Gran (TV series)

Gran
Title card for the series
Created by	Michael and Joanne Cole
Directed by	Ivor Wood
Starring	Patricia Hayes
Music by	Bryan Daly
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Running time	5 minutes per episode (approx)
Production company(s)	Woodland Animations
Release
Original network	BBC
Picture format	4:3
Original release	17 November 1982 – 12 May 1983

Gran is a children's stop motion animation television series narrated by Patricia Hayes and directed by Ivor Wood. There were only two main characters, namely Gran and her grandson, Jim and they were lucky and kind

The programme made by Woodland Animations was created and written by Michael and Joanne Cole. Ivor Wood produced thirteen five-minute episodes in 1982 and the series was broadcast on the BBC between 17 November 1982 and 12 May 1983, and was repeated in both 1986 and 1992. Children's books based on the series, written by Michael and illustrated by Joanne Cole were also released in 1983. The shorts were also shown in the U.S. as part of the Nickelodeon series Eureeka's Castle.

Despite moderate popularity with young audiences in the mid-1980s, the series has not been seen on UK television since being repeated as part of the Tiny Living broadcasting block on Living TV in the late 1990s, and no further episodes were made. Universal Pictures released all 13 episodes on Region 2 DVD in the U.K. on 7 March 2005, but the release has since been discontinued.

At first glance you may think Gran is like any other Grandma, but she's not. Along with her grandson Jim, she takes part in different crazy adventures. Each episode sees Gran performing weird and wacky tasks - growing her runner beans up a dinosaurs skeleton, hand gliding, knitting a giant scarf to wrap around her house in the winter and cross country motorbike racing. But one thing's for sure - she'll always be wearing her pink slippers.

Castle Communications released one video of Gran with 12 episodes on it and it later got repackaged as a single title by the Castle Communications 'Playbox' brand of children's video titles (Cat. No. PVC 121).

On 1 June 1999, Castle Home Video (a division of Castle Music Ltd) had released a single video of Gran with all 13 episodes of the entire show on it (including Gran's Old Bones as its first episode along with the 12 other episodes of Gran from its original Castle Communications video release).