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The Beano's Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Show is a British puppet series based on characters from The Beano comic, which aired on The Children's Channel between 5 November 1990 and 29 November 1991. The show was directed and produced by Bob Harvey, Dan Maddicott and Robb Hart and written by Mike Barfield, with voices by Logan Murray.

Plot

The series follows the adventures of Dennis the Menace and his pet dog Gnasher, who cause chaos and destruction around Beanotown. They torment and play pranks on people, including Mum and Dad, who want less mischief from their son, and Walter the Softy, whom Dennis delights in terrorising. However, the menaces find themselves receiving their comeuppance in the end, with their victims getting the last laugh.

In addition to the regular episodes, Dennis and Gnasher also appeared in "Dennis Link Shows". These segments took place in the Dennis' den, where he and Gnasher would read viewer mail and present other programming on The Children's Channel.

Production

Mike Barfield had been the producer, writer, researcher and co-presenter of Comic Cuts for British Satellite Broadcasting, produced by The Children's Channel's parent company Starstream. DC Thomson had partial ownership of The Children's Channel, who had been hoping for a long time that they would let them make a show based on Dennis the Menace from The Beano. When Starstream realised that Barfield was a fan of comics from doing Comic Cuts, they offered him the chance to write the pilot. DC Thomson liked it, and the show got commissioned.

Barfield had been reading The Beano since he was a child in the 1960s. He had old annuals and a few comics, but he did not read so many Beano comics once he was a teenager. Fortunately, DC Thomson sent him some comics so that he could catch up with Dennis's further adventures. He wrote all 100 episodes, with one of them co-written by director and producer Bob Harvey. The episodes consisted of story segments written by Barfield in his flat in Shepherd's Bush, and "Dennis Link Shows" set in Dennis' den, where he and Gnasher would read viewer mail, before presenting other programming on The Children's Channel. John Du Prez composed the series' punk-style theme song.

The Children's Channel approached puppet company Ultimate Animates Productions, owned by David Barclay, about creating 3D puppets for the show. The first series featured only three puppets; Dennis, Gnasher and Walter. All other characters could only appear as drawings or be heard offscreen. The puppets were filmed against a green screen and superimposed over hand-drawn backgrounds, done in Paintbox by John Bonner and Bob Jobling. For the second series, two more puppets, Dad and Mum, were made. The comic's creators, including David Sutherland, praised Ultimate Animates for making the most successful 3D versions of their characters that they had seen in 40 years. The characters were puppeteered by Barclay, Mike Quinn, Karen Prell, Christopher Leith, Geoff Felix, Ian Tregonning and Gillie Robic. All the character voices were supplied by Logan Murray.

References

1. "AAAARGH! Great gnews for Dennis and Gnasher fans - the softy-bashing troublemakers are up to their tricks on The Children's Channel! (November 3-9, 1990)". TV Guide. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
2. "Aberdeen Press and Journal: CHILDREN (5 November 1990)". British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
3. "Ulster Star: MISS (29 November 1991)". British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
4. "Birmingham Mail: He's a menace and he's on the loose (31 July 1993)". British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
5. AARGH! It's Dennis the Menace!: 1951-2001: 50 Years of Mischief. D.C. Thomson & Company. 2000. ISBN 9780851167350. Retrieved 23 August 2024. Dennis was no longer a comic star - a puppet version of Dennis and Gnasher were up to mischief in their own show on The Children's Channel.
6. Kibble-White, Graham (2005). The Ultimate Book of British Comics. Allison & Busby. ISBN 9780749082116. Retrieved 22 May 2024. On 26 June 1990, the comic celebrated its 2500th issue with Dennis doing a 'twenty-one catty salute!' With children's weeklies finding life increasingly tough, The Beano was adapting to survive. That same year witnessed witnessed the launch of a 'Dennis the Menace' cartoon on the Children's Channel and then, in October 1993, The Beano Video arrived.
7. ^ "Happy Birthday, Dennis (the Menace)! Beano Celebrates a special 70th Anniversary (plus, 70 facts about the comic rebel)". downthetubes.net. 17 March 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
8. ^ "Work History". Mike Barfield. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
9. ^ "About Logan". Logan Murray. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
10. "1990: Dennis and Gnasher, TV Stars!". Beano.com. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
11. Chalaby, Jean K. (19 February 2009). Transnational Television in Europe: Reconfiguring Global Communications Networks. Bloomsbury. ISBN 9780857737526. Retrieved 22 May 2024. A company was created for The Children's Channel with four main shareholders: Thorn EMI, Central Television, British Telecom and DC Thomson.
12. "Minor Pleasures". Mike Barfield. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
13. White, Steve (January 1993). "It's the computer skill that breathes life into puppets... ANIMATRONICS!". Bad Influence! Magazine. Europress. p. 76. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
14. ^ "Ultimate Animates Productions Ltd". Dave Barclay. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
15. "1990: Extra! Behind the Scenes!". Beano.com. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
16. "About". John Bonner. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
17. "Curriculum Vitae". Geoff Felix. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
18. "TELEVISION". Gillie Robic. Retrieved 3 June 2024.

External links

• The Beano's Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Show 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

• 1990s British children's television series
• 1990 British television series debuts
• 1991 British television series endings
• British television shows featuring puppetry
• British English-language television shows
• The Beano
• Dennis the Menace and Gnasher