Wolfblood

Last updated

Wolfblood
Wolfblood Titlecard.png
Genre Fantasy
Teen drama
Horror
Children's television series
Created by Debbie Moon
Starring
Theme music composer
  • Andy Price
  • Nick Holywell-Walker
Opening theme
Ending theme
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Germany
Original languagesEnglish
German
No. of series5, Wolfblood Secrets
No. of episodes61 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Gina Cronk
  • Spencer Campbell
  • Lis Steele
  • Lucy Martin
Producers
Cinematography
  • Tony Coldwell
  • Richard Mahoney
  • Tim Pollard
  • Simon Bell
  • Andy McDonnell
  • James Moss
Editors
  • Matthew Tabern
  • Tim Marchant
  • Calum Ross
  • Tom White
  • Bjorn Johnson
  • John Parker
  • Belinda Cottrell
  • David Fisher
  • Lois Bygrave
  • Adam Masters
  • Agnieszka Liggett
  • David Stark
Camera setup Single-camera
Running time21–24 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network CBBC
Release10 September 2012 (2012-09-10) 
1 May 2017 (2017-05-01)

Wolfblood is a fantasy teen drama television series. [1] Created by Debbie Moon, it is a co-production between CBBC and ZDF/ZDFE. The television series revolves around the life of the species known as wolfbloods. They are creatures that have enhanced senses and look like humans but can turn into wolves at will — reminiscent of werewolves — but can also control their transformation during the day as well. They are distinct from werewolves but just like werewolves, their transformation is uncontrolled during a full moon, and they are at their weakest during "the dark of the moon", at a new moon. The television series focuses on their daily life and the challenges that they face to hide their secret. Each series has new characters and concepts.

Contents

The television series has won the Royal Television Society Award for the Children's Drama category in 2013. It also won the Banff Rockie Award in the category for 'Best Children's Programme (fiction)' in the same year. In 2015 the television series won the British Screenwriters' Award in the category 'Best British Children's Television'.

Episodes

SeriesEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
1 1310 September 2012 (2012-09-10)22 October 2012 (2012-10-22)
2 139 September 2013 (2013-09-09)21 October 2013 (2013-10-21)
3 1315 September 2014 (2014-09-15)27 October 2014 (2014-10-27)
4 128 March 2016 (2016-03-08)13 April 2016 (2016-04-13)
5 1027 February 2017 (2017-02-27)1 May 2017 (2017-05-01)

Cast

Main

Recurring

Guest

Plot

Jana meets three new wolfblood families - brother and sister Matei and Emilia from Eastern Europe, TJ and his mother Imara who are Afro-Caribbean, and Selina and her parents who are Muslims. They become the catalyst for the formation of a new pack. With the wolfblood secret looking increasingly fragile, the pressures on Jana grow, forcing her to question where she truly belongs and who she can trust. This leads to a cataclysmic decision that will change all of their lives forever. [5]
Also between series 4 and 5 ten mini-episodes known as Wolfblood Secrets take place. It consisted of scenes set in an office run by an unnamed organisation where members of the series 4 cast were interviewed by 2 mysterious characters - Mr. Smith, and his superior, Ms. Jones - who want to know all they can about Wolfbloods. This was intercut with clips from Wolfblood episodes to illustrate what they are talking about. Jones returns as a character in series 5.

Production

Wolfblood was created after series creator Debbie Moon, during a visit to a bookshop, saw the words "wolf" in one book title and "blood" in another and blended them together. [6] The series was commissioned after the BBC Writersroom website announced an open call for children's drama scripts. Moon was among eight writers taken to a conference centre in Kent, and, after a few days of intensive development, it became one of two new original children's dramas to be commissioned by CBBC. [7] The series was filmed in the north-east of England by the same crew who filmed Tracy Beaker Returns . Early series filming locations included Hookergate School and the woods of the surrounding Rowlands Gill countryside, from series 4 onwards the filming moved to at Heworth Grange Comprehensive in East Gateshead (Hawthorn Comprehensive in the series) and the areas around Windy Nook and Newcastle. [8]

Production for series 1 began in February 2012 and ran until May 2012. It was shot in 3 production blocks: episodes 1–4, episodes 5–8, and episodes 9–13. A second series was confirmed after the final episode of the first series had aired. Filming for the second series began February 2013 and ended May 2013. All of the directors were new to the series, and it was shot in four production blocks: episodes 1–4, episodes 5–8, episode 9, and episodes 10–13. Filming for the third series began in February 2014 and ended in May 2014 and the series aired from 15 September until 27 October 2014.

Home media

The first three series are available on DVD in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and Germany (the latter has also released the series in Blu-ray format). They are also available in many other countries via Amazon and other online retailers. [9]

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNominee(s)Result
2013 British Academy Children's Awards [10] Children's BAFTA Kids' Vote - TelevisionWolfbloodNominated
Children's PerformerAimee Kelly (Maddy Smith)Nominated
Bobby Lockwood (Rhydian Morris)Won
Children's DramaProduction TeamNominated
Children's WriterDebbie MoonNominated
Royal Television Society Awards Children's Drama [11] WolfbloodWon
Best Drama Production [12] WolfbloodNominated
Banff Rockie Awards [13] Best Children Programs FictionWolfbloodWon
2014British Academy Children's Awards [14] Children's BAFTA Kids' Vote - TelevisionWolfbloodNominated
Children's DramaDebbie Moon, Matthew Evans, and Foz AllanNominated
Children's WriterDebbie MoonWon
Royal Television Society Awards [15] Children's FictionWolfbloodNominated
Broadcast Awards [16] Best Children's ProgrammeWolfbloodNominated
2015British Academy Children's Awards [17] Children's BAFTA Kids' Vote - TelevisionWolfbloodNominated
Children's DramaDebbie Moon, Jonathan Wolfman, and Sallie AprahamianNominated
British Screenwriters' Awards [18] Best British Children's TelevisionWolfbloodWon
2016Royal Television Society Awards [19] Best Drama (Below £600k)WolfbloodNominated
British Academy Children's AwardsChildren's Performer [20] Leona VaughanNominated

Spin-off

The second series was accompanied by a 10 part wildlife spin-off series exploring wolves, hosted by Bobby Lockwood. [21] This has been produced by the BBC Natural History Unit, entitled Wolfblood Uncovered; it began airing on 9 September 2013. Wolfblood Uncovered compares scenes in Wolfblood with facts about real wolves, and points out how wolf behavior is reflected in the actions of the characters in the story, such as living in packs, defending territory against rivals, fear of fire and enclosed spaces, reliance on sense of smell and a carnivorous diet.

See also

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References

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  20. "2016 Children's Performer | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org.
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