
  7. "No Help For Alvin"
  8. "Mr. Mentor's Marvelicious Inventing Club"
  9. "More Than A Biscuit For Mrs. McWhiskit"
  10. "A Day What You Like To Do"
  11. "No Mention Of An Invention"
  12. "The Sunnysands School For Pirates"
  13. "Mr. Greator The Creator"
  14. "Mr. Whoops' Wonderful Wedding"
  15. "Mr. whoops meet jason with thando

Award Nominations

  • Nominated for Best Pre-School Live Action[4]
  • Winner - Best Children's Programme
  • Highest Rating CBeebies show in all demographics for the first run of the second series on CBeebies (Feb/March 2010).

DVD release History

References

  1. ^ "Family, friends and musical fun on CBeebies". BBC. 8 August 2007. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
  2. ^ Rushton, Katherine (18 March 2009). "CBeebies orders more Grandpa in My Pocket". Broadcast Magazine. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
  3. ^ "New Children's TV Series set on Suffolk Coast". Visit the Suffolk Coast. 12 January 2009. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
  4. ^ "Past Winners and Nominees - Children's - Awards - 2009". BAFTA. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
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