Gigglebiz

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Gigglebiz
Gigglebiz Title Card.jpeg
Title card (in Series 1). L to R: Captain Adorable, Nana Knickerbocker, Major Boogie.
Also known as
  • GiggleQuiz
Genre Sketch comedy
Created by Justin Fletcher
Directed byJack Jameson, Geoff Coward, Damian Farrell, Helen Sheppard, Tom Poole, Anna Mears, Michael Towner
StarringJustin Fletcher
ComposersBarrie Bignold
Liz Kitchen
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons5 [1] (excluding the showreel, pilots and GiggleQuiz)
No. of episodes114 (excluding the showreel, pilots and GiggleQuiz)
Production
Executive producersAlison Stewart, Tony Reed, Vanessa Amberleigh
Production location Dock10 studios (2011–present)
EditorGerry Skinner
Camera setupChris Yacoubian
Mark Gosling
Mike Maddams
Running time13 minutes [2] (including 15-second intro)
Production company British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) [3]
Original release
Network CBeebies [4]
Release7 September 2009 (2009-09-07) 
15 March 2021 (2021-03-15)

Gigglebiz is a British children's comedy television programme (described as a 'live-action comedy sketch show' [5] by the BBC) consisting of five series that have been broadcast on CBeebies, [4] the BBC's younger children's channel, starting in 2009.

Contents

The TV series was starred and created by Justin Fletcher, who plays the lead character in all of the comedy sketches and also wrote a few sketches in its first series. Some of the sketches are filmed in the studio, while other sketches are filmed outside; for example, one is filmed at Portmeirion, used for the fictional town of Wiggyville where Captain Adorable's sketches are set from Series 1 to 2. The show is interspersed with a selection of children called the Gigglekids, who tell jokes to Justin himself, in their own section called 'Giggle Box'.

In many episodes, there is also ‘Silly Time’, where Justin says "It's Silly Time!", then some of the other characters dance to music. In one scene during this, four characters are shown dancing at once. Silly Time doesn't happen in every episode however.

History

Gigglebiz's production began in the mid-1990s, when Justin Fletcher produced a showreel named Justin Time, to showcase his acting abilities to television companies. In November 2008, CBeebies aired three TV pilots featuring Fletcher, called Humphrey the Painter, Gigglebox, and Captain Adorable: The Locked Door Adventure, with the objective being that one of them would become a full series. Following the broadcast of the pilots, CBeebies announced on November 25 that Gigglebox would become the full series, and would air within the channel's 2009 schedule. [6] On May 5, 2009, the show's final title was announced as Gigglebiz, and that it would begin airing within the summer of that year. [7]

The first series was broadcast in September 2009, comprising 25 13-minute episodes and 20 characters each. The first episode premiered on 7 September 2009. A Christmas special was broadcast on 15 December 2010. The second series comprised 15 episodes being broadcast in January 2011 and saw several characters disappear to make way for five new ones, replacing them. The spinoff quiz show GiggleQuiz came after Gigglebiz, premiering on 28 October 2019 and later in December 2020.

Series 1 was filmed from March 2009 to April 2009, Series 2 was filmed from July 2010 to August 2010, Series 3 was filmed from May 2013 to June 2013, Series 4 was filmed from July 2014 to August 2014, Series 5 was filmed from March 2018 to May 2018 and GiggleQuiz was filmed between June 2019 to August 2019.

Characters

Main characters















Former characters

Additional Characters

Transmissions

Gigglebiz (Main Series)

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
17 September 20092 October 200925
2 November 20096 November 2009
221 October 20138 November 201326
2 December 201316 December 2013
35 January 201523 January 201525
16 February 201527 February 2015
428 October 20189 November 201822
18 February 20194 March 2019

Gigglebiz Christmas Special

Date
15 December 2010

GiggleQuiz (Spin-Off Series)

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
128 October 201915 November 201915
216 December 202012
1 March 202115 March 2021

Episodes

There are 114 episodes of Gigglebiz across 5 seasons. Only in Series 5 and in GiggleQuiz did the episodes have proper titles. In series 1-4, they were just referred to by the series and episode numbers (e.g., Series 4, episode 11), and the Christmas special was just referred to as "A Gigglebiz Christmas". However, in September 2023, a YouTuber called "Real Seán Caffrey", who is a fan of Gigglebiz, came up with some custom titles with the help of another channel called "Yafeit Yemane Backup" came up with proper titles for those seasons.

