The Secret Show
The Secret Show is a 2006-2008 British animated show produced by Collingwood O'Hare and commissioned by BBC Worldwide in partnership with BBC Children's. The show aired on ABC1, Nickelodeon, BBC Kids, Teletoon+, MBC3, 2x2, Disney Channel Latin America, N1, TVB Pearl, RTÉ2 (as part of the network's children's programming lineup The Den), BFBS (being shown on the children's wrapper programme Room 785), CCN TV6 (with the series airing on the channel's cartoon lineup TV6 Cartoon Express) and TSR 2. It debuted on the American Nicktoons Network on January 20, 2007, and was later removed on November 29, 2010. It also used to air on Jetix Latin America, Disney Channel Germany, CBBC, BBC One and BBC Two. 52 episodes were produced.[1]
| The Secret Show | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Tony Collingwood |
| Directed by | Tony Collingwood Andrea Tran |
| Voices of | Alan Marriott Kate Harbour Rob Rackstraw Keith Wickham Martin Hyder |
| Composer(s) | Roger Jackson |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 52 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Michael Carrington |
| Producer(s) | Christopher O'Hare |
| Running time | 13 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Collingwood O'Hare Entertainment |
| Distributor | BBC Worldwide |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBBC |
| Original release | September 16, 2006 – October 27, 2007 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Details
The show stars two secret agents, Anita Knight and Victor Volt as they try to save the world from the latest threats to civilization. They work for the secret organization, U.Z.Z, run by their commanding agent, whose codename is "changed daily" for reasons of security, always to an unusual or ridiculous phrase. U.Z.Z also comprises Professor Professor, whose inventions and scientific background frequently save the day; Special Agent Ray who often runs missions behind the scenes; and a large team of standard agents.
They frequently counter threats from their main enemy, T.H.E.M. - The Horrible Evil Menace. T.H.E.M is headed up by the evil antagonist in the series, Doctor Doctor, who is intent on taking over the world, and has her own crack team of agents called "Expendables" who wear billiard ball-style helmets. However, some episodes do feature a different set of enemies, such as the underground species of Imposters or Reptogators, the space alien Floaty Heads or Changed Daily's nanny as a child, who has world domination plans of her own. Many episodes feature a sealed orange cylinder, known only as "The Secret Thing". It is not known what the Secret Thing actually is, although in one episode Doctor Doctor steals it, however it is a fake, filled with confetti. Even when it is not central to the episode, the Secret Thing is always featured, half poking out from somewhere. Each episode also features a robotic spider walking up the wall and a four digit code which can be entered on the Secret Show website to unlock extras.
The show never starts as "The Secret Show", but rather as "The Fluffy Bunny Show", which features Sweet Little Granny in a rocking chair, with a banjo and six fluffy, pink bunnies. As she begins to sing the intro for her show, agents for U.Z.Z. appear, headed by Agent Ray, and commandeer the show, always using a different method of dispatch. The Secret Show then begins, much to Sweet Little Granny's dismay. The bunnies, however, frequently appear throughout the show in unexpected places. And in "A Purrfect Villain", Sweet Old Grandpa appears instead of Granny because she was getting a hip replacement operation. When the show gets interrupted by Ray, Grandpa picks up the bunnies and runs from the agents who appears many times in that episode. The US version sometimes edits this opening out of the broadcast.
Characters
Vehicles and equipment
Skybike
The Skybike is the standard-issue flying vehicle for U.Z.Z. Agents, similar in appearance to a jet ski, with a single jet or rocket motor at the back for propulsion, and two smaller retro-boosters on the front. Although, in the episode "Monument Racers", Professor Professor invented giant high-speed engines installed on the back of the Skybike, used to catch up with flying monuments. Skybikes are capable of vertical take off and landing, as well as being able to hover and fly backwards and have retractable tripod-style undercarriage. Most U.Z.Z. skybikes are blue, but Anita Knight's is green, and Victor Volt's is purple. Skybikes are equipped with many gadgets and equipment suitable for a large number of situations, including a Bike Cannon laser, retractable glass dome for use in outer space or underwater, claw-grips and magnets for grabbing, and even an 'Anti-Meteorite Force Field Deflector' to provide protection against space debris. The skybike was once stolen by Doctor Doctor. T.H.E.M. had also copied the vehicle but shares the shape of an arachnid, sometimes Doctor Doctor will ride on these sitting in the back of the spinneret (like a throne) while it's driven by an Expendable, similar to that of a Chariot.
