This article is about the television series. For others, see Art Attack.
Art Attack is a British children's television series revolving around art hosted by Lloyd Warbey on Disney Junior. The original series was one of CITV's longest running programmes, running from 1990 to 2007, and was presented throughout by Neil Buchanan.
The new series launched on Disney Junior (UK & Ireland) on June 6, 2011 and was presented by Jassa Ahluwalia. Each show involved Ahluwalia voicing-over footage of an artist producing three works of art, taking the viewer through the various stages of production step by step.
Contents
History
The programme was originally a Non-Disney production produced by Television South and devised by two TVS employees, Neil Buchanan and Tim Edmunds. Buchanan and Edmunds met each other at Southern Television in 1978, and worked together on No. 73 and Do It!.
The first Art Attacks were a strand within No. 73, and this segment proved so popular, Nigel Pickard the executive producer of children's programming at TVS green lit the pilot. The Art Attack pilot was shot on location at a disused swimming pool in Gillingham, Kent in 1989, and the series began the following year.
When TVS lost its franchise holdings to Meridian Broadcasting Edmunds and Buchanan bought the rights to the show and produced Art Attack through their company, The Media Merchants. The Media Merchants used Scottish Television Enterprises (Later known as "SMG Productions") as the production company holder to get the series on to network. This was partly down to the fact Nigel Pickard moved to Scottish Television. The rights to the STV shows have since reverted to the copyright holder.
In 1993 another ex-TVS employee, Peter Urie set up a production management company, Television Support Services. Television Support Services managed all of the Media Merchants productions. The show was filmed from The Maidstone Studios, Maidstone, Kent.
In 1998, The Walt Disney Company acquired the rights to make localized European versions of the show to air on Disney Channel. These versions had a different local host for each territory, and was made in Maidstone, on a similar set to the original version. Neil Buchanan's Big Art Attacks were retained in the international shows, as was The Head, who was dubbed by relevant local voice artists. Buchanan also produced the artwork for the foreign versions - footage of his hands creating the pieces would be voiced over by the local host, who would show the artwork in-between stages and explain what to do next. Disney ended production of these versions in 2005.
In 2000, The Media Merchants was acquired by Thomas the Tank Engine owner The Britt Allcroft Company, later renamed Gullane Entertainment. The ownership transitioned again, to Bob the Builder owner “HiT Entertainment” in 2002 after the latter purchased Gullane.
ITV announced the cancellation of the original UK version of the series in July 2007.[1] the majority of the Art Attack production team transferred over to the company The Foundation and worked on their shows Finger Tips and Mister Maker (both recorded at The Maidstone Studios). HiT Entertainment have since sold off the rights to Art Attack.
In 2010, Disney announced a new version of the series would air on Disney Junior in various countries. This version is recorded on a set in Buenos Aires and all feature their own local host. In the UK, it was hosted by Jassa Ahluwalia for the first season and Lloyd Warbey for the rest. The Revived UK series lasted for 4 seasons.
Characters
The Head
The Head, was a puppet stone bust who humorously recaps the steps needed to produce the last art piece made. After doing this, he would usually show his creation of the previous art attack, most times however getting it hilariously wrong and usually bursting into tears. However, on one occasion, by accidentally doing part of the instructions incorrectly, he creates a similar effect than desired and is proud of his work. He can sometimes tell jokes after the Big Art Attacks.
In series one, 'The Head' was played by Jim Sweeney, in series two, Andrew O'Connor; and from series three, having been redesigned as a puppet, he was voiced and operated by Francis Wright. 'The Head' did not appear in series twelve or thirteen and from series seventeen to nineteen.
Vincent Van Coconut
In the revived series, The Head was replaced by a talking palm tree called Vincent Van Coconut, voiced by Tim Hibber. His name, Vincent van Coconut is a parody of the famous Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh.
