Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (2009 TV series)

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Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
Dennis and Gnasher logo.png
Series 1 logo.
Genre Animated
Comedy
Children's television
Created byDavid Law
Written by Thomas Duncan-Watt
Bruce Griffiths
Andrew Jones
Ciaran Murtagh
Richelle Wilder
Cleon Prineas
Dan Berlinka
Directed byGlenn Kirkpatrick
Voices of Sophie Aldred
Teresa Gallagher
Jo Wyatt
Rob Rackstraw
Bob Golding
Jane Ubrien
Sarah Aubrey
Keith Scott
Chris Johnson
Natif Ahmed
Morwenna Banks
Rasmus Hardiker
Theme music composer Iain Cook
Opening theme"Unstoppable", sung by Kyle Wood (series 1), Chris Johnson (series 2)
Ending theme"Unstoppable" (instrumental)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Australia
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes104 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersDonna Andrews
Ken Anderson
Tim Brooke-Hunt
Ben Gray
Jo Rooney
ProducersDonna Andrews
Jane Schneider
Sueann Smith
Stu Connolly
Running time11 minutes
Production companies Beano Productions
Red Kite Animation
Sticky Pictures
Original release
Network CBBC (UK)
Nine Network (Australia)
Release7 September 2009 (2009-09-07) –
20 December 2013 (2013-12-20)
Related

Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (originally known as Dennis and Gnasher in its first series) is an animated television series which was aired on CBBC. Based on the original comic strips from The Beano , it features the adventures of the rebellious schoolboy Dennis the Menace and his dog Gnasher. [1] and commenced on 7 September 2009 and ended on 26 February 2010 after 52 episodes. [2] A second series was started on 8 July 2013 on the CBBC Channel. It was preceded by Dennis and Gnasher which aired between 1996 and 1998.

Contents

Production

In February 2008, The Guardian announced that Dennis the Menace and Gnasher would be receiving a politically correct makeover for the 21st century. Originally, media investment company Ludorum was to represent the Dennis and Gnasher brand on behalf of its owners DC Thomson. Ludorum's chief executive Rob Lawes had global ambitions for the new Dennis, whose television series had also been pre-sold to the Nine Network in Australia. [3]

The show was a co-production between Red Kite Animation in Scotland [1] and Sticky Pictures in Australia. [4] Images of the characters and production were featured in The Beano 's 70-year anniversary. Consisting of 52 11-minute segments, the animation was directed by Glenn Kirkpatrick with executive producers Donna Andrews (Sticky Pictures) and Ken Anderson (Red Kite Animation) and producers Jane Schneider (Sticky Pictures) and Sueann Smith (Red Kite). [5] The new series featured the return of Dennis, Gnasher, Mum, Dad, Curly and Pie-Face, and also introduced Dennis' little sister Bea, as well as several original characters like Athena. The production shots also showed Dennis' treehouse with a more menacing design. [2] Sophie Aldred, [6] [7] Teresa Gallagher, Jo Wyatt, [8] Rob Rackstraw and Bob Golding were confirmed to be voice actors for the series, while Jane Ubrien, Sarah Aubrey and Keith Scott would provide voices for the series' Australian dub. [9] The voices were recorded at The Soundhouse.

Changes

A number of changes were made to the original format compared to the comics and previous television series. As well as being updated and modernised, Dennis lost his catapult and peashooter and no longer deliberately causes trouble. [10] In addition, Walter, Dennis's main rival, was made more masculine, removing elements like his pink-coloured pyjamas, a small poodle, effeminate voice and his friends being mainly girls. There were fears that Dennis could be seen as homophobic or at the least bullying Walter about his effeminacy. A Telegraph article claimed that the show had been toned down for reasons of "political correctness". [11] However the producers have stated that "Dennis will not lose his sense of fun." [10]

Cartoonist Lew Stringer has refuted on his blog the political correctness claims made by some areas of the media, especially the reports that Dennis will no longer use catapults and Gnasher will no longer bite people. Describing these claims as "another 'political correctness gone mad' myth embellished by the media", he has posted videos showing that the show has not been softened up to the extent that the media has reported. [12] Despite, or possibly because, of these changes, the show was received positively by the mainstream audience and a small number of professional critics, and the show was a ratings winner on the CBBC Channel at launch.

For the production of Series 2, it was decided that the series would change yet again. "The Menace" returned to the title "Dennis the Menace and Gnasher", and his personality changed slightly in tribute to the classic comics. Dennis also retained his catapult and peashooter and uses them directly. The designs of Dennis' parents also changed to match up to the weekly Beano comic. The series was produced in Flash animation instead of traditional animation. Voices were recorded at Tamborine Productions and provided by Chris Johnson, Natif Ahmed, Morwenna Banks and Rasmus Hardiker. [13] Sophie Aldred stated that she was replaced with Johnson for the role of Dennis because the BBC wanted Dennis to have an older-sounding voice to attract an older audience. [14]

Characters

Additional voices: Sophie Aldred, [7] Teresa Gallagher, Jo Wyatt, [8] Rob Rackstraw, Bob Golding, Adam Henderson, William Henderson, [19] Jane Ubrien, Sarah Aubrey, Keith Scott, Chris Johnson, Natif Ahmed, Morwenna Banks, Rasmus Hardiker.

