Dramarama
GenreDrama
Science fiction
Created byAnna Home[1]
Starringvaried by episode
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producervaried by episode
Producervaried by episode
Running time30 minutes
Production companyVarious ITV contractors
Original release
NetworkITV (CITV)
Release12 September 1983 (1983-09-12) –
21 August 1989 (1989-08-21)

Dramarama is a British children's anthology series broadcast on ITV between 1983 and 1989. The series tended to feature single dramas with a science fiction, supernatural and occasionally satirical theme. It was created by Anna Home, then head of children's and youth programming at TVS; however, the dramas themselves were produced by a total of twelve ITV regional companies.[2] 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 showcase for new talent to television and offered debuts for Anthony Horowitz, Paul Abbott, Kay Mellor, Janice Hally, Tony Kearney,[3] David Tennant and Ann Marie Di Mambro. It was also one of Dennis Spooner's last works.[4]

One of the stories, Thames' "Dodger, Bonzo And The Rest" from 1984, proved so popular that it was spun off into its own series and Christmas special the following year - the series starred Lee Ross and recounted life in a large foster home.[4] Another story, Granada's "Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night" from 1988, was developed into the long-running series Children's Ward.[4] The original Dramarama story was co-written by Paul Abbott and Kay Mellor - at the time, working as staff writers for Granada.[5]

The series has rarely been repeated in recent years, although two episodes - "Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night" and "Back to Front" - were broadcast on the CITV Channel as part of a 30th anniversary weekend in January 2013.[6]

Only four ITV companies of the time did not contribute to the series: Anglia, Channel, Grampian and LWT.

TVS produced the greatest number of episodes.

Home media

A videotape containing the episodes "Big T for Trouble", "Just Wild About Harry" and "Venchie" (all Tyne Tees productions) was released by Video Gems, c. 1990. It is now out of print.

All episodes produced by Thames Television have been released on DVD by Network on 13 January 2012,[7] who have also released the 1983 series Spooky which was shown under the Dramarama banner on 15 August 2011.[8] The home video rights to the remaining episodes are held by ITV Studios, aside from those produced by Scottish, TVS and the one episode produced by TSW. The TVS episodes cannot be released commercially but some have appeared on YouTube, and STV itself placed all its episodes on YouTube in 2010, but has since removed them.

Episodes

Spooky (1983)

No. in
series		TitleCompanyOriginal air date
1"War Games with Caroline"Thames18 April 1983 (1983-04-18)
2"The Exocism of Amy"Thames25 April 1983 (1983-04-25)
3"The Danny Roberts Show"Thames9 May 1983 (1983-05-09)
4"The Ghostly Earl"Thames16 May 1983 (1983-05-16)
5"In a Dark, Dark Box"Thames23 May 1983 (1983-05-23)
6"The Restless Ghost"Thames30 May 1983 (1983-05-30)
7"The Keeper"Thames13 June 1983 (1983-06-13)

Series 1 (1983)

No.
overall		No. in
series		TitleCompanyOriginal air date
11"Mighty Mum and the Petnappers"TVS12 September 1983 (1983-09-12)
22"Rip It Up"TVS19 September 1983 (1983-09-19)
33"The Venchie"Tyne Tees26 September 1983 (1983-09-26)
44"Jack and the Computer"TVS3 October 1983 (1983-10-03)
55"Because I Say So"Central10 October 1983 (1983-10-10)
66"Bully For Cosmo"Central17 October 1983 (1983-10-17)
77"Messages"Tyne Tees24 October 1983 (1983-10-24)
88"The Young Person's Guide to Getting Their Ball Back!"TVS31 October 1983 (1983-10-31)
99"Sweet Revenge"Central7 November 1983 (1983-11-07)

Series 2 (1984)

