''Angry Kid'' is a British
adult animated comedy
Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium.
Origins
Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
television and
web series
A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...
created, directed, written, and designed by
Darren Walsh and produced by
Aardman Animations for Series 1 and 2 and by Mr Morris Productions for Series 3 and 4.
Unlike most Aardman productions, ''Angry Kid'' was not created using
clay animation
Claymation, sometimes called clay animation or 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 cl ...
but a combination of
pixilation
Pixilation is a stop motion technique in which live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames. This technique ...
(using actors in a form of
stop motion
Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...
puppetry
Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – wikt:inanimate, inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. S ...
) with
masks
A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, ...
for facial expressions. Series 3 onwards uses CGI for Angry Kid's head, along with live action. The series also aired in the United States on
MTV
MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
.
Series 1 and 2 have been released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
by
Pathé
Pathé SAS (; styled as PATHÉ!) is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Pathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe.
It is the name of a network of Fren ...
and
2Entertain respectively. All the ''Angry Kid'' animations from before the third series were on
Atom.com before the site was absorbed into
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...
. A compilation DVD called ''Aardman's Dark Side'' was also released, and it contains several Series 2 episodes and an exclusive episode. The vast majority of Angry Kid has since been released on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
.
After an 8-year hiatus, Series 3 was launched on 3 July 2015 with the episode 'Interview'. Series 4 launched 4 years later in September 2019.
Unlike the first two series, Series 3 and 4 were exclusively released on the official Angry Kid
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
page, with new episodes appearing every three weeks.
The fourth series concluded on 8 November 2019, and the channel didn't upload again until 2025.
Cast
*
Darren Walsh as Angry Kid, the title character and
antihero
An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero or two words anti hero) or anti-heroine is a character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism and morality. Al ...
. He is a redheaded boy who has a foul mouth and a terrible attitude. He does not care who he steps on or what trouble he causes as long as it gets him what he needs or wants. Angry Kid is almost always seen wearing a dark blue parka jacket with a furry hood (even over his pyjamas). He is known by police officers as "the little ginger git on the bike". He is also known as "Stanners" and the description for the pilot refers to him as "Charlie". Angry Kid lives with his parents and his younger sister in the TV series but in the special episode "Who Do I Think I Am?", his mother abandons the family, though by Series 3, she has reconnected with Angry Kid and is now in a relationship with a man named Stephen. He also has a
bull Terrier named Scoffchops, who regularly attacks him.
*
David Holt as Dad, Angry Kid's unseen father. He has an obsession for country and western music which he often plays in the car. He hits Angry Kid with his newspaper when everytime the latter says or does something stupid or annoying. In ''Who Do You Think You Are?'', when he shows Angry Kid some home videos, his full body (apart from his face) is shown. He also plays the Teacher, who only appears in the setting of Angry Kid and Speccy's classroom. According to ''Who Do I Think I Am'', the teacher is a male who happens to have a feminine-sounding voice, much to Angry Kid's confusion So far, he has only been in two episodes, both of which are specials: Darkside and Who do I Think I Am?
*
David Holt / Beth Chalmers as Lil' Sis, Angry Kid's younger sister. Her brother torments and teases her, to which she sometimes retaliates. Despite being smaller and younger than Angry Kid, she is much smarter. She seldom speaks, but she has a speaking part in the episode "Horror," in which she is possessed by an evil spirit. She also speaks in the ''Who Do I Think I Am?'' special, the ''Aardman's Dark Side'' exclusive episode and in Series 4.
*
David Holt /
Kevin Eldon as Speccy, Angry Kid's nerdy "best friend" that is allergic to nuts (as revealed in "Swollen"). Speccy is often picked on by Angry Kid, who is cruel to him. In ''Who Do I Think I Am?'', it is revealed that Speccy's real name is Myles.
Other voice actors include Mike Cooper and
Jo Allen.
Episodes
Production
Series 1 and 2 were produced by Aardman Animations. Series 3 and 4 were distributed by Aardman Animations and produced by Mr Morris Productions.