List of episodes
Season 1
| # | Title | Written by | Original Airdate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Secret Thing" | Tony Collingwood | 16 September 2006 | |
| Someone is trying to steal The Secret Thing. Is it Changed Daily, Victor, Anita, or some sort of shape-changing Impostor? Can Victor tell the difference? And will he ever find out what The Secret Thing actually is? | ||||
| 2 | "Who Stole Switzerland?" | Mark Holloway | 23 September 2006 | |
| Someone is stealing Earth's gravity, causing the continents to float away. Victor and Anita stow away in one of the gravity-sucking machines; the trail leads to Mars, and falling-down parties - but unless they act fast, both planets are in trouble... | ||||
| 3 | "Bogie Ball" | Tony Collingwood | 30 September 2006 | |
| THEM have photographic proof that the World Leader eats her bogies. What does this have to do with the theft of a giant ball of bogies from the sculptor Alphonse? And why are all the Expendables wearing nose-shields..? | ||||
| 4 | "Wedgie Attack!" | Mark Zaslove | 7 October 2006 | |
| Victor and Anita are on the run from UZZ after apparently giving the world leader's husband a wedgie on live TV. Soon, all of UZZ is hiding at Victor's mum's house in disguise. Could it be an Impostor plot? Is Changed Daily safe..? | ||||
| 5 | "Commando Babies" | Mark Zaslove | 14 October 2006 | |
| Nanna Poopoo is kidnapping important people and using a babysitter ray to turn them into commando babies. Soon she will be the only adult. If Victor can manage to burp, he might stand a chance of stopping her... | ||||
| 6 | "Bad Hair Day" | Lee Pressman | 14 October 2006 | |
| Doctor Doctor hacks the agents' brains for intel.[2] | ||||
| 7 | "And That's For Helsinki" | Tony Collingwood | 21 October 2006 | |
| Each time Helsinki Man tries to kill Victor and Anita, he yells "And that's for Helsinki!" It's starting to get a bit annoying. What are they supposed to have done - and why does Professor Professor insist that they must never go to Helsinki? | ||||
| 8 | "The Ball of Spong" | Jimmy Hibbert & Tony Collingwood | 21 October 2006 | |
| The Floaty-heads demand The Ball of Spong, or they will sieve the Earth. But the ball and Changed Daily are trapped in a Mark I Indestructible Survival Pod - with no food. And the ball smells kind of minty... | ||||
| 9 | "Destination Sun" | Mark Zaslove | 28 October 2006 | |
| Doctor Doctor has a remote control for the Sun -- at least, until Victor steps on it. Now the only chance for the Earth is for them all to go to the Sun and relight it... | ||||
| 10 | "The Secret Room" | Ken Pontac | 28 October 2006 | |
| What is the secret of Robert Baron's secret room? In order to find out, Victor and Anita will have to be shrunk so that they can pass as children; and Professor Professor will have to wear a dress... | ||||
| 11 | "Alien Attack" | Tony Collingwood | 4 November 2006 | |
| It's the most momentous moment in earth's history: first contact with a friendly alien race. Everything goes fine, until Anita eats the alien on live TV.... | ||||
| 12 | "Mirror Mirror" | Ken Segall | 4 November 2006 | |
| In a mirror universe where THEM rule the world, UZZ are reduced to delivering Pizza. But for the mirror Doctor Doctor, that's not enough: she wants our world, too... | ||||
| 13 | "Dr. Hypno Returns Again!" | Ben Townsend & Tony Collingwood | 11 November 2006 | |
| Only the retired UZZ agent, Zac Meadows, can save the world from Dr Hypno. But all is not as it appears... | ||||
| 14 | "Secret Sleep" | Ken Pontac & Tony Collingwood | 11 November 2006 | |
| Why is everyone on Earth so sleepy - and dreaming of dancing? To defeat Doctor Doctor, Victor Anita and Changed Daily must fall asleep under laboratory controlled conditions. Professor Professor will even howl them to sleep... | ||||