No.
overall		No. in
series		TitleCompanyOriginal air date
101"Night of the Narrow Boats"Central14 May 1984 (1984-05-14)
112"Fowl Pest"TVS21 May 1984 (1984-05-21)
123"Dodger, Bonzo and the Rest"Thames4 June 1984 (1984-06-04)
134"Que Sera"TVS11 June 1984 (1984-06-11)
145"Stalemate"Central18 June 1984 (1984-06-18)
156"Snoop!"Thames25 June 1984 (1984-06-25)
167"Mr. Stabs [9]"Thames2 July 1984 (1984-07-02)
178"Josephine Jo"Central9 July 1984 (1984-07-09)
189"The Purple People Eater"TVS16 July 1984 (1984-07-16)
1910"On Your Tod"Thames23 July 1984 (1984-07-23)
2011"The Old Firm: Two For Starters"Granada30 July 1984 (1984-07-30)
2112"Rachel and Rosie"TVS6 August 1984 (1984-08-06)

Series 3 (1985)

No.
overall		No. in
series		TitleCompanyOriginal air date
221"Easy"TVS1 April 1985 (1985-04-01)
232"The Coal Princess"Tyne Tees15 April 1985 (1985-04-15)
243"Look at Me"Central22 April 1985 (1985-04-22)
254"The Young Person's Guide to Going Backwards in the World"TVS29 April 1985 (1985-04-29)
265"The Audition"Tyne Tees13 May 1985 (1985-05-13)
276"The Universe Downstairs"TVS20 May 1985 (1985-05-20)
287"A Proper Little Nooryeff"Central3 June 1985 (1985-06-03)
298"Frog"TVS10 June 1985 (1985-06-10)
309"Private Eye"Scottish17 June 1985 (1985-06-17)
3110"Emily"TVS24 June 1985 (1985-06-24)
3211"Silver"Scottish1 July 1985 (1985-07-01)
3312"The Golden Conch"HTV Wales8 July 1985 (1985-07-08)
3413"Purple Passion Video"HTV West15 July 1985 (1985-07-15)

Series 4 (1986)

No.
overall		No. in
series		TitleCompanyOriginal air date
351"The Come-Uppance of Captain Katt"TVS30 June 1986 (1986-06-30)
362"A Choice of Charlies"Central7 July 1986 (1986-07-07)
373"Wayfarers"Scottish14 July 1986 (1986-07-14)
384"Play Acting"HTV Wales21 July 1986 (1986-07-21)
395"Last Days at Black Bert's"TVS28 July 1986 (1986-07-28)
406"Maureen Reid Where Are You?"Scottish4 August 1986 (1986-08-04)
417"Flashback"HTV West11 August 1986 (1986-08-11)
428"Direct Action"TVS18 August 1986 (1986-08-18)
439"Waiting For Elvis"Scottish1 September 1986 (1986-09-01)
4410"Just a Game"TVS8 September 1986 (1986-09-08)
4511"Flyaway Friend"Tyne Tees15 September 1986 (1986-09-15)
4612"Pig Ignorance"Thames22 September 1986 (1986-09-22)
4713"Jessie's Place"Thames29 September 1986 (1986-09-29)
4814"Frankie's Hat"Thames30 December 1986 (1986-12-30)

Series 5 (1987)

No.
overall		No. in
series		TitleCompanyOriginal air date
491"Cannondrum"TVS30 March 1987 (1987-03-30)
502"Snap"TVS6 April 1987 (1987-04-06)
513"The Horrible Story"Thames13 April 1987 (1987-04-13)
524"My Friend Julie"Thames27 April 1987 (1987-04-27)
535"The Creature Beyond Torches' End"TVS11 May 1987 (1987-05-11)
546"My Mum's a Courgette"Scottish18 May 1987 (1987-05-18)
557"Brainwaves"Scottish8 June 1987 (1987-06-08)
568"Undertow of the Armada"Ulster15 June 1987 (1987-06-15)
579"Stan's First Night"Scottish22 June 1987 (1987-06-22)
5810"Living Doll"TVS29 June 1987 (1987-06-29)
5911"Peter"Central6 July 1987 (1987-07-06)
6012"The Halt"Central13 July 1987 (1987-07-13)
6113"Mr. Magus is Waiting For You"Thames27 July 1987 (1987-07-27)
6214"Tam"Scottish3 August 1987 (1987-08-03)
6315"A Sprited Performance"HTV Wales10 August 1987 (1987-08-10)
6416"Badger on the Barge"Border24 August 1987 (1987-08-24)