Series guide
Original series
| Series | Episodes | Start Date | End Date | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | 15 June 1990 | 27 July 1990 | 15' |
| 2 | 7 | 4 April 1991 | 16 May 1991 | 15' |
| 3 | 7 | 16 March 1992 | 11 May 1992 | 15' |
| 4 | 7 | 10 September 1992 | 22 October 1992 | 15' |
| 5 | 7 | 10 May 1993 | 28 June 1993 | 15' |
| 6 | 10 | 10 January 1994 | 14 March 1994 | 15' |
| 7 | 10 | 9 January 1995 | 13 March 1995 | 20' |
| 8 | 10 | 8 January 1996 | 19 February 1996 | 20' |
| 9 | 12 | 6 January 1997 | 17 March 1997 | 20' |
| 10 | 13 | 5 January 1998 | 30 March 1998 | 20' |
| 11 | 16 | 7 September 1998 | 14 December 1998 | 20' |
| 12 | 30 | 6 September 1999 | 15 December 1999 | 15' |
| 13 | 30 | 4 September 2000 | 13 December 2000 | 15' |
| 14 | 20 | 5 November 2001 | 30 November 2001 | 20' |
| 15 | 15 | 6 September 2002 | 13 December 2002 | 20' |
| 16 | 15 | 10 September 2003 | 17 December 2003 | 20' |
| 17 | 18 | 12 August 2004 | 14 December 2004 | 20' |
| 18 | 26 | 7 September 2005 | 21 December 2005 | 20' |
| 19 | 26 | 3 March 2006 | 5 May 2006 | 20' |
| 20 | 15 | 17 February 2007 | 26 May 2007 | 20' |
Note: two episodes aired each week during series 12 and 13. Five episodes each week during series 14.
Christmas specials
| Entitle | Aired | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Xmas special 1 | 13 December 1994 | 20' |
| Xmas special 2 | 12 December 1995 | 20' |
| Xmas special 3 | 18 December 1996 | 20' |
| Xmas special 4 | 17 December 1997 | 20' |
| Xmas special 5 | 22 December 2003 | 20' |
Other
| Series | Episodes | Start Date | End Date | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best of Art Attack | 2 | 23 August 1996 | 30 August 1996 | 20' |
| Art Attack: Scrapbooks | 8 | 22 October 1997 | 10 December 1997 | 20' |
| Art Attack: Mini Makes | 15 | 31 August 2003 | Late 2003 | 5' |
Revived series
| Series | Episodes | Start Date | End Date | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 | 6 June 2011 | 28 November 2011 | 23:30' |
| 2 | 21 | 2 June 2012 | 20 October 2012 | 23:30' |
| 3 | TBC | 29 June 2013 | 2014 | 23:30' |
(Source: ITV/Hit Entertainment/BFI/Disney)
Video releases
| VHS video title | Year of release | Company | Video specials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art Attack: Over 30 Great Art and Craft Ideas | 1992 | Future Video | Neil shows his favourite craft ideas for art attacks on the first series. |
| Art Attack with Neil Buchanan | 1993 | Video Class | Neil shows his 16 favourite art attacks presented by him. |
| Art Attack: Most Wanted | 1996 | Contender Entertainment Group | Neil shows his video about everyone's most requested favourites. Including The Head was seen on the video. |
| Art Attack: Crazy Cartoons and Dazzling Drawings | 1996 | Neil shows his drawings and cartoon comic strip and dazzles. | |
| Art Attack Let's Party! | 1996 | Neil shows his celebrations of parties, Christmas and wrapping up presents. | |
| Art Attack: Top 20 | 1997 | Neil shows his 20 favourite art attacks he had put together a gallery. | |
| Art Attack: Scrapbook | 1997 | Neil shows his scrapbook with all the best art attacks. | |
| Art Attack: 10 of the Best | 1998 | Neil is celebrating the 10th of the best art attacks from the last 10 series. | |
| Art Attack: Christmas Cracker | 1998 | Neil shows his Christmas art attacks to make n do from the Christmas Specials. | |
| Art Attack: Greatest Tips and Tricks | 1999 | Neil shows how he put together some of the best tips and tricks. | |
| Art Attack: How to Draw | 2000 | Neil shows how to do some drawing on papers the Art Attack way! | |
| Art Attack: How to Paint | 2000 | Neil shows how to concentrate on painting the Art Attack way! | |
| Art Attack: Make 'n' Do | 2001 | Neil shows how to make things made out of old rubbish. | |
| Art Attack Monsters and other Scary Stuff | 2002 | Video Collection International | Neil shows his Art Attack Monster video of how to make n do or drawing to spook people. |
No DVD releases have been issued, except DVDs that come with Art Attack books and DVDs which come free with newspapers; including an Art Attack episode taken from CITV Favourites VHS (released in 1999).
However, in India, Art Attack was released in three volumes by Disney DVD in 2010. It is unknown whether there are any plans to release the volumes in the UK.
Many Art Attack books were also released by Dorling Kindersley.
Video
Art Attack - Intro (Disney Junior)
Gallery
References
- ↑ Oatts, Joanne. "Art Attack axed after 18 years", Digital Spy.
External links
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page Art Attack (TV series). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. Text from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. |