Episodes

Telecast and home media

The show began airing on The Hub in the U.S. on the same day the network launched on 10 October 2010. It stopped airing on 7 October 2013.

The programme also airs in Australia on Channel Nine and later on ABC3. The programme also began airing on Disney XD and Nickelodeon Sonic in India. It started airing on Disney Channel Asia on 14 May 2011 until today's years.

Five DVDs have been released and all of series 2 was available to stream on Netflix until 2017.

In Ireland the second series of the show aired on TG4's children's strand Cúla4 dubbed in Irish.

DVD releases

Region 2
DVD titleSeries(s)Aspect ratioEpisode countTotal running timeRelease date(s)
Dennis and Gnasher - Volume 1: Double Trouble116:9660 minutes8 March 2010
Dennis and Gnasher - Volume 2: School Rules? Highly Over-rated!116:9660 minutes16 August 2010
Dennis and Gnasher - Volume 3: Fangs For the Memories116:9880 minutes4 October 2010
Dennis and Gnasher - Volume 4: Masters of Mayhem116:9666 minutes28 February 2011
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher - Volume 1: Come Menace With Me216:9660 minutes10 February 2014

Accolades

Awards
AwardCategoryRecipients and nomineesResult
British Academy Children's Awards [20] Animation Christopher O'Hare, Tony CollingwoodNominated

Book

On 6 February 2014, a book called The Diary of Dennis the Menace was released to celebrate The Beano's 75-year anniversary. The second book Beanotown Battle was released on 1 May 2014. The third book Rollercoaster Riot was released on 7 August 2014. Steven Butler wrote the books. Butler also released audiobooks for the first three titles. The fourth book Bash Street Bandit was released on 5 February 2015. The fifth book Canine Carnage was released on 2 July 2015. The sixth book The Great Escape was released on 4 February 2016.

Video game

In 2015, Dennis and Gnasher: Adventures! was released for iOS devices. The app was developed by DC Thomson in partnership with LivoBooks, with Mark Cotton leading the project. The four-part story follows Dennis and Gnasher as they battle against a zombie attack in Beanotown. The story allows for camera integration, giving players the opportunity to join Dennis and the gang as part of the story. Users can earn points and badges upon completing the games. [21]

References

  1. 1 2 "Red Kite Animation". Red Kite Animation. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  2. 1 2 "Dennis and Gnasher - Unstoppable!". Red Kite Animation . Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  3. ↑ Allen, Katie (7 February 2008). "Dennis and Gnasher get a makeover". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
  4. ↑ Bynum, Aaron (9 September 2009). "New 'Dennis & Gnasher' Animation on CBBC". Animation Insider . Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  5. ↑ Bynum, Aaron (17 October 2008). "New 'Dennis & Gnasher' Cartoon on the Way". Animation Insider . Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  6. 1 2 "Acting". Sophie Aldred. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Sophie Aldred". Sue Terry Voices. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Jo Wyatt". Jo Wyatt. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  9. ↑ "Screen Australia -Former AFC : Searchable Film Database". Screen Australia. Archived from the original on 19 October 2009. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  10. 1 2 "Has Dennis lost his menace?". BBC. 8 September 2009. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  11. ↑ Irvine, Chris (12 August 2009). "Dennis the Menace receives politically correct makeover". Telegraph.co.uk . London. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  12. ↑ Stringer, Lew (24 August 2009). "Another "political correctness gone mad" myth embellished by the media". Blimey! It's another blog about comics!. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  13. ↑ "Dennis and Gnasher Recording Complete!". Tamborine Productions. 17 January 2013. Archived from the original on 18 February 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
  14. ↑ "Sophie Aldred on Twitter: "Thanks for all condolences regarding Dennis the Menace. BBC decided to make it edgy and use big men voices to attract an older audience."". Twitter. 8 July 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
  15. ↑ Beard, Matthew (7 October 2009). "Dennis is a menace to 2012 equestrian plans". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
  16. 1 2 "The Voice of Dennis the Menace (2009) - Sophie Alfred Full Interview". YouTube. 16 November 2024. Retrieved 16 November 2025.
  17. 1 2 "Animation". Sarah Aubrey. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  18. ↑ "Beano Superstars: Hari Chandra". The Beano. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
  19. ↑ "The Voice of Dennis the Menace (2009) - Sophie Alfred Full Interview". YouTube. 16 November 2024. Retrieved 16 November 2025.
  20. ↑ "Children's in 2014". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. 23 November 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  21. ↑ Freeman, John (15 January 2015). "The Beano launches Dennis & Gnasher Adventures! app". downthetubes.net. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
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