Super Gran - WikiHQ

Super Gran is a Scottish fictional series about a grandmother with superpowers. Initially a series of books written by Forrest Wilson, a children's television show was adapted by Jenny McDade and produced by Tyne Tees Television for Children's ITV. The title character was played by Gudrun Ure, with Iain Cuthbertson as her nemesis, Roderick, the Scunner Campbell. It originally ran from 1985 to 1987.

Two series, each consisting of thirteen episodes, were produced, alongside a Christmas special. All episodes have been released on DVD by Network. The show inspired two computer games.

Premise

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. A huge crane used to hoist Super Gran into her flying position was parked in the neighbouring school.

Gudrun Ure, who was 58 when she first appeared in the show, had only one stunt double and did a lot of stunts herself. 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.