| School of Silence | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Comedy Children’s Game show |
| Written by | George Sawyer (Series 1), Gray Croft (Series 2) |
| Directed by | Ollie Brack (Series 1), Jack Jameson (Series 2) |
| Presented by | Barney Harwood (Series 1 Presenter), Simon Greenall (Series 2 Narrator) |
| Composer | Dobs Vye |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 33 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Damon Pattison, Steve Pinhay (Series 1), Mike Griffiths (Series 2) |
| Producers | Rob Hyde (Series 1), Matt Smith (Series 2) |
| Production locations | Glasgow, BBC Pacific Quay (BBC Scotland) |
| Editor | Manus Fraser (Series 1) |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company | Lucky Day Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC One (Series One), CBBC (Series Two), |
| Release | 14 September 2009 – 13 April 2012 |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
School of Silence was a British children's TV series which airs on CBBC. The show ran from 2009 until 2013. In the show, a group of noisy children in a particular area of Britain are sent to the titular "School of Silence", where they must learn to be silent. The first season was presented by Barney Harwood, and the second season by Simon Greenall, as a narrator.
The children have 3 classes at the school, followed by a final exam. The headmistress, Miss Gobstop, is able to monitor the noise levels using a machine named the "Gobstop 2000". In the second season the machine is upgraded, to the "Gobstop 3000". In the first season, if the students pass the final exam, they graduate and take the "Golden Gobstopper" as a prize. In the second season, they get prizes from the confiscated cupboard. If they fail, they are expelled. In the first season, the expelled students receive a whoopee cushion, while in the second they receive nothing so no consolation prize for those who fail.
The first class is with Mr. Gross. His challenges included throwing wet toilet paper at a target called “Flying Toilet Paper”, the “Maggots Foot Spa” where the chosen participant would put their bare feet in a tub of maggots or in similar challenge where the chosen child would put their bare feet into slime filled boots which was called “Gunge Boot.” Other challenges included “Compost Ball Roulette” where the chosen child would have to crack a ball filled with either gunge or flour on their own forehead, a “Slush Avalanche” where one of the participants would pour freezing cold ice down their friends back & others named “Hairy Scary Werewolf” & “Pink Poodle” where the chosen child would be covered in treacle and artificial hair. This class was present in both season’s one & two.
In the first season, the second class is with Nora Nugget and her assistant, Britney Biscuit. In her challenge, students combine different foods, and one student is chosen to eat the final product of these combinations.
In the second season, Nora and Britney are replaced by Miss Adventure, a geography teacher and explorer. Challenges in her class involve custard pies to the face, contestant’s faces being painted on, and riding adults dressed as camels.
In the first season, the third class is taken by Mrs. Bunsen, whose challenges are science-based.They included the “Human Carwash” where the chosen participant would endure shaving foam, wax (which was gunge), and a water rinse spray on the head and “Instant Snowman” where the chosen child would have to wear a black felt shirt and their friends would be throwing artificial snow at them to see if it would stick or not.
In the second season, the third class is taken by Mr Les Prance, a performing arts teacher. Challenges in his class are theatrically based, such as copying exercise routines whilst joined at the ankles and performing ballet with dog toys strapped to their shoes.
In the first season, the Final Exam is supervised by Colonel Kittens. The children are put in stocks, barefoot. For 90 seconds the students were tickled on their bare feet, as the teacher made faces and used a fart machine, to try to make them laugh or scream.
In the second season, Colonel Kittens was replaced by a German professor, named "The Professor", and his glove puppet assistant, ‘Herr Helmut’. In the Final Exam contestants are strapped to chairs and are confronted with Silly String, Pies and Gunge.