Here are the titles they came up with:

Series 1


Christmas Special: Simon Pieman's Christmas Pie

Series 2

Series 3

Series 4

Series 5

DVDS

3 Disc and 4 Disc DVD sets

Spinoff (GiggleQuiz)

On 3 July 2018, a spinoff mock quiz show, entitled GiggleQuiz, was announced, being made with Justin Fletcher reprising his main character role. [8] It first aired on 28 October 2019. Unlike Gigglebiz, it is, as said, a mock quiz show.

The aim of the game was to answer questions about clips and pictures, shown from the previous series (Series 3–5). It is hosted by Arthur Sleep, and the team captains are Gail Force and Keith Fitt. Nana Knickerbocker hosts her own round named "Nana's Panto Showdown". Rapids Johnson, (in Season 1 only) Wizard Tripwick, Dina Lady, Captain Adorable, Ann Teak, The Lost Pirate, and Professor Muddles appear as the possible contestants. The other characters make cameos. GiggleQuiz began its second season on 16 December 2020, starting with the episode "A Giggle Quizmas". It later re-aired in March 2021 to air the episode "Wizard Tripwick's Crystal Ball".

GiggleQuiz Episodes

Series 1

  1. Dina Lady's Brussels Sprout Cake
  2. Captain Adorable's Sidekick (This is the only episode where in Round 2, both teams guess the same number, and they both get a point at the same time.)
  3. The Lost Pirate's Treasure
  4. Keith Fitt's Quiz Fit.
  5. Super Banana Gail
  6. Keith Fitt's Juggling
  7. Rapids Johnson's Quizzly Bear
  8. Ann Teak's Painting
  9. Arthur's Tie Break
  10. Professor Muddles' Brain Buster
  11. Gail Force's Thinking Cap
  12. Ann Teak's Antique Wand
  13. Rapids Johnson's Helping Bear
  14. Professor Muddles' Handy Invention
  15. Gail Wants to Sing

Series 2

  1. A Giggle Quizmas (This is a Christmas special.)
  2. Wizard Tripwick's Crystal Ball (This is the only episode where a Gail's team didn't manage to lose any points.)
  3. Dina Lady's Ice Cream Machine (This is the only episode where a both teams didn't manage to lose any points.)
  4. Professor Muddles' Mystery Machine
  5. Keith Fitt's Broken Buzzer (This is the only episode where a Gail's team didn't manage to lose any points.)
  6. Arthur Sleep's Leaky Pipes
  7. Dina Lady's Cakey Mix Up (This is the only episode where a Keith's team didn't manage to lose any points 2 times.)
  8. Keith Fitt's Pesky Fly
  9. The Lost Pirate's Empty Chest
  10. The Muddles-Keith Muddle-Up
  11. Keith Fitt's Rumbly Tummy
  12. Wizard Tripwick's New Wand

Creators

Gigglebiz was created by Justin Fletcher, who was best-known for Mr. Tumble.

The other creators are:

References

  1. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1511698/episodes?ref_=tt_ql_6 "Gigglebiz (TV Series 2009— ) – Episodes – IMDb" [ unreliable source? ]
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fimr1cNKJSE. "Gigglebiz Episode 1".
  3. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1511698/ "Gigglebiz (2009— ) – IMDb". [ unreliable source? ]
  4. 1 2 "Gigglebiz – CBeebies". British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 1 January 1970. Archived from the original on 25 August 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  5. "Gigglebiz". BBC. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  6. "BBC - Press Office - CBBC/CBeebies Winter/Spring 2009 press pack: CBeebies programmes G-M".
  7. "BBC - Press Office - Get the giggles with Justin on CBeebies".
  8. "BBC orders new children's comedies School Bus and GiggleQuiz". British Comedy Guide . 3 July 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2018.