My Parents Are Aliens

Last updated

My Parents Are Aliens
MPAAlogo.jpg
Created byAndy Watts
Starring Tony Gardner
Carla Mendonça
Barbara Durkin
Danielle McCormack
Alex Kew
Charlotte Francis
Olisa Odele
Stephanie Fearon
Keith Warwick
Jessica Woods
Daniel Feltham
Katie Pearson
Jake Young
Danny Robinson
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series8
No. of episodes106 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time23 minutes
Production company Yorkshire Television/Granada Yorkshire
Original release
Network ITV (CITV)
Release8 November 1999 (1999-11-08) 
18 December 2006 (2006-12-18)
Related
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My Parents Are Aliens is a British children's television sitcom that was produced for eight series by Yorkshire Television and aired on ITV from 8 November 1999 to 18 December 2006.

Contents

Overview

The show primarily follows the lives of three orphaned children called Mel, Josh, and Lucy Barker, and their new foster parents Brian and Sophie Johnson. [1] The children soon discover that the Johnsons are in fact aliens from the planet Valux, who crash-landed on Earth when Brian tampered with the controls of their spaceship. As shown by the opening credits, the house they live in is actually a morphed form of their spaceship. They also have the ability to morph into other people. Brian and Sophie start out with very limited and muddled knowledge of life on Earth, and the children must do their best to help them understand. No one outside the family must ever learn that they are aliens, or they will be taken away for scientific testing, and the Barkers will lose another set of parents. The humour in the programme is considered surreal and sometimes gently subversive. Whilst being a children's show, it occasionally makes reference to rather mature matters, high-brow culture, and complex scientific thinking; and because of this, it has also gained a considerable following of older viewers outside of its intended age range.

Episodes

SeriesEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
1 68 November 1999 (1999-11-08)13 December 1999 (1999-12-13)
2 1016 October 2000 (2000-10-16)18 December 2000 (2000-12-18)
3 1024 September 2001 (2001-09-24)5 October 2001 (2001-10-05)
4 132 September 2002 (2002-09-02)2 December 2002 (2002-12-02)
5 1322 October 2003 (2003-10-22)3 December 2003 (2003-12-03)
6 208 November 2004 (2004-11-08)27 December 2004 (2004-12-27)
7 2017 October 2005 (2005-10-17)23 December 2005 (2005-12-23)
8 1416 September 2006 (2006-09-16)18 December 2006 (2006-12-18)

Characters

Parents

Series 1–7: The Barkers

Other characters

Series 8: The Bennetts

Production

The show was filmed in Studio 4 at The Leeds Studios . A laugh track was added from series 4 onwards, although there were complaints that it spoiled the feel of the show. The last episode of series 7, Thanks for all the Earthworm Custard, was the final one to feature the original regular cast, and concluded ongoing plots from the first seven series.

Despite the conclusive nature of the final episode of series 7, the show returned for an eighth series. The new plot acted as a clean slate for the show, with Brian and Sophie crashing their ship again and taking in a new family of foster children after having their memories of the past seven years erased by Guido, the new avatar of the galactic guidebook. The new family, the Bennetts, were very similar in personality to the Barkers and CJ, and Harry. However the new status quo was not to last long, as in 2006, it was announced by ITV that they were to close its in-house children's production unit, bringing the show to a sudden end following series 8.

The same year, Nickelodeon purchased the rights to make an American version of the series. A pilot script was written; the structure was ostensibly the same as the UK original, with alien parents The Jonses (in place of the Johnsons) adopting three children, the Bishops (the Barkers), with similar characteristics to their UK counterparts: teenager Samantha (Sam) in place of Mel; Brad (Josh) and Shelly (Lucy). A pilot episode was written which, unlike the UK source material, introduced the series by having the Joneses adopting the Bishops on-screen. However, the pilot never entered production and the project was eventually dropped.[ citation needed ]

Broadcast

Series 1 to 7 was repeated regularly on CITV from the channel's launch in 2006 up until late 2017, while series 8 repeats were discontinued by early 2010.[ citation needed ]

Entertainment Rights Distribution handled worldwide distribution rights to the series. [2]

Home media

In 2000, a VHS release containing all six Series One episodes was released by Video Collection International and Granada Media.

A single-release DVD containing two episodes from Series 2 and four from Series 3 titled The Best Of was released in 2006 by Right Entertainment/Universal Pictures Video UK. Right/Universal also released Series 1 and 2 in a box-set sold as a bulk-release.

Awards and nominations

YearCeremonyAwardResult
2000 Royal Television Society Awards Best Children's DramaWon [3]
2001 Children's BAFTA Awards Best DramaNominated [4]
Banff Television Festival Best Children's ProgramWon
Royal Television Society AwardsBest Children's DramaWon
2002Best Children's FictionWon
2003Children's BAFTA AwardsBest DramaNominated [5]
2004Nominated [6]
2006Royal Television Society AwardsBest Children's DramaWon [7]

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References

  1. "BBC - Comedy Guide - My Parents Are Aliens". 26 November 2004. Archived from the original on 26 November 2004. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  2. "My Parents Are Aliens". Archived from the original on 16 December 2005.
  3. "RTS Programme Awards 2000". Royal Television Society. 14 March 2011. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015.
  4. "Children's | Drama in 2001". BAFTA. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  5. "Children's | Drama in 2003". BAFTA. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  6. "Children's | Drama in 2004". BAFTA. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  7. "RTS Programme Awards 2006". Royal Television Society. 14 March 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2022.