| 15 | "Super-Vic!" | Jimmy Hibbert | 18 November 2006 | |
| Victor acquires a cloak that gives him super-powers, and gets carried away with the idea of being a superhero. But the cloak belongs to the one person that UZZ fear, Eartha Quakea, and UZZ must persuade him to give it back... | ||||
| 16 | "The Thing That Goes Ping" | Baz Hawkins | 18 November 2006 | |
| Professor Professor doesn't have to tell Victor and Anita why they have to rescue The Satellite That Goes Ping from the Bermuda Trapezoid. It's a secret. Doctor Doctor and the mutant piggies don't know either, but they want the satellite too, and what is with the band that plays ominous music every time somebody says Bermuda Trapezoid... | ||||
| 17 | "The Trousers of Doom" | Dave Ingham | 25 November 2006 | |
| If Victor and Anita don't find The Trousers of Doom before Doctor Doctor does, the entire universe could just disappear. And Victor would never get his shoes back... | ||||
| 18 | "What's In The Box?" | Dave Ingham | 25 November 2006 | |
| What is in Professor Professor's box? Why does everyone want to take it from Anita and Victor? Why must they not open it under any circumstances? And will Victor get to hold it? | ||||
| 19 | "Return of the Killer Toothbrush" | Lee Pressman | 2 December 2006 | |
| What did Doctor Doctor and Professor Professor work on in the abandoned space station when they were in The School For the Chronically Gifted together? Is it something that is trying to return to earth and wreak havoc? | ||||
| 20 | "Reptogator Attack!" | Mark Holloway | 2 December 2006 | |
| Who is The Kid, and why must Victor and his strangely brutish new partner protect him? What do the Reptogators have to do with all this? Anita plans to find out... | ||||
| 21 | "Mr. Atom" | Jimmy Hibbert | 9 December 2006 | |
| Victor doesn't believe that UZZ's smallest agent is too small to be seen. Unfortunately for him, Mr. Atom is also the shortest-tempered agent... | ||||
| 22 | "When Good Food Goes Bad" | Laura Beaumont & Paul Larson | 9 December 2006 | |
| When Victor and Anita foil The Chef, he vows revenge - revenge that doesn't seem possible until Victor bites into a carrot, and it presses charges against him... | ||||
| 23 | "Flick the Switch" | Tony Collingwood | 16 December 2006 | |
| Victor has always wondered what the switch next to his chair in the briefing room does. But the answer to that question involves Reptogators, Impostors, and Almost Certain Doom... | ||||
| 24 | "Giant Brain of Terror!" | Dave Ingham | 16 December 2006 | |
| What is the giant brain that UZZ have found frozen in ice in the arctic? The very last thing they should do is wake it up... | ||||
| 25 | "You're History!" | David Stafford & Tony Collingwood | 23 December 2006 | |
| Professor Professor is convinced that no one can invent an uninventing ray. But it appears that Doctor Doctor has proved him wrong - and unless UZZ can do something about it, they'll end up saving the world with only stone axes to help them... | ||||
| 26 | "A Purrfect Villain" | Paddy Granleese & Tony Collingwood | 23 December 2006 | |
| Due to an accident with a totally untested and highly dangerous teleport device, Victor and the villainous cat Mr. Cuddles have got mixed up. Victor has nine lives and wants to chase balls of string; and Mr. Cuddles now knows The Secret Code To Destroy The World... | ||||
Season 2
| # | Title | Written by | Original Airdate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | "Lucky Leo" | Tony Collingwood | 17 February 2007 | |
| UZZ don't stand a chance of catching the luckiest man in the world - unless Professor Professor can synthesise his luck and pass it on to Victor... | ||||
| 28 | "Zombie Attack!" | Mark Holloway | 24 February 2007 | |
| Doctor Doctor has two secret zombifying code words: say either one of them and you turn into a zombie. Unfortunately, the two words are "no" and "yes"... | ||||
