''Space Pirates'' is a British 2007 children's television series created by Tony Reed, originally shown on

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content targeted for children aged six year ...

. It uses a mixture of live action and animation, set aboard a spaceship called "Guisto" which orbits

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

. It starred Luke Toulson as Captain DJ, and featured the voice of (then) Radio 1 newsreader

Dominic Byrne Dominic Anthony Byrne (born 10 November 1972) is a British newsreader, presenter, songwriter, musician, and professional comedian. Byrne currently works on the Chris Moyles Breakfast show on Radio X (United Kingdom), Radio X, having previous ...

as an alien news/weather/travel reporter called Zorst. There are 30 half-hour episodes which were first shown from 3 November 2007 until 22 March 2008.

Background

Space Pirates was commissioned for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

channel. The show is now designed to reach all ages and "bring the whole family together to explore a diverse range of musical performances."''Space Pirates - Information for grown-ups''
According to the

, for 6 weeks from 9 November 2007, viewers could press the red button on their TV remote controls and choose which of the three songs they wanted to listen to at the very end of the show. The show has also featured on the CBeebies slot on

BBC Radio 7 BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It mostly broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes, and is the sister station of Radio 4. It is the pri ...

. In 2008, the episode "''Music to Paint to''" was nominated for a Banff World Television Award. The show was also nominated for ''Best Pre-School Live Action Series'' at the 2008 BAFTA Children's Awards.

Storyline

The space ship ''Guisto'' is led by Captain DJ, (played by Luke Toulson) who is very vain and stupid. It just orbits planet

searching for music for the radio show, ''Guisto Radio''. The tenuous storyline in every episode usually involves two space-wise kids, eight-year-old Honk and six-year-old Tonk, who are played by children. They trick Captain DJ and Lippy by selling him something worthless for lots of

doubloon The doubloon (from Spanish language, Spanish ''doblón'', or "double", i.e. ''double escudo'') was a two-''Spanish escudo, escudo'' gold coin worth approximately four Spanish dollars or 32 ''Spanish real, reales'', and weighing 6.766 grams (0.218 ...

s or

junk food "Junk food" is a term used to describe food that is high in calorie#Nutrition, calories from macronutrients such as sugar and fat, and often also high in sodium, making it hyperpalatable, and low in dietary fiber, Protein (nutrient), protein, or m ...

. Lippy is a five-year-old half

parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...

and half

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic (), or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publi ...

who often makes fun of Captain DJ. Captain DJ's real name is occasionally revealed (as "Leslie"). Also featured is a newsreader/weather forecaster/traffic reporter called Zorst, who is a green

barnacle Barnacles are arthropods of the subclass (taxonomy), subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacean, Crustacea. They are related to crabs and lobsters, with similar Nauplius (larva), nauplius larvae. Barnacles are exclusively marine invertebra ...

who clings to the

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

of the ship (near the e''xhaust'', hence his name). He always ends his reports with bad

joke A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with dialogue, ...

s (followed by the line "If you don't get it, just forget it"). There are always 3 musical acts per episode, one either performed live on set (or specially recorded in another location), one pop-video, and one cover song by three rats called The Jingles - Windy, Stringy and Brassy. A group of children on Earth, called the ''Pirate Posse'', get to vote on which song was the best and who they want to hear again, which always plays out the show.

Music

The theme tune to the series, written by Darren Loveday and former Busted keyboardist Chris Banks, was released as a single available for download on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

Chris Moyles Christopher David Moyles (born 22 February 1974) is an English radio and television presenter, author and presenter of '' The Chris Moyles Show'' on Radio X. Previously he presented '' The Chris Moyles Show'' on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2012 ...

popularised the song by playing it on his radio show, hoping to get it into the UK charts and beat ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'' Christmas single ("

When You Believe "When You Believe" is a song made for the 1998 DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks musical animated feature ''The Prince of Egypt'', with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. A pop single version of "When You Believe" performed by American singers ...

" by

Leon Jackson Leon Jackson (born 30 December 1988) is a Scottish singer. He won the The X Factor (British series 4), fourth series of the British talent show ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor'' in 2007. Following his win, Jackson was the main ...

). The result of Moyles' campaign was that the song completely failed to have any impact on the UK Singles Chart, although the song did spend eleven weeks at position number one on the

Children's Chart.chrisbanks.co.uk
- retrieved 30 July 2008 Moyles later played a mashup of the song that mixed it with the theme tune from

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, three eccentric ...

, the irony being that the mashup was actually created by Chris Banks himself. Acts which appear on the show include: The Ebony Steel Band,

McFly McFly are a British pop rock band formed in London in 2003. The band took their name from the ''Back to the Future (franchise), Back to the Future'' character Marty McFly. The band consists of Tom Fletcher (lead vocals, guitar, and piano), Da ...

The Cheeky Girls The Cheeky Girls are a Romanian singing duo consisting of identical twin sisters Gabriela and Monica Irimia. After appearing as auditionees on '' Popstars: The Rivals'', they achieved success in the UK charts with four top 10 hits between 2002 ...

Jamelia Jamelia Niela Davis (born 11 January 1981) is a British singer, actress and television personality. Her three studio albums each peaked inside the Top 40 and they spawned eight top-10 singles. In addition, Jamelia has won four MOBO Awards, a Q ...

The Drifters The Drifters are an American pop and R&B/soul vocal group. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, formed in 1959 and ...

, The Puppini Sisters, Julie Felix, the

London Community Gospel Choir The London Community Gospel Choir is Britain's first renowned contemporary "performance touring, inspirational gospel choir band", fusing gospel with multi-genres of music, including pop, soul, jazz, R&B, and classical. It was founded in 198 ...

, and The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

Cast

*Captain DJ (aka 'Leslie'): Luke Toulson *Lippy the Parrot Microphone: Adam Carter *Honk the Girl who is Tonk's older sister: Kirsty Rider *Tonk the Boy who is Honk's younger brother: Connor Panayi *The Jingles a trio of space rats: **Stringy: Brian Herring **Brassy: Sarah Burgess **Windy: Dave Chapman *Zorst the Barnacle:

*The Jolly Rogers: Stephen Cannon *Assistant Puppeteers: William Banyard, Yvonne Stone, Warrick Brownlow-Pike

Episodes

References

External links

Official Space Pirates website on CBeebies
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Space Pirates (Series) BBC children's television shows British science fiction television shows Television series by BBC Studios Television series about pirates