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Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (2009 TV series)

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Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
Series 1 logo.
GenreAnimation
Comedy
Children's television
Created byDavid Law
Written byThomas Duncan-Watt
Bruce Griffiths
Andrew Jones
Ciaran Murtagh
Richelle Wilder
Cleon Prineas
Dan Berlinka
Directed byGlenn Kirkpatrick
Voices ofSophie 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 composerIain 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 companiesBeano Productions
Red Kite Animation
Sticky Pictures
Original release
NetworkCBBC (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. 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.

Production

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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

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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

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  • Dennis: A mischievous 10-year-old child, who loves pranking people.
  • Bea: Dennis’ youngest sister.
  • Sandra: Dennis and Bea’s mother. She often scolds Dennis when he's doing something wrong.
  • Dennis Sr.: Dennis and Bea's father. He is very strict.
  • Walter: Dennis’ next-door neighbor and butt of many of Dennis' pranks or jokes.

Episodes

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Main article: List of Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (2009 TV series) episodes

Telecast and home media

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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

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Region 2
DVD title Series(s) Aspect ratio Episode count Total running time Release date(s)
Dennis and Gnasher - Volume 1: Double Trouble 1 16:9 6 60 minutes 8 March 2010
Dennis and Gnasher - Volume 2: School Rules? Highly Over-rated! 1 16:9 6 60 minutes 16 August 2010
Dennis and Gnasher - Volume 3: Fangs For the Memories 1 16:9 8 80 minutes 4 October 2010
Dennis and Gnasher - Volume 4: Masters of Mayhem 1 16:9 6 66 minutes 28 February 2011
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher - Volume 1: Come Menace With Me 2 16:9 6 60 minutes 10 February 2014

Accolades

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Awards
Award Category Recipients and nominees Result
British Academy Children's Awards[12] Animation Christopher O'Hare, Tony Collingwood Nominated

Book

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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.

References

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  1. ^ "Sophie Aldred". Sue Terry Voices. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  2. ^ "Jo Wyatt". Jo Wyatt. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d "Screen Australia -Former AFC : Searchable Film Database". Screen Australia. Archived from the original on 19 October 2009. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  4. ^ "Animation". Sarah Aubrey. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Red Kite Animation". Red Kite Animation. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  6. ^ a b "Dennis and Gnasher - Unstoppable!". Red Kite Animation. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  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. ^ a b "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.
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