Smile (TV series)

This article is about the 2002 British TV series. For the Japanese drama, see Smile (2009 TV series).
Smile

The Smile logo
Presented by Devin Griffin (2002–03)
Fearne Cotton (2002–04)
Reggie Yates (2002–04)
Rochelle Wiseman (2004–06)
Barney Harwood (2004–07)
Kirsten O'Brien (2005–07)
Country of origin United Kingdom
Production
Producer(s) Darrall Macqueen Ltd
Running time 2 hours, 30 minutes
Release
Original network BBC Two
Picture format 16:9 (widescreen)
Original release 1 September 2002 – 26 August 2007

Smile was a British Sunday morning children's programme created by production company Darrall Macqueen Ltd for CBBC. It first aired in 2002 and was originally shown on the CBBC Channel. It was moved to BBC Two to make way for Dick and Dom in da Bungalow. Although Dick and Dom finished in 2006, Smile never moved back to the CBBC Channel. The final programme was broadcast on 26 August 2007, from 7:30 until 10:00 on BBC Two.

Show overview

Primarily a children's magazine programme featuring celebrity guests, Smile also encouraged audience participation through competitions and games. It won an Indie Award for its interactivity, going on later to win two Children's BAFTAs.

A number of cartoons and other programme acquisitions were transmitted during Smile on a rotational basis. Principally these included: Arthur, Batfink, BB3B, Even Stevens, Jakers, Legend of the Dragon and The Likeaballs.

When the show first aired in 2002, it was likened to Saturday morning TV on a Sunday, except without a studio audience. It had celebrity guests, interviews, performances, games and 'built in' CBBC shows and cartoons. It had a very different feel with Fearne, Reggie and DJ Devstar. Once they left, however, the show's style changed and was aimed at the younger end of the CBBC audience. Eventually it became rather formulaic. As a result, the programme became more game oriented. To enable the show to evolve, further changes were made. In the revamp, Rochelle Wiseman was lost.

Between 2006 and 2007, Smile began to target the younger audience CBBC wanted to get, and with Barney and Kirsten as the two remaining presenters the show took on a battle of the sexes format. The celebrity guests and some items were dropped, although the cartoons remained, but the main significant change was that children were invited onto the set to take part.

Presenters

The original presenters were Fearne Cotton, Reggie Yates and Devin Griffin (credited as DJ Devstar). In 2003, Devin left to concentrate on his radio career. Soon after, Fearne and Reggie left in 2004 and were replaced by Barney Harwood and Rochelle Wiseman, former S Club 8 singer and a current member of the girl group The Saturdays. In 2005 Kirsten O'Brien joined the team. On 26 March 2006, Rochelle Wiseman left the Smile team of presenters.

Presenters From To
Devin Griffin "DJ Devstar" 2002 2003
Reggie Yates 2002 2004
Fearne Cotton 2002 2004
Barney Harwood 2004 2007
Rochelle Wiseman 2004 2006
Kirsten O'Brien 2005 2007
Guest Presenters From To
Stacey Cadman 2002 N/A
Mohini Sule 2003 2004
Barney Harwood 2003 N/A
Nigel Clarke 2007 N/A

Nev

The presenters have always been joined by a puppet known as Nev (Neville), who lives with Barney. Nev is a small, blue bear with patches in places and is missing part of his ear (due to the cat under his bed - Bandit - trying to eat him). Originally, the voice of Nev was prerecorded, and his limited vocabulary played in as appropriate, which was why the puppeteer Ross Mullan was recruited to provide the voice live. As a consequence, Nev's voice in the studio sounded distinctly different from that in the many phone-in games used on the programme.

Nev loves socks, jam, Duckie, Barney and Kirsten, calling Kirsten "Krusty" (probably because he can't say "Kirsten"). The little bear often has trouble with pronunciation of certain words, he cannot sing but he can rap well. Nev likes dressing up and sleeping in, the former he usually gets to do during the programme, the latter he cannot do easily on Sundays because of the programme. His dislikes include baths and scary stories. When scared or intimidated, little Nev has been known to growl, just like a real bear would.

