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Sci-Fi & FantasyDrama

Dramarama

7.3(4)
First Aired:September 12, 1983
Seasons:7 seasons
Episodes:91
Status:Ended

Dramarama is the name of a British children's anthology series broadcast on ITV between 1983 and 1989. It tended to feature drama of a science fiction or supernatural bent. The series was created by Anna Home, then head of children's and youth programming at TVS, however production responsibilities were divided amongst most of the regional ITV franchise holders. Thus, each episode was in practice a one-off production with its own cast and crew, up to and including the executive producer. Dramarama was largely a place for new talent to prove themselves and was a launching pad for the likes of Anthony Horowitz, Paul Abbott, Kay Mellor, Janice Hally, Tony Kearney, David Tennant and Ann Marie Di Mambro. It was one of Dennis Spooner's last credits. One of Dramarama's episodes, "Dodger, Bonzo And The Rest", gained so much popularity that it was turned in to its own series the following year. It starred Lee Ross and was based around a large foster home. The episode "Blackbird Singing In The Dead of Night" was developed by Granada into the TV series Children's Ward. It was also repeated for the first time since its original broadcast on 5 January 2013, during CITV's 30th anniversary Old Skool Weekend. The Series 7 episode "Back To Front" – notable for featuring a mirror image of the Yorkshire Television logo card at the end – was repeated on 6 January 2013, again as part of CITV's 30th anniversary Old Skool Weekend.

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Seasons & Episodes

E1Night of the Narrow Boats

May 14, 1984

E2Fowl Pest

May 21, 1984

Chaos results when Amy gives her mother a birthday present of four chickens.

E3Dodger, Bonzo and the Rest

May 28, 1984

When they overhear that their children's home may be closed, the youngsters hatch a series of plans, not all totally above board, to raise money to keep it open.

E4Que Sera

Jun 4, 1984

Fortune teller Rose is trying to teach young Stella the tricks of her trade when the new owner of the Pleasure Palace threatens her professional existence with his future business plans. Clairvoyance is urgently needed, but maybe one of them has real paranormal talents?

E5Stalemate

Jun 11, 1984

E6Snoop!

Jun 25, 1984

Colin Egan, a cub reporter, is sent on an apparently boring assignment. Events, however, soon take a dramatic turn.

E7Mr. Stabs

Jul 2, 1984

Mr Stabs is summoned to the City of Shadows, where he must perform various heroic deeds in order to defeat the evil Polandi, and ultimately face mortal, magical combat with Melchisedek.

E8Josephine-Jo

E9The Purple People Eater

Jul 16, 1984

E10On Your Tod

Jul 23, 1984

18-year-old Ben seems to have all the luck. In reality, he is bored and lonely - and it takes a gate-crasher at his party to force him to acknowledge his problems.

E11The Old Firm: Two for Starters

Jul 30, 1984

E12Rachel and Rosie

Aug 6, 1984

Wheelchair-bound Rosie is waiting in hospital for an operation. When she has to share her hospital room with Rachel, a very different girl with a more streetwise outlook, Rosie must learn to deal with Rachel's prejudices towards her.

E1The Come-Uppance of Captain Katt

Jun 30, 1986

Ludo French stars in a sci-fi series, but working with the arrogant, conceited, always dissatisfied man pushes the production to its limits.

E2A Couple of Charlies

Jul 7, 1986

A play about a neglected boy on a school pet day, this edition was awarded the Special UNICEF Prize at Prix Jeunesse, Munich.

E3Wayfarers

Jul 14, 1986

E4Play Acting

Jul 21, 1986

E5Last Days at Black Bert's

Jul 28, 1986

Things aren't looking good at the run-down hikers' hostel "Black Bert's." A health inspector has been announced, ordering a committee to close the place down. On top of that, everything is about to fall apart-but perhaps the new waitress can help?

E6Maureen Reid, Where Are You?

Aug 4, 1986

E7Flashback

Aug 11, 1986

Film material from the Second World War is leaked to two young people. The film stars a schoolboy who obviously doesn't belong there. Who is the boy and when did this happen?

E8Direct Action

Aug 18, 1986

Young Dawn seems to lack perseverance in her jobs. Things seem to be going better at Helliwell's toy store until the boss orders the same Christmas music to be played for months. Since everyone is dissatisfied, Dawn organizes a staff meeting. But there are still a few lessons waiting for her.

E9Waiting for Elvis

Sep 1, 1986

In 1960, Elvis Presley returns to the USA from Germany by plane, and there will be a stopover in Scotland. That evening, the paths of six people cross in the waiting lounge, each with a different hope for this event: a journalist, a fan, a beauty queen, her jealous boyfriend, an agent, and his protégé, whom he hopes to make a star.

E10Just a Game

Sep 8, 1986

A school quiz broadcast on the radio is a huge success until two students from a losing team realize that their teacher is helping the competition. Proving the cheating and convincing their teachers and parents proves difficult. And the station doesn't want to be in the headlines either.

E11Flyaway Friend

Sep 15, 1986

Jennie is new at school, misses her father and has no friends. But there is her imaginary friend Tom, who has similar concerns. But is he really imaginary?

E12Pig Ignorance

Sep 22, 1986

Little crook Darryl has to do community service on an inner-city farm. Most of the time he doesn't care about the work, but when the owners have to sell the only pig for lack of money, his attitude changes.

E13Jessie's Place

Sep 25, 1986

A girl from a snobbish middle class family is desperate to break free, and ends up forging an unlikely friendship with a younger working class boy

E14Frankie's Hat

Dec 30, 1986

Sonia travels from London to Oxford to make a Birthday visit to her sister Frankie who has moved away and started a family. But Frankie takes the opportunity to make up for her lost youth, much to the younger girl's distaste.

