Super Gran

An elderly grandmother, Granny Smith (Gudrun Ure), acquires superpowers when she is accidentally hit by a magic ray created by Inventor Black (Bill Shine). In the guise of "Super Gran", she protects the residents of the fictional town of Chisleton from villains such as James Jennings, Eastie and Roderick Lithgoe "Scunner" Campbell (Iain Cuthbertson) and his gang, The Muscles (Alan Snell and Brian Lewis) and Tub (Lee Marshall, Jason Carrielies). Super Gran was usually accompanied by her grandson Willard (Iam Towell, Michael Graham Episodes were narrated by Bill McAllister. == Production ==

Inception Super Gran was created by author Forrest Wilson. He says that the character was a combination of three characters: Pansy Potter from The Beano, his own mother-in-law, and an unnamed Scottish actress who looked and sounded like he imagined the character should. The first book was published in 1978, followed by several others, many illustrated by David McKee. Following the television series' success, Wilson adapted McDade's scripts as: Television Adventures of Super Gran, More Television Adventures of Super Gran, and Super Gran to the Rescue. Wilson, with Graham Kennedy, also released Super Gran: The Picture Book. Gudrun Ure read Super Gran: Complete & Unabridged for an audiobook release in 1991. Tyne Tees published an annual in 1985. There were some significant differences between the books and the TV series. The most notable was the character of Inventor Black. Although he was an ally of Super Gran in the TV series, he was the antagonist in Wilson's original prose. Filming The show was filmed in various locations around North East England, including Tynemouth, Whitley Bay, South Shields and Beamish Museum. Inventor Black's laboratory was housed in an empty church on Tynemouth Front Street, which became Land of the Green Ginger. Sets were housed in an old warehouse in North Shields; its corrugated roof caused sound difficulties when it rained. Tyne Tees executive Andrea Wonfor said that they 'used to do all the special effects with trampolines and things.' Filming the Christmas special and the second series took about nine months of 10-hour days (one hour for lunch), beginning in April 1986. Sue Sweeney, who appeared in many episodes, recalls that she "did everything from sunbathing on the beach at Cullercoats in the rain to a Gorilla at the fancy dress party." The young actors were all local children from the Newcastle area, and the Scunner's two toughies (Alan Snell and Brian Lewis) were local stand-up comics who performed in clubs at night. The theme song was performed by Billy Connolly. The full version was released as a single in March 1985 and reached number 32 in the UK singles chart. The tune was written by Anthony Isaac; this would turn out to be the last of his numerous scores for film and TV. == Episodes ==

The transmission of the first episode in 1985 was preceded by a "making-of" documentary. Series one Christmas special Series 2 == Reception and legacy ==

Super Gran won an Emmy, and sold to more than 60 countries worldwide. According to director Tony Kysh, "Tyne Tees was one of the first Western companies to sell to China TV where Super Gran was a big success." The show became a ratings hit in Cuba in the early 2000s, where the show was redubbed into Spanish. The character of Super Gran came seventh in The Glasgow Herald's 2003 poll "The Most Scottish Person In The World". The University of Nottingham cited Super Gran as an example of perceptions of grandmothers "being reshaped by socio-cultural messages as well as personal experience". Two videos were released, each containing three episodes. The first series was released by Network in a 2-DVD set on 10 August 2009, and the second series on 16 May 2011. The Whitley Bay Playhouse scheduled a Super Gran evening in February 2012, featuring classic episodes, a making-of documentary, photographs and props. == Special effects ==

An obituary of Ure in the Guardian outlined the television series' "very basic special effects"."Ure was seen jumping high or pole-vaulting through windows (using a trampoline and trick camera angles), flying (with the help of a crane) and riding through the air on a two-wheel, multiwinged Flycycle (in reality an adapted butcher’s boy’s bike). Ure did many of the stunts herself, while some – including Super Gran cartwheeling – were performed by a double." == Computer games ==

Tynesoft produced two games based on the show in 1985. The game Super Gran was an action game involving Super Gran's anti-gravity belt. It was released for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 16, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. Super Gran – The Adventure was a text adventure based on the show, written by Adventure Soft's Brian Howarth. The premise is that Super Gran has to save people whilst looking out for Scunner Campbell. This game was released on the Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, C16, C64 and Spectrum. ==Notes==