''Crapston Villas'' was a British animated television series, written, created and directed by

Sarah Ann Kennedy Sarah Ann Kennedy is a British voice actress best known for providing the voices of Miss Rabbit and Mummy Rabbit in the children's animated series ''Peppa Pig'', Nanny Plum in the children's animated series ''Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom'' and D ...

, in which the characters were made from

plasticine Plasticine is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. Though originally a brand name for the British version of the product, it is now applied generically in English as a product category ...

and filmed with

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

clay animation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

. It was a comedy satire on inner-city London life, directed at a mature audience. It featured a set of characters, living in a grim apartment building in the fictional postcode of SE69, who were plagued by various dilemmas. Foul language, sex and violence are present.

Production

It was made by the Spitting Image Productions company and was originally broadcast on the UK's

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

from 1995 to 1998. It was written by

, who was also director (series 1) along with Peter Boyd Maclean (series 2). The music for the show was composed by Rowland Lee. Voices were provided by a range of British actors and comedians The show was cancelled after its thirteenth series by the incoming new head of Channel 4 Television,

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

, who then bought US import '' South Park'' to fill the late Friday night slot vacated by ''Crapston Villas''. The show would be one of the first animated series on British television to present openly gay characters, specifically Robbie and Larry.

Availability

Each series comprised ten episodes. Series 1 was subsequently issued on

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...

, edited together as a single 100 minute piece ("Crapston Villas – City of Slummington"), while Series 2 was similarly released, but on two videos ("Health Hazard" and "Culture Shock"). In the USA five episodes from Series 1 were released on DVD by the independent production/distribution company

Troma Entertainment Troma Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz in 1974. The company produces low-budget independent films, primarily of the horror comedy genre. Many of them pl ...

, but so far no DVD releases of either series have occurred in the UK. As of January 2012, all 20 episodes of Crapston Villas are available to watch on Channel 4's digital on-demand service 4oD (now called

All 4 All 4 is a video on demand service from the Channel Four Television Corporation, free of charge for most content and funded by advertising. The service is available in the UK and Ireland; viewers are not required to have a TV licence—requir ...

). Reruns of the Series are also available to watch on G.O.L.D. late at night.

Awards

*1996 ''Broadcast'' Awards: Best New Program

References

External links

* 1995 British television series debuts 1997 British television series endings 1990s British adult animated television series 1990s British animated comedy television series British adult animated comedy television series Clay animation television series English-language television shows Channel 4 original programming Channel 4 comedy Troma Entertainment films LGBT-related animated series Television shows set in London {{UK-tv-prog-stub