Spook Squad
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Spook Squad'' is a British
children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...
game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...
created by
BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...
. It ran on
CBBC CBBC 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 for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...
's section
BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...
and
BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...
from 6 January 2004, to 30 March 2004. The game show featured three children contestants entering a haunted
castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
in Scotland to assist Professor MacAbre in hunting ghosts before they reach their "death day" and gain superpowers. The show was filmed in Fyvie Castle.


Format

Spook Squad follows a repetitive format with each of its episodes. The game show's plot involves three children visiting a haunted castle in Scotland to gain a place in the Spook Squad, a league of Ghostbusters-like ghost hunters. They are met by Professor MacAbre (Andrew Pepper), an eccentric and rather cowardly paranormalist, who acts as the game show's host and gives instructions to the children when they play the games. Each episode involves the contestants and Professor Rupert MacAbre preventing ghosts who died in the castle from obtaining a valuable item on their death anniversaries, otherwise the ghosts will gain supernatural powers and immortality (e.g. The "Devilish
Debutante A debutante, also spelled débutante ( ; from , ), or deb is a young woman of aristocratic or upper-class family background who has reached maturity and is presented to society at a formal "debut" ( , ; ) or possibly debutante ball. Origin ...
" seeks a
necklace A necklace is an article of jewellery that is worn around the neck. Necklaces may have been one of the earliest types of adornment worn by humans. They often serve ceremonial, religious, magical, or funerary purposes and are also used as sy ...
or "The Headless
Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
" seeks a gauntlet). The antagonist to the contestants is the ghost of Lord MacAbre ( Ford Kiernan), Professor MacAbre's villainous
ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...
who sets up each game for the contestants. The contestants have until the last stroke of
midnight Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours. ...
to complete the task. The contestants' goal is to collect " ectoplasmic residue" of the ghosts in order to gain letters that will eventually spell out the item that the ghost is seeking. The contestants travel to two different rooms around the castle in search of the ectoplasm, but are placed into games by Lord MacAbre. There are at least three different games per episodes, including a memory game in which the contestants must match sound effects to their origins and then play them in a certain order; and a game where they have to play a
bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...
game of sorts involving knocking down
skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...
s using large rubber balls and mops to guide the balls. Other games include a maze or throwing hula-hoops over statuettes or memorising the features on different statues and placing them all on another statue. The third game involves a contestant going outside the castle, whether he or she enters the castle's dungeon or the graveyard to complete the third game. However, in the dungeon, they are locked in and must find a key to escape otherwise they remain in the dungeon, unless the other contestants forfeit some of the letters they have gained. In the final game, they enter the room the episode's ghost had died in. Professor MacAbre reveals the letters the contestants have gathered and asks them to spell out the correct item and then must locate it before midnight to win the game. If successful, the ghost will be banished from the castle and the contestants win medals and an "entry" into the Spook Squad, but if they fail then they are haunted by the evil ghost and run out of the castle .


References

{{Reflist British children's game shows British children's fantasy television series 2004 British television series debuts 2004 British television series endings 2000s British children's television series Television series about children