| 29 | "Imposting the Imposters" | Tony Collingwood | 3 March 2007 | |
| Professor Professor sends Victor and Anita to infiltrate the Impostors' base - where they find that he was kidnapped by The Impostors a month ago, and never escaped... | ||||
| 30 | "Ammonites Rule!" | Tony Collingwood | 10 March 2007 | |
| It's time to pay the rent for the earth to the Ammonites - one slipper orchid from the top of Mount Kippabaru, once every thousand years. If The Impostors get to Ammonia first, they will control the Earth - to say nothing of what will happen if the Ammonites find out that the orchid is a plastic one... | ||||
| 31 | "Victor of the Future" | Laura Beaumont & Paul Larson | 17 March 2007 | |
| A future Victor has come to warn UZZ that something terrible is about to happen. But he's not allowed to say what it is... | ||||
| 32 | "Monument Racers" | Tony Collingwood & Jimmy Hibbert | 24 March 2007 | |
| Someone is attaching weird little motor thingies to famous buildings and using them to hold illegal monument races. It's a terrible threat to security - what would happen if Doctor Doctor got hold of the technology? | ||||
| 33 | "Impostor Attack!" | Alex Williams | 31 March 2007 | |
| All the world's plumbers are missing. The trail leads to The Impostors, who have a plan to end the world as we know it. And Professor Professor's solution isn't very safe, either... | ||||
| 34 | "Secret Spider" | Mark Holloway | 7 April 2007 | |
| The Imposters attempt to create a new Ice Age, with ice explosions around the globe... | ||||
| 35 | "Rise of the Floaty-Heads" | Dave Ingham | 14 April 2007 | |
| The Floaty-heads have shrunk our solar system to give to Princess Ping as a mobile. Victor and Anita must pretend to be Floaty-heads so they can steal the solar system back, and escape. But Victor becomes fond of shy, insecure Ping, and wants to help... | ||||
| 36 | "Catch the Birdman!" | Ben Townsend | 15 April 2007 | |
| After playing a part in an UZZ training film, The Birdman flips out when it is revealed that the film will never be shown in public. He steals the film, and intends to use it to get a career in the movies, and all the birdseed he can eat... | ||||
| 37 | "World Anthem" | Tony Collingwood | 7 May 2007 | |
| THEM have entered the World Anthem Competition, so Victor and Anita must enter as well, and find out why. Obviously they can't be planning to brainwash everyone with their song, because that only works in old cartoon shows... | ||||
| 38 | "It's a Hamster World" | Tony Collingwood | 8 May 2007 | |
| Changed Daily is finally persuaded to talk about his nick-knacks. On the back of a picture of his old partner, Lucy Woo, they find a note asking him to rescue her - twenty years ago... | ||||
| 39 | "The Fluffy Bunnython of Doom" | Baz Hawkins | 27 October 2007 | |
| It's time for everyone to send carrots to Sweet Little Granny for the burrowless bunnies. But her show seems a little different this year; and why is everyone donating their house? Victor and Anita must find out quickly, because Changed Daily has donated the UZZ building... | ||||
| 40 | "The Wobble Men from Dimension Ten" | Lee Pressman | 27 October 2007 | |
| The Wobble Men have finally broken through - and the only one that can save the world is Victor's father, trapped behind wobbly lines for twenty years... | ||||
| 41 | "Mission to Monkey Nut Island" | Lee Pressman | 27 October 2007 | |
| On an undercover mission inside THEM's secret holiday resort, Victor wins the Best Evil Plan To Destroy UZZ competition... | ||||
| 42 | "A Hairy Scary World" | Lee Pressman | 21 April 2007 | |
| Another one of Professor Professor's crazy cures for baldness has backfired. If Anita and Victor cannot recover the baldy gene from his identical twin brother, the world will be overrun by hair (and 20-foot-tall (6.1 m) head lice). The solution? Stage an opera... | ||||
