| The Beano Video | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Derek Mogford |
| Written by | Jo Pullen |
| Based on | The Beano |
| Produced by | Jo Pullen Darren Kinnersley-Hill |
| Starring | Jonathan Kydd Gary Martin Enn Reitel Kate Robbins Susan Sheridan |
| Narrated by | Jonathan Kydd Enn Reitel |
| Music by | Kick Production |
Production companies | Living Doll Productions D.C. Thomson & Co. |
| Distributed by | PolyGram Video |
Release date |
|
Running time | 52 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Beano Video is a direct-to-video animated film based on The Beano, originally released on VHS on 16 October 1993 and also broadcast as a television special on ITV and CITV.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] It marked not just the first animated release of the hugely successful children's comic that has spanned many generations, but also the first animated appearance for characters like Dennis the Menace and Gnasher, Gnipper, Minnie the Minx, the Bash Street Kids, and the Three Bears. The video was directed by Derek Mogford and produced by Jo Pullen at Living Doll Productions and Whizzline Productions, and sold more than 200,000 copies.[11] It features voices by Susan Sheridan, Kate Robbins, Enn Reitel, Gary Martin and Jonathan Kydd. Martin and Kydd would later appear in the 1996-98 TV series Dennis and Gnasher.
A sequel to the video was produced and released on 10 October 1994, named The Beano Videostars, and featured an expanded cast of characters. Both videos drew high enough ratings and video sales to kick off the Dennis and Gnasher TV series.[10][12] The video was re-released on DVD 10 years later in 2004, by then known as The Beano All-Stars.[10]
On 26 June 1990, the comic celebrated its 2500th issue with Dennis doing a 'twenty-one catty salute!' With children's weeklies finding life increasingly tough, The Beano was adapting to survive. That same year witnessed witnessed the launch of a 'Dennis the Menace' cartoon on the Children's Channel and then, in October 1993, The Beano Video arrived.
The Beano characters were also in colour – and in motion – in The Beano Video, which was released in 1993. It was an attempt to take the magic of The Beano and turn it into an animated video. It followed the format of The Beano, being an anthology of short, snappy stories, which brought Dennis and Gnasher, Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids and The Three Bears to life. It was broadcast as a special on CITV and renamed The Beano All-Stars for its DVD re-release. A sequel, with an expanded cast of characters, was released in 1994. While these videos did not challenge the top of the year's best seller charts, they did mark the first time any DC Thomson characters had been animated since Bananaman a decade earlier, and showed that the company was eager to push forward with bringing their characters to life on screen.