E1Cannondrum

Mar 30, 1987

E2Snap

Apr 6, 1987

Peter's dad reluctantly gives him a lift to some marshlands for a school photography project. Yet why is Peter able to see a mysterious hooded figure at the site, but it's unseen by his dad?

E3The Horrible Story

Apr 13, 1987

Bobby is given a tent from his uncle, and plans to sleep in it overnight with his friend Allan. Yet their plans are disrupted by Bobby's younger brother Christopher tagging along, so they try to scare him away with a "horrible story".

E4My Friend Julie

Apr 27, 1987

A story told entirely in song of the difficult friendship between two teenage girls who both love the same boy.

E5The Creature Beyond Torches' End

May 11, 1987

Because his parents are constantly arguing, Henry takes his desire for adventure and dinosaurs into his own hands. He follows the path under his bedclothes into a fantastic world.

E6My Mum's a Courgette

May 18, 1987

E7Brainwaves

Jun 8, 1987

Karen has enrolled on a communications course in a college for school underachievers. She spends her nights fantasising about a rebellious classmate, but her epilepsy causes her problems fitting in with the rest of her class.

E8Undertow of the Armada

Jun 15, 1987

E9Stan's First Night

Jun 22, 1987

In 1906, Stan Jefferson is given the chance to perform on stage for the first time ever at a theatre in Glasgow. The events of this night set Stan on a path that will eventually lead to becoming the Stan Laurel we know and love of Laurel & Hardy fame.

E10Living Doll

Jun 29, 1987

When Dawn's mother wants to work full-time, it leads to arguments between her parents. So, in her imagination, she creates the perfect couple out of her dolls. Or so she thinks.

E11Peter

Jul 3, 1987

Since the death of his father in the Falklands War, Paul has become increasingly withdrawn. One day, while fishing, he meets a strange boy named Peter who challenges him.

E12The Halt

Jul 6, 1987

Football hooligans get their comeuppance when they find themselves abandoned on a deserted railway station where strange things happen and voices make arrival announcements for trains that never come.

E13Mr Magus is Waiting for You

A repeat screening of a three-part "Middle English" story from 1986, repackaged as a single episode and presented under the Dramarama banner.

E14A Spirited Performance

Aug 10, 1987

Two boys stumble into a chaotic medieval film production and help out. But then they should look for a mystical sword.

E15Badger on the Barge

Aug 24, 1987

E16Badger on the Barge

E1Forever Young

May 8, 1988

E2The Macramé Man

May 16, 1988

E3The Wrong Button

May 23, 1988

A school art class visits a noble country estate, with a disused fairground next door. At the same time, a devil-in-training causes chaos among the visitors. But a rascal student can see him and brings his two best friends for a ride.

E4Bubbles

Jun 6, 1988

E5Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night

Jun 13, 1988

Kim, a girl rendered deaf by an accident, has to return to the children's ward for a second time when the first operation fails. Whilst there, she befriends a boy who is immature on the outside, but has a good hear

E6Big T for Trouble

Jun 20, 1988

Jackie's outrageous lies always get her into trouble, but she can't escape her job as a bridesmaid in pink.

E7Room for One More

Jun 27, 1988

E8Making Waves

Jul 4, 1988

E9Just a Normal Girl

Jul 11, 1988

Sandy is left paraplegic as a result of a car accident, but finds courage through meeting other disabled children.

E10Now You See Them

Jul 18, 1988

E11Bogeymen

Jul 25, 1988

New neighbours in the street - a scary thing for four children, because the newcomers are from the West Indies. Their wild imagination brings them to break into the neighbours court.

E12The Alien

Aug 1, 1988

E13The Secret of Croftmore

Aug 8, 1988

A teenage Scottish boy named Calum Gillies, who does not want to leave his beloved Croftmore in the Highlands to move to Edinburgh, receives assistance from the ghosts of his distant relatives.

E14The Bubblegum Brigade

Aug 15, 1988

E15Playing for Wales

Aug 22, 1988

E16Snap Decision

Jan 4, 1989

Tennis playing schoolboy Peter is anxious over an upcoming tournament. When his wheelchair-bound and photo-obsessed younger brother begins to attract more attention from his girlfriend, Peter's bitter resentments come to the surface.

Storyline

Dramarama is the name of a British children's anthology series broadcast on ITV between 1983 and 1989. It tended to feature drama of a science fiction or supernatural bent. The series was created by Anna Home, then head of children's and youth programming at TVS, however production responsibilities were divided amongst most of the regional ITV franchise holders. Thus, each episode was in practice a one-off production with its own cast and crew, up to and including the executive producer. Dramarama was largely a place for new talent to prove themselves and was a launching pad for the likes of Anthony Horowitz, Paul Abbott, Kay Mellor, Janice Hally, Tony Kearney, David Tennant and Ann Marie Di Mambro. It was one of Dennis Spooner's last credits. One of Dramarama's episodes, "Dodger, Bonzo And The Rest", gained so much popularity that it was turned in to its own series the following year. It starred Lee Ross and was based around a large foster home. The episode "Blackbird Singing In The Dead of Night" was developed by Granada into the TV series Children's Ward. It was also repeated for the first time since its original broadcast on 5 January 2013, during CITV's 30th anniversary Old Skool Weekend. The Series 7 episode "Back To Front" – notable for featuring a mirror image of the Yorkshire Television logo card at the end – was repeated on 6 January 2013, again as part of CITV's 30th anniversary Old Skool Weekend.

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