Series 1
# Car Sick
# Sex Education
# Goalie
# Blood Juice
# Speed
# Chips
# Headlights
# Cotton Bud
# Bored
# Bone
# Captain Thunderpants
# Stinky
# Queen's Speech
# Hard Face
# Swearing
# Superhero
# Love Bite
# Buzz Off
# Backwards Writing
# Hoax Call
# Wee Wee
# Road Hog
# Sneeze
# Horror
# Kidnap
Series 2
# Cake
# Tourettes
# Dustbin
# Sex Call
# Strange Trip
# Curious
# I Spy
# Swollen
# Catapult
# Russian Roulette
# Dolly
# Card Trick
# Puerile
# Bad News
# Piss
# Wanker
# Chemistry
# Philosophical
# Sofa Attack
# Snail
# Jackanory
# Marathon Man
# Road Safety
# Birdy
# What Are You Like?
Series 3
# Fish Factzz
# Boyhood
# Interview
# Workout
# Stephen
# Mind Control
# Bumfluff
# Puberty
# Emo
# Vaccination
# How To: Make a Donald Trump Xmas Decoration
Series 4
# Callout
# Lil' Sis
# Perfect Body
# Mars
# Offstep
# Careers Advice
# Politics
# Fartburger
# Sponsored Silence
Specials
''Who Do I Think I Am?''
A 23-minute special, broadcast on
BBC Three
BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...
at 7:30 pm on
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...
, 2004.
The plot focuses on Angry Kid, who is given the task to write a 10-page essay for his teacher on who he really thinks he is. Despite their efforts, his dad and his friend Speccy are of no help, and neither is a website he finds online, but later he gets the aid of Lil' Sis, who wants all of his possessions in return for writing the essay, to which he reluctantly agrees. The special ends with Angry Kid reading out the essay written by his sister about who he really is before being punished by having an intense workout session in the school gymnasium under the supervision of an evil gym teacher.
Handbags
Angry Kid raps, with the Flaming Choppers, in a
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
called "Handbags," telling the story of how the kids (which, oddly, look exactly like him) playing
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
also use
handbags. The song was released as a single on 29 May 2006 by Musicalities Ltd.
Single track listing
Gridlock
Angry Kid and the other characters sing in a
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
called "Gridlock," telling the story of how the kids were stuck in a traffic jam and everyone was fighting with each other. It was part of
Aardman's ''
Live Earth
Live Earth was an event developed to increase Environmentalism, environmental awareness through entertainment.
Background
Founded by producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.
Live Earth 2007
The 1st series ...
'' series.
''Angry Kid's Dark Side''
A
straight-to-DVD episode featured on ''Aardman's Dark Side''
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
. Angry Kid is running in the forest, where he finds a bandaged-up version of himself as a girl. Angry Kid soon realizes that it is just a nightmare, and the imagery used here is also a reference to a scene from the 1981 horror cult classic film: ''
An American Werewolf in London
''An American Werewolf in London'' is a 1981 comedy horror film written and directed by John Landis. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and the United States, the film stars David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne and ...
''. Lil' Sis comes into his bedroom to ask if he is all right, and asks if he can play with her, but then she splits in two before him, which turns out to be yet another nightmare in reference to
''The Shining''. He wakes up again to find Speccy is at the foot of his bed, talking about maths and triangles. Angry Kid calls his nightmare nonsense, and Speccy dryly retorts that the real nightmare is when he wakes up. Angry Kid then realises that he is at school wearing a dress. Angry Kid is promptly told off by his teacher before Speccy keeps saying, "There's no place like home" 3 times (a reference to ''
The Wizard of Oz''). Angry Kid then hits Speccy with a shoe, and the nightmares end.
''Merry Christmas Stocking Song''
Angry Kid sings an acoustic Christmas song called ''Merry Christmas Stocking Song''. The video comes to Angry Kid is celebrating the side of a Christmas tree with an average of Santa Claus and he wanted to know what you got for
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...
. And he was given a leg. The video was recorded in 2004 and can be seen on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. At the end of the video says: ''Happy Christmas from Angry Kid''.
''My Vloggy''
A three part special released over December 2015. In ''My Exclusive Movie Review No.1'', Angry Kid reviews what he claims is the
Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In ''How To: Make a Donald Trump Xmas Decoration'', Angry Kid shows how to make
the figure out of a potato and shredded wheat. In ''My Christmas Vloggy'', Angry Kid shows the presents he received including Marmite toothpaste and dog excrement in a box.
Call Out!
Angry Kid asks the audience if there is something they would like him to comment on.
See also
*
Rex the Runt - Another Aardman Adult show starring Richard Goleszowski.
References
External links
*
{{Aardman Animations
1990s British adult animated television series
1998 British television series debuts
British adult animated comedy television series
British stop-motion animated television series
Claymation television series
Stop motion characters
Fictional English people
Television series by Aardman Animations
Television characters introduced in 1998
Adult animated web series
1998 web series debuts
Web series featuring puppetry
British comedy web series
British animated web series
2019 British television series endings
Channel 4 animated television series
BBC animated television series