Series 6 (1988-9)

No.
overall		No. in
series		TitleCompanyOriginal air date
651"Forever Young"Granada9 May 1988 (1988-05-09)
662"The Macramé Man"Scottish16 May 1988 (1988-05-16)
673"The Wrong Button"Central23 May 1988 (1988-05-23)
684"Bubbles"Granada6 June 1988 (1988-06-06)
695"Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night"Granada13 June 1988 (1988-06-13)
706"Big T for Trouble"Tyne Tees20 June 1988 (1988-06-20)
717"Room for One More"Scottish27 June 1988 (1988-06-27)
728"Making Waves"TVS4 July 1988 (1988-07-04)
739"Just a Normal Girl"Central [10]11 July 1988 (1988-07-11)
7410"Now You See Them"TVS18 July 1988 (1988-07-18)
7511"Bogeyman"TVS25 July 1988 (1988-07-25)
7612"The Alien"Border1 August 1988 (1988-08-01)
7713"The Secret of Croftmore"Scottish8 August 1988 (1988-08-08)
7814"The Bubblegum Brigade"HTV West15 August 1988 (1988-08-15)
7915"Playing for Wales"HTV Wales22 August 1988 (1988-08-22)
8016"Snap Decision"Central [11]4 January 1989 (1989-01-04)

Series 7 (1989)

No.
overall		No. in
series		TitleCompanyOriginal air date
811"Codzmorf"TVS12 June 1989 (1989-06-12)
822"Ghost Story"Granada19 June 1989 (1989-06-19)
833"Badger"Granada26 June 1989 (1989-06-26)
844"Back to Front"Yorkshire3 July 1989 (1989-07-03)
855"Monstrous"HTV Wales10 July 1989 (1989-07-10)
866"The Pisces Connection"HTV West17 July 1989 (1989-07-17)
877"Rosie the Great"Thames [12]24 July 1989 (1989-07-24)
888"Snakes and Loofahs"Border [13]31 July 1989 (1989-07-31)
899"Just Wild About Harry"Tyne Tees7 August 1989 (1989-08-07)
9010"Mitchin"TSW14 August 1989 (1989-08-14)
9111"In the Pink"Central [14]21 August 1989 (1989-08-21)

References

  1. ↑ "BFI Screenonline: Home, Anna (1938-) Biography". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  2. ↑ "Looking back at Dramarama: series 1-2". Den of Geek. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  3. ↑ "'Scott and Jo' heading for Braehead to sign books". Paisley Daily Express. 1 November 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 "Looking back at Dramarama: series 3-7". Den of Geek. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  5. ↑ Encyclopedia of television. Newcomb, Horace., Museum of Broadcast Communications. (2nd ed.). New York: Fitzroy Dearborn. 2004. ISBN 1579583946. OCLC 54462093.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. ↑ "CITV celebrates 30th anniversary with a weekend of classic children's programmes". Radio Times. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  7. ↑ Lewis, David (8 February 2012). "'Dramarama': Volume 1 DVD review". Cultbox.
  8. ↑ "Dramarama: Spooky - The Complete Series DVD". Find-DVD. 15 August 2011.
  9. ↑ The character Mr. Stabs previously appeared in Ace of Wands and Shadows.
  10. ↑ Husson Productions for Central.
  11. ↑ Husson Productions for Central.
  12. ↑ Teliesyn Productions for Thames.
  13. ↑ KPO Ltd for Border.
  14. ↑ Husson Productions for Central.
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