A 26-part sitcom starring Barney and Nev, Bear Behaving Badly commenced transmission on BBC One and the CBBC Channel on 3 September 2007.[1] this aired in the daily slot of 14:50.

The series was brought back for a second lot of 26 episodes in late 2008. This aired at the daily slot of 17:45, with episode 13 being broadcast at 7:45.

The BBC then announced that they had recommisioned it for a third series due to air in early 2010. This was later moved to late 2009. This series aired at the same slot as series 2.

The Fourth and final series aired in late 2010. This series aired weekly on a Wednesday with the last three episodes being broadcast on the Monday, Saturday and Sunday on the week following up to Christmas. The series lost a lot of ratings and it was not re-commissioned. In early 2011 all series aired at the daily slot of 08:55 on the same channel. This continued until early 2014. After the February half term the show was moved to the later slot of 12:00. On 28 April the show was moved to a later slot of 12:10. On 14 July the show moved to the later slot of 13:20. The show quickly became more popular and the show was aired during these summer holiday 2014. After 8 September 2014 the timeslot changed to 11:50. From 5 January 2015 the show then aired at 11:30. This continued until 5 February 2015. After the 2 week half term. The show did not return and was replaced by The Slammer.

Within time, Bear Behaving Badly became one of CBBC's most popular programmes.

Merchandise

Nev became so popular he has even been made into a cuddly toy and various other merchandise.

In 2005, the Nev the Bear talking toy hit the shops. The large toy said a number of catchphrases including "Fwightened" and "No no no no". A complaint was made against the toy with regard to the word "Quick", by an individual who believed he had heard the toy saying "prick" - British slang for a Penis - instead[2] A smaller version of the soft toy has since been released.

Nev's quotes

Features and games

Throughout the duration of Smile, a number of games were featured, including Bandit Bites, Bath the Bear, Drop Da Beatz, Nev It Up, Nev's Pie Jarmies, Nev's Socks, Rap It Up and What Do You Fink.

Games Games Games

This was a series of games that pitted boys against girls, competing for a prize. The losing team had to get into Nev's bath of gunge. The Games were Bear Pairs, Duckey Bounce, Nev's Jam Buster, Bandit Bites and Quick On The Draw.

Rumble the Jumble

The object of the game was to write down any letters which appeared at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Once all the letters were collected, they formed an anagram of another word which participants need to decipher. The next stage was to draw a picture of or make something representing the word. Competition entrants then sent in their work into the programme.

Dressing Up

Around the beginning of the show, Nev dressed up. Viewers were asked send in pictures of themselves dressed up in the same way. Dressing up included the following themes: people (clowns, grannies, pirates, waiters and The Doctor from Doctor Who); animals (crabs, frogs, hedgehogs, owls); objects (garden gnomes, trains); food (Christmas puddings) and anything red for Comic Relief Red Nose Day.

Nev's Little Chefs

Every week on Smile, kids showed Nev how to cook, with recipes including Apple Smiles, Breakfast Feast, Banana Lollies, BlueBeary Muffins, French Bread Pizza Boat, Jelly Beary Sundae, Nev's Biscuits, Nev's Mush, Watermelon Lemonade and World Cup Biscuits.

Nev Sports

Sports and activities featured on the programme included basketball, climbing, cricket, karate and tennis (during Wimbledon).

Digital

From 5 March 2006, digital viewers were able to press the red button to access an enhanced TV service called Smile Backstage which allows them to seamlessly switch between live action in the studio and behind-the scenes, using the left and right buttons on their TV remote control. Most of the action backstage is one of the presenters hanging out with Smile's special guests and doing additional challenges, playing games and chatting. Smile Backstage was the first time that an interactive TV stream-switching application had been used on a live broadcast at the BBC. Previously, viewers could also watch an extra seven minutes of programme content after the end of the main show. Smile won the Interactive Award at the Children's BAFTAs in November 2005.

References

  1. ↑ "News Flash". darrallmacqueen.com. Retrieved 8 July 2007.
  2. ↑ "Teddy Swear". Daily Record. 2 December 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2008.

External links

Games

Many of the games are still available on various sites. The original SMILE website one week before closure is archived.

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