Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids (TV series)

In 2003, Honeycomb Animation founders Simon and Sara Bor had signed a deal with Central (later owned by Carlton Television) to create the cartoon Wolves, Witches and Giants. According to Simon, the then-head of Carlton Television, Michael Forte, had initially been hesitant to develop the project until Carlton took over Central, but he handed them a copy of Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids and advised them to "Get in touch with the author, and see if you can come up with something." Years before, after the success of his debut book Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids, Rix had attempted to use his producer credits to get his work adapted by sending copies to television studios. but pre-production was forcibly halted just as storyboarding began due to studio hesitations over the source material and the publisher of Fearsome Tales for Fiendish Kids (Hodder Children's Books) being different from the rest in the trilogy (André Deutsch Limited). and greenlit the series immediately, with a budget between US$2 million () and $3.3 million () for 26 episodes, later explaining: "We [CITV] had commissioned a lot of cuddly preschool shows and needed something to act as a bridge between the older and younger stuff in the schedule." Nigel Planer as narrator, and the Bors as directors, with animation divided between Honeycomb, and Elephant Productions' sister company Lough House. The first episode — "The New Nanny" — aired on CITV afternoon terrestrial slot at 4 pm on 4 January 2000, followed by twelve episodes that aired weekly until 27 March. To promote the new cartoon, Rix rereleased the first three books with Hodder and Scholastic Ltd., as well as the new More Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids, with front covers designed by Honeycomb Animation. ==Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids (2000–2006)==

Each episode has a framing device of an old movie theatre named the Squeam Screen, which is solely occupied by its creepy caretaker and his spider companion, Spindleshanks. The adapted stories are short movies on film reels that the caretaker screens from the projector into the theatre, after he finishes talking to the audience about morals and proverbs that will later relate to the story of that episode (sometimes as he bullies Spindleshanks through malicious pranks and cowardice). These were an invention from Planer, who suggested that the adapted stories should have consistency. These scenes are animated with Claymation, whereas the adapted stories from the books were traditionally animated, " was described as a tall, overweight boy with pale skin and pale red hair, but his character model – the same one used for Ginger (no relation) in "The Chipper Chums Go Scrumping" Loralilee's witch doctor cure in "Doctor Moribundus" was adapted out of the cartoon, replaced with the Squeam Screen caretaker's narration claiming that the cure was too disturbing to tell as the viewer is shown the outside her bedroom window, and Stinker's murder in "The Chipper Chums Goes Scrumping" is changed to becoming crippled. The original four books in the series were adapted for the first four series (although some, such as "The Matchstick Girl", were never adapted) but the final two series featured new stories that would later appear in the Grizzly Tales: Cautionary Tales for Lovers of Squeam! books. The theme music was altered at this time with a completely different melody and a faster tempo than the one used at the beginning of the cartoon's run. The framing device with the caretaker and Spindleshanks disappeared and the end of the opening titles would cut to the projector being turned on. Like the first two series, series five and six were commissioned in bulk as a 26-episode deal. In 2007, it was announced that ITV was planning to promote ITV4 more frequently, which led to numerous ITV programming being cancelled; Digital Spy and Broadcast revealed that Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids had not been offered a seventh series — despite its popularity — finishing in 2006. Michael Grade, the ITV chairman, explained that it did not make "commercial sense" to generously invest in a children's channel. ==Grizzly Tales (2011–2012)==

The series was getting some reruns on Nickelodeon at the same time as Honeycomb Animation announced that a new season of the series would be aired on Nicktoons UK in May. This new programme would have a shortened, catchier name and be "reinvented for a modern audience with even more twisted, dark stories to delight children everywhere" and the crew returned for this series, and the show, although for a new generation, was as popular and successful as its predecessor. == Characters ==

This is a list of the cast that frequently appears in the two television adaptations. • Uncle Grizzly: He is the only character who speaks in the CITV series and is voiced by Nigel Planer. He gives the audience morals, proverbs and examples of life lessons, as well as narrating the short movies. In the opening titles, he appears at the end of the sequence, walking up to the projection room to blow out his electric torch and grab a film reel out of a towering stack as he says, "You are welcome to Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids, a series of cautionary tales for lovers of squeam!" Not much is known about him from the series outside of being a surrogate mentor, however, he is prone to shapeshift his head into a variety of things to terrify the audience or Spindleshanks. Outside of the series, his character profile is available to view on the official Grizzly Tales website, which reveals that his favorite movie he has shown is first series' third episode "Grandmother's Footsteps". • Spindleshanks: A large purple spider that lives in The Squeam Screen movie theatre. He communicates non-verbally (through facial expressions) but occasionally squeaks or speaks. Uncle Grizzly constantly uses him for audience demonstrations but often as an excuse to bully, torture and abuse him for laughs. One ending to an episode showed that he had become a ghost, which made Uncle Grizzly cackle. He is said to have an aunt who lives in Australia. • The Night Night Porter: The official narrator of the second book series, half-brother of Uncle Grizzly, and the owner of the Hot Hell Darkness hotel; voiced by Nigel Planer. He is similar to his movie theatre caretaker relative through being a mentor to the reader/audience, being the only other character in the television adaptations that speaks. He relishes in punishing children, particularly horrible ones, and shows off some of the tortures that his guests are receiving in their rooms. == Crew ==

Forte was executive producer for three series of the CITV programme and was succeeded by David Mercer. (Ealing Animation) and the 2D animation was animated by numerous animators, including Gareth Conway, Graham Hayter, Chris Bowles, Sam Wooldridge, Oli Knowles, Dan Mitchell, Casey Fulton, Trev Phillips, Malcolm Yeates, Jon Miller, Daniel Mitchell, Victoria Goy-Smith, Liam Williamson, Francis Iowe, Karen Elliott, Craig Hindmarsh and Steven Buckler. In 2004, Grizzly TV was created: a sister company to represent the partnership between Honeycomb and Elephant/Little Brother. == Broadcast ==

For the CITV series: For the Nickelodeon series: • United Kingdom and Ireland: Nicktoons • Australia: ABC 3 == Merchandise ==

The CITV cartoon was available for purchase on DVD in the UK, as well as PorchLight Home Entertainment in North America and Time Life's Shock Records in Australia and New Zealand. The Nickelodeon cartoon was later released on DVD through the same respective companies, however, it was released in the UK and Northern Ireland with Abbey Home Media. == Episodes ==

CITV series Nickelodeon series == See also ==