Super Granny Series

[Enrique Fats]

SuperGran 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, The Scunner Campbell. It originally ran from 1985 to 1987.[1]

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 Chiselton 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[Note 1]). Super Gran was usually accompanied by her grandson Willard (Iam Towell, Michael Graham[Note 1]) and Inventor Black's niece & assistant Edison Faraday Black (Holly English, Samantha Duffy[Note 1]).[2]

Super Gran was created by author Forrest Wilson. He says that the character was a combination of three characters:[3] 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.[4][contradictory] The first book was published in 1978, followed by several others, many illustrated by David McKee.[5][6][7][8] Following the television series' success, Wilson adapted McDade's scripts as: Television Adventures of Super Gran,[9] More Television Adventures of Super Gran,[10] and Super Gran to the Rescue.[11] Wilson, with Graham Kennedy, also released Super Gran: The Picture Book.[12][13][14][15]

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 primary antagonist in Wilson's original prose.

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.[18] A stone cottage in Church Way, Earsdon, near Whitley Bay, was used as Super Gran's home.[19] A huge crane used to hoist Super Gran into her flying position was parked in the neighbouring school.[20]

Gudrun Ure, who was 58 when she first appeared in the show, had only one stunt double and did a lot of stunts herself.[21] Tyne Tees executive Andrea Wonfor said that they 'used to do all the special effects with trampolines and things.'[22] Filming the Christmas special and the second series took about nine months of 10-hour days (one hour for lunch), beginning in April 1986.[23] 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."[24]

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.[23] Many guest stars appeared on the programme, including George Best, Spike Milligan, Eric Bristow, Roy Kinnear and Geoff Capes.[18] It was Patrick Troughton and Charles Hawtrey's final screen appearances.

Following production, memorabilia from the show was displayed at The Land of Green Ginger shopping centre in Tynemouth. After owner Gordon Reed put the props up for sale after deciding to revamp the mall, local electrician Mark Simms bought Super Gran's flying bike and magic ray machine for 403.[25]

Super Gran won an Emmy,[28] and sold to over 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."[29] The show became a ratings hit in Cuba in the early 2000s, where the show was redubbed into Spanish.[30]

The character of Super Gran came seventh in The Glasgow Herald's 2003 poll, "The Most Scottish Person In The World".[citation needed] 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.'[31]

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.[18][32]

The series is famous for its 'special effects' (Super Gran's ability to jump high and walk/run quickly) and low production standards. This was due mostly to the low budget and quick turnaround time needed to finish an episode.The most used 'special effect' was Super Gran's ability to jump very high (or at least higher than normal) and was achieved using a trampoline and trick camera angles. Another well-used effect was 'Super Gran walking/running quickly' which usually involved a stunt double walking away from the camera quickly with a 'trailing' visual effect emanating from the retreating figure, making it appear that she was walking/running so fast that her afterimage was momentarily being left behind. To further accentuate the effect, other characters (usually the children and Inventor Black) would be required to 'run' after her, complaining that she was walking/running too quickly.

Super Gran's most celebrated power is to hear (or 'receive') communications from long-distance if the person is distressed enough. To more clearly 'receive' the communication, Gudrun Ure developed an affectation holding her fingers to her forehead like horns or radio receivers. The director of the first episode liked it so much he suggested she keep it.

Sue Sweeney, a local celebrity who featured in many episodes, became firm friends with Gudrun Ure and once claimed the Scottish thespian's acting ability was so high she "could make you smile, squirm and scream in equal measure without saying a word."

A third series was planned to begin filming in early 1988 but the programme was abandoned by Tyne Tees Television in favour of increased spending on daytime gameshows such as Chain Letters (which was very popular in the late 1980s).Several episodes had been plotted and even story-boarded prior to the cancellation and included working titles "Super Gran and the Underwater Terror" (Super Gran would foil Scunner Campbell's plot to destroy Chistleton using a gigantic tidal wave), "Super Gran and the Minuscule Marionette" (Inventor Black mistakenly miniaturizes a precious marionette heirloom and Super Gran must find a way to resize it before an important dignitary arrives to view it) and "Super Gran and the Rhyming Ruin" (the plot is unknown but would have involved filming in Tynemouth's famous ruined Priory).

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.[35] This game was released on the Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, C16, C64 and Spectrum.

Twinkletoes (also known as Dr. Meow) is the main antagonist throughout most of the Super Granny series and also Granny's most beloved pet. He is slightly larger than the average cat (potentially being a Maine Coon) and is also very intelligent, being able to communicate in English.

Twinkletoes was a troubled orphan who was born without a home. Some time in his early youth, he was adopted by Mr. Fang and was raised under his wing, in which he was given various forms of discipline, including being declawed.

Mr. Fang's sinister nature seemed to have rubbed off on Twinkletoes' own personality, as, after reaching adulthood, Twinkletoes would use his superior intellect to do several evil deeds, including turning kittens into robots.

Twinkletoes also owns several factories and secret facilities, such as the Factory and Volcano from Granny in Paradise, and the Winter Wonderland Super Villain TimeShare Ski Resort from Winter Wonderland. Also, we learn that his most trusted henchman is Mini Meow, who appears in Super Granny 3.

In Super Granny 5, Twinkletoes has orange hair. Because of this, he is thought to be a different character since Super Granny 4, but it was most likely just a temporary design change, as he can be seen with the old design again in Super Granny 6.

The result was Amazing Ash & Superhero Ah Ma, which Lee created together with Malaysian artist Arif Rafhan. It tells the story of Ash, an eleven-year-old student who one day discovers that her grandmother, Ah Ma is actually a superhero, and that she also inherited superpowers from her.

Lee says that the most challenging part of coming up with the story for Amazing Ash & Superhero Ah Ma was understanding the nuances of dementia and the impact it has on an individual and the people around them.

When Lee first pitched the series, she already had a rough outline for it to be a trilogy of stories. However, she admitted that she struggled with the ending of the story a little, with it changing a few times over the years.

Granny Smith is a sweet old lady living a sedate life in the Scottish coastal town of Chisleton. Then, one day, she is accidentally struck by a stray beam from Inventor Black's magic ray machine and transformed into 'Supergran' - possessor of amazing powers, superhuman strength, and even a magic 'flycycle'! These she puts to great use in the fight against Chisleton's local villain, The Scunner Campbell, and his nasty cohorts, Dustin and Muscles; though with Supergran's miraculous abilities, defeating the baddies is not usually too much of a challenge!

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