| 43 | "World Savers" | Dave Ingham | 22 April 2007 | |
| What chance do UZZ have at saving the world from the Gobblotron when World Savers Inc. are so mysteriously good at it - and when Professor Professor has accepted a job with them? | ||||
| 44 | "The Hand" | Mark Zaslove | 23 April 2007 | |
| UZZ decide to cancel their line of Simon Sayz action figures and go with a computer game instead. Simon swears revenge. And when he accidentally gets covered with nano-goo, it looks like he'll get his wish - unless Anita can get to level 13 first... | ||||
| 45 | "Secret Santa" | Tony Collingwood | 27 October 2007 | |
| The Floaty-Heads latest collection includes The World Leader and Changed Daily. There seems to be no-one who can break into their planet to rescue them. Well, maybe one person - someone that can break into any house, once a year, to leave presents... | ||||
| 46 | "The Z-Ray Goggles of Power" | Mark Zaslove | 24 April 2007 | |
| Who gave Doctor Doctor the technology to take over UZZ base? Why does her snivelling sound so familiar to Professor Professor? How can UZZ and THEM possibly work together to save them all from the giant Purple Hole? | ||||
| 47 | "The Secret Man" | Dave Ingham | 25 April 2007 | |
| The Secret Man has disappeared. To find him, Anita and Victor must locate The One Breath Woman, and - providing they can understand her - unravel an Impostor plot to take over the world... | ||||
| 48 | "Planet Professor Professor" | Ken Segall | 26 April 2007 | |
| An overworked Professor Professor has come down with Brain Seepage - some of his knowledge has been squeezed out in the form of a tiny planet orbiting his own head. Victor and Anita must travel there to retrieve a forgotten unlock code - or Changed Daily will be permanently turned into a very large orchid... | ||||
| 49 | "The Abyss" | Paddy Granleese | 27 October 2007 | |
| In which we learn the startling secret behind Anita's seawater allergy, and fishfood torpedoes and a giant sperm whale save the day. | ||||
| 50 | "Stuff Stealers" | Tony Collingwood | 28 April 2007 | |
| Has Victor really stolen all the spoons in the world? Why are all the parrots shouting "help"? And why does everyone's hair look so messy? To see the answers, Victor must have his blind spots removed... | ||||
| 51 | "The Villain Nobody Took Seriously" | Tony Collingwood | 29 April 2007 | |
| After saving the world from The Chef, Doctor Doctor, Reptogators, and Impostors, Victor and Anita have Save Fatigue and the world is taken over by a clown who demands that buildings wear silly hats and everyone says "bim"... | ||||
| 52 | "Secret Double Agent" | Ken Pontac | 30 April 2007 | |
| Why is The Secret Thing being stolen so frequently? Where has Doctor Doctor taken Changed Daily and his fireplace? Surely none of this can be anything to do with UZZ agent Kent B. Trusted..? | ||||
Production and awards
In 2007, The Secret Show won two Children's BAFTA Awards, one for the show itself (as Best Animated Show) and one for its web site (in the Best Interactive category).
The Secret Show has had several notable guest stars, including Tom Baker as Robert Baron, Stephen Fry as Lucky Leo, Penelope Keith as Nana Poo-Poo, Mike Reid as Mr Atom, and Felicity Kendal as Lucy Woo.[3]
References
- Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 278. ISBN 9781476672939.
- Zap2It.com - The Secret Show Episode Guide Season 1
- "The Secret Show". keyframeonline.com. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
- BBC & Nicktoons Onboard for Collingwood O’Hare's The Secret Show, Animation World Network Headline News, 8 August 2006.
- Uncovering the Mysteries of The Secret Show, Joe Strike, Animation World magazine, 22 October 2007.
External links
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