Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (2009 TV series)

Last updated

Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
Dennis and Gnasher logo.png
Series 1 logo.
Genre Animation
Comedy
Children
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 (Dennis, Athena, additional voices) [1]
Teresa Gallagher (Mum, Bea, Curly, additional voices)
Jo Wyatt (Walter, Pie-Face, Mrs Creecher, Gran, additional voices) [2]
Rob Rackstraw (Gnasher, Dad, Colonel, additional voices)
Bob Golding (Sergeant Slipper, Mr. Har Har, additional voices)
Jane Ubrien (Dennis, additional voices) [3]
Sarah Aubrey (Mum, Mrs Creecher, additional voices) [3] [4]
Keith Scott (Gnasher, Dad, Colonel, Sergeant Slipper, Mr. Har Har, additional voices) [3]
Chris Johnson (Dennis, Gnasher, Dad, Walter, Pie Face's Dad, Postman, Mr. Cheddar, Harley, additional voices)
Natif Ahmed (additional voices)
Morwenna Banks (Mum, Bea, Pie-Face, Mrs Creecher, Gran, Athena, Angel Face, additional voices)
Rasmus Hardiker (additional voices)
Theme music composer Iain Cook
Opening theme"Unstoppable"
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 the CBBC Channel. Based on the original comic strips from The Beano , it features the adventures of the rebellious schoolboy Dennis the Menace and his dog Gnasher. The programme is aimed for ages 6–12 [5] and commenced on 7 September 2009 and ended on 26 February 2010 after 52 episodes. [6] A second series was started on 8 July 2013 on the CBBC Channel. It was preceded by Dennis and Gnasher which aired in 1996 and a new series in 1998.

Contents

Production

The new series features the return of 10-year-old Dennis, Gnasher, Mum, Dad, Curly and Pie-Face and also features the introduction of Dennis' little sister Bea, as well as several original characters like Athena. The production shots also showed Dennis' treehouse with a more menacing design. [6] Screenshots and an episode can be found at the production company website, Red Kite Animation. [5]

Images of the characters and production were featured in The Beano's 70-year anniversary.

The show was a co-production between Red Kite Animation in Scotland and Sticky Pictures in Australia. [7] Consisting of 52 11-minute segments, the animation is 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). [8] Jane Ubrien, Sarah Aubrey and Keith Scott are confirmed to be voice actors for the series. [3]

Changes

A number of changes have been 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., [9] 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". [10] However the producers have stated that "Dennis will not lose his sense of fun." [9]

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. [11]

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.

The designs of Dennis' parents also changed to match up to the weekly Beano comic. The series also saw the series' leap from traditional animation to Flash animation. Pie Face and Walter's voice actors have also been changed. He also got his catapult and peashooter back and uses them directly at them.

Characters

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.

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 [12] 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.

Related Research Articles

<i>The Beano</i> British weekly childrens comic magazine

The Beano is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019. Popular and well-known comic strips and characters include Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger, Billy Whizz, Lord Snooty and His Pals, Ivy the Terrible, General Jumbo, Jonah, and Biffo the Bear.

Dennis the Menace may refer to either of two comic strip characters that both appeared in March 1951, one in the UK and one in the US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gnasher</span> Comic strip character from The Beano

Gnasher is a fictional comic strip character that appears in the British comic magazine The Beano. He is the pet dog of Dennis the Menace, who meets him in 1968's issue 1362, and is also the star of three spin-off comic strips. Gnasher is considered just as iconic as his owner as both have been the stars of many children's television programming and are the unofficial mascots of The Beano. Gnasher reached nationwide news in the 1980s after he disappeared from the magazine for seven weeks, returning with his six newborn puppies, but usually interacts with his son Gnipper.

<i>Minnie the Minx</i> British comic strip character

Minnie the Minx, is a comic strip character published in the British comic magazine The Beano. Created and originally drawn by Leo Baxendale, she first appeared in issue 596, dated 19 December 1953, making her the third longest running Beano character behind Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger. She would later be drawn by Jim Petrie, Tom Paterson, Ken Harrison and Laura Howell. She would also appear in animated films.

Bea (<i>Dennis the Menace</i>) Comic strip character from The Beano

Beatrice "Bea" Menace is a fictional character from the British comic magazine The Beano. She was born in issue 2931 and is the baby sister of Dennis the Menace. She appears frequently in her brother's comic strip, but would receive comic strips of her own to star in, including a crossover comic strip with Ivy the Terrible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivy the Terrible</span> British comic book character

Ivy the Terrible is a fictional character featured in The Beano. She is a four-year-old girl who annoys her parents with her misbehaviour. She first appeared in The Beano in 1985 in the comic strip of the same name, but has starred in other comic strips throughout Beano history.

The Dennis the Menace Annual was the name of the book that was published between 1955 and 2011 to tie in with the children's comic The Beano, specifically the Dennis the Menace comic strip. Since they are traditionally published in the northern autumn and in time for Christmas, since 1965 they have had the date of the following year on the cover. Before then no date was given. Until the 2009 edition, the annuals mainly featured reprints from around 14–15 years ago from the cover date of Dennis the Menace, Gnasher and Gnipper and formerly Gnasher's Tale and Rasher strips in The Beano, although there is some new material. The 2010 and 2011 editions contained all new material based on the updated style seen in the CBBC series.

