Misplaced Pages

Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
Series 1 logo.
Genre	Animation Comedy Children's television
Created by	David Law
Written by	Thomas Duncan-Watt Bruce Griffiths Andrew Jones Ciaran Murtagh Richelle Wilder Cleon Prineas Dan Berlinka
Directed by	Glenn Kirkpatrick
Voices of	Sophie Aldred (Dennis, Athena, additional voices) Teresa Gallagher (Mum, Bea, Curly, additional voices) Jo Wyatt (Walter, Pie-Face, Mrs Creecher, Gran, additional voices) Rob Rackstraw (Gnasher, Dad, Colonel, additional voices) Bob Golding (Sergeant Slipper, Mr. Har Har, additional voices) Jane Ubrien (Dennis, additional voices) Sarah Aubrey (Mum, Mrs Creecher, additional voices) Keith Scott (Gnasher, Dad, Colonel, Sergeant Slipper, Mr. Har Har, additional voices) 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 composer	Iain Cook
Opening theme	"Unstoppable"
Ending theme	"Unstoppable" (instrumental)
Country of origin	United Kingdom Australia
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	104 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Donna Andrews Ken Anderson Tim Brooke-Hunt Ben Gray Jo Rooney
Producers	Donna Andrews Jane Schneider Sueann Smith Stu Connolly
Running time	11 minutes
Production companies	Beano Productions Red Kite Animation Sticky Pictures
Original release
Network	CBBC (UK) Nine Network (Australia)
Release	7 September 2009 (2009-09-07) – 20 December 2013 (2013-12-20)
Related
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (1996-1998) Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! (2017-2021)

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 and commenced on 7 September 2009 and ended on 26 February 2010 after 52 episodes. 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

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. Screenshots and an episode can be found at the production company website, Red Kite Animation.

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. 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). Jane Ubrien, Sarah Aubrey and Keith Scott are confirmed to be voice actors for the series.

Changes

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., 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". However the producers have stated that "Dennis will not lose his sense of fun."

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.

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

• 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

Telecast and home media

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

Accolades

Book

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

1. "Sophie Aldred". Sue Terry Voices. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
2. "Jo Wyatt". Jo Wyatt. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
3. ^ "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. ^ "Red Kite Animation". Red Kite Animation. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
6. ^ "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. ^ "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.

External links

• Dennis and Gnasher
• Dennis the Menace and Gnasher at BBC Online
• Dennis the Menace and Gnasher at IMDb

v t e The Beano
DC Thomson R. D. Low
Stories	1938-1939 Big Eggo Hairy Dan Helpful Henry Lord Snooty Morgyn the Mighty Pansy Potter Ping the Elastic Man Tin-Can Tommy Wee Peem 1940s Biffo the Bear Jack Flash Jimmy and his Magic Patch Winnie the Witch 1950s The Bash Street Kids (Pup Parade, Simply Smiffy, Singled Out, Winston) Dennis the Menace (Bea, Gnasher, Walter the Softy, Rasher) General Jumbo Grandpa Jonah Little Plum Minnie the Minx (Fatty Fudge) Roger the Dodger The Three Bears 1960s Billy the Cat Billy Whizz Colonel Crackpot's Circus 1970s Baby Face Finlayson The Belles of St. Lemons Gnasher's Tale The McTickles The Nibblers Richard the Lion Tom, Dick and Sally 1980s Calamity James Danny's Nanny The Germs Gnasher and Gnipper Ivy the Terrible Number 13 Beano Street 1990s Beaginnings Betty and the Yeti Crazy for Daisy Gordon Bennett Joe King Les Pretend The Numskulls Tim Traveller Tricky Dicky 2000s Colin the Vet Derek the Sheep Freddie Fear Joe Jitsu Johnny Bean from Happy Bunny Green Lord Snooty the Third Olaff the Madlander Ratz Robbie Rebel Splodge Super School 2010s Bananaman Corporal Clott Meebo and Zuky
Other media	Spin-off media The Beano Annual List of Beano comic strips by annual Beano comic libraries/Fun Size Comics EPIC Magazine The Beano Summer Special Dennis the Menace Annual The Magic Comic Plug Adaptations Bananaman (TV series) (BBC, 1983-1986) The Beano's Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Show (TCC, 1990–91) The Beano Video (1993) The Beano Videostars (1994) Dennis and Gnasher (BBC, 1996–98) Dennis and Gnasher (BBC, 2009–13) Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! (BBC, 2017-present) Banananman Musical (2017-2018)
Creator staff	D.C. Thomson artists Leo Baxendale Paddy Brennan Jim Petrie Ken Reid Dudley D. Watkins Freelance artists Barrie Appleby Nigel Auchterlounie Gordon Bell Basil Blackaller Nick Brennan Sid Burgon Reg Carter Wilbur Dawbarn Hunt Emerson Andy Fanton John Geering Barry Glennard Harry Hargreaves Ken H. Harrison Laura Howell Diego Jourdan Malcolm Judge David Law Trevor Metcalfe Allan Morley David Mostyn Vic Neill Robert Nixon Gary Northfield David Parkins Nigel Parkinson Tom Paterson Mike Pearse Dean Rankine Bill Ritchie Jon Rushby Cavan Scott Duncan Scott Jamie Smart Lew Stringer David Sutherland Kev F. Sutherland Stevie White
History	The Beano timeline
Category

• 2009 Australian television series debuts
• 2013 Australian television series endings
• 2000s Australian animated television series
• 2010s Australian animated television series
• 2009 British television series debuts
• 2000s British children's television series
• 2010s British children's television series
• 2013 British television series endings
• 2000s British animated television series
• 2010s British animated television series
• Animated television series set in England
• Australian children's animated comedy television series
• British children's animated comedy television series
• British English-language television shows
• The Beano
• BBC children's television shows
• Nine Network original programming
• Television shows based on British comics
• Animated television series about children
• Animated television series about dogs
• Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
• BBC animated television series