Walter Brown is a fictional character that appears in the British comic magazine The Beano. He is the rival and antagonist to Dennis the Menace who is vilified because of his lack of interest in stereotypically masculine activities and attitudes. From his first appearance in 1953, Walter became the target of Dennis' pranks and misbehaviour but would brush it off. Sometime in the 1980s, Walter's characterisation changed after reader backlash and made him a snobbish rich boy foil to his enemies.

Alastair Swinnerton is a UK author and writer/producer known mostly for his involvement with Lego Bionicle, which he co-created with Bob Thompson and Martin Andersen of Lego and Christian Faber of Danish advertising agency Advance.

<i>Dennis and Gnasher</i> (1996 TV series) 1996 British animated television series

Dennis and Gnasher is a British animated television series based on characters from The Beano comic, which was broadcast on BBC from 2 April 1996 until 7 May 1998. Reruns aired on CBBC until January 2009. The series was produced by Collingwood O'Hare Productions and D.C. Thomson & Co. in association with BBC Television, alongside Flextech and PolyGram Video for the first season only. It was distributed by HIT Entertainment worldwide and was directed and largely written by Tony Collingwood.

Marvo the Wonder Chicken is a character in the UK comic The Dandy. The strip first appeared in 1990, and continued in odd issues until 1999. He returned in 2008 to tie in with the planned DC Thomson TV series. The strip is "silent", with only words such like "Crash" and "Bang", and ending with Marvo saying "Ta-da". Marvo's sidekick and biggest fan, Henry Thrapplewhacker XLIX, also appears.

<i>Dennis the Menace and Gnasher</i> Scottish comic strip

Dennis the Menace and Gnasher is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by DC Thomson, of Dundee, Scotland. The comic stars a boy named Dennis the Menace and his dog, an "Abyssinian wire-haired tripe hound" named Gnasher.

Christopher David Johnson is a British television presenter and actor. He began presenting on the CBBC Channel in January 2010, and continued until April 2016. His first television appearance was for BBC Three, introducing Family Guy. Chris also makes content on YouTube under the user name OfficialCDJ.

Red Kite Animation is a British animation production company based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The studio was founded in 1997 by Ken Anderson and Rachel Bevan Baker. The company developed the television cartoons Dennis the Menace and Gnasher and Wendy, and more recently the feature films Princess Emmy.

The Beano's Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Show is a British puppet series based on characters from The Beano comic, which aired on The Children's Channel between 5 November 1990 and 29 November 1991. The show was directed and produced by Bob Harvey, Dan Maddicott and Robb Hart and written by Mike Barfield, with voices by Logan Murray.

<i>Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed!</i> British animated television series

Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! is a British animated television series based on the Dennis the Menace strip from the British comic The Beano created by David Law. The strip first introduced in 1951. It started airing on CBBC on 6 November 2017 and is the third animated adaptation of the strip after Dennis and Gnasher and Dennis the Menace and Gnasher, as well as the fourth overall. The series stars Freddie Fox as Dennis. A second series began on 13 July 2020.

The Beano Video is a direct-to-video animated film based on The Beano, originally released on VHS on 16 October 1993 and also broadcast as a television special on ITV and CITV. It marked not just the first animated release of the hugely successful children's comic that has spanned many generations, but also the first animated appearance for characters like Dennis the Menace and Gnasher, Gnipper, Minnie the Minx, the Bash Street Kids, and the Three Bears. The video was directed by Derek Mogford and produced by Jo Pullen at Living Doll Productions and Whizzline Productions, and sold more than 200,000 copies. It features voices by Susan Sheridan, Kate Robbins, Enn Reitel, Gary Martin and Jonathan Kydd. Martin and Kydd would later appear in the 1996-98 TV series Dennis and Gnasher.

The Beano Videostars is a direct-to-video animated film based on The Beano, originally released on VHS on 17 October 1994 and also broadcast as a television special on ITV. The video is a sequel to The Beano Video, and features an expanded cast of characters, including Dennis the Menace and Gnasher, Minnie the Minx, the Bash Street Kids, Billy Whizz, the Three Bears, and Ivy the Terrible. It was produced and directed by Terry Ward at Flicks Films Ltd, with voices provided by Susan Sheridan, Kate Robbins, Enn Reitel, Gary Martin and Jonathan Kydd, along with newcomers Alex Patterson, Mark Pickard, Jill Shilling and Nicola Stapleton.

References

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  7. Bynum, Aaron (9 September 2009). "New 'Dennis & Gnasher' Animation on CBBC". Animation Insider . Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  8. Bynum, Aaron (17 October 2008). "New 'Dennis & Gnasher' Cartoon on the Way". Animation Insider . Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  9. 1 2 "Has Dennis lost his menace?". BBC. 8 September 2009. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  10. Irvine, Chris (12 August 2009). "Dennis the Menace receives politically correct makeover". Telegraph.co.uk . London. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  11. 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.
  12. "Children's in 2014". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. 23 November 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.