The Slammer
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The Slammer
''The Slammer'' (also known as ''The Slammer Returns'' for its final two series) is a children's talent show sitcom that was broadcast on BBC One and CBBC from 22 September 2006 until 26 July 2014. Set in a fictional prison called HM Slammer, this programme follows a variety show format where "prisoners" (who have been arrested for "showbiz"-related crimes) compete, by performing to an audience, who decide which act should be released. The show is produced by Steve Ryde, who also produced CBBC's ''Dick and Dom in Da Bungalow'' and its subsequent spin off, ''Harry Batt''. It was based on an item from Dick and Dom called 'The Strangely Talented': a game in which contestants performed their specialised acts in front of the "Bungalow Heads" to try to win the title of Strangely Talented Champion. Some of the supporting cast of ''Dick and Dom in Da Bungalow'' appear in ''The Slammer''; Dave Chapman, Ian Kirkby, Lee Barnett and Melvin Odoom. The show returned, after a two-year abse ...
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Ian Kirkby
Ian Kirkby is a British actor and writer. He is best known for his role as DI Harry Batt on the children's programme ''Dick and Dom in da Bungalow'' ''Diddy TV' Sandy Swashbuckle (TV series), Swashbuckle. Career In his early years, Kirkby became a member of the Central Junior Television Workshop. From there he was selected as an extra in 1987 in ITV (TV network), ITV sitcom, ''Hardwicke House''. In 1992, Kirkby graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and was employed in a number of minor roles in theatre and television productions. He also spent a year with the Royal Shakespeare Company and performed in the West End of London, West End. In 2003, Kirkby was hired by the BBC to play Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newcastle detective, Harry Batt on CBBC (TV channel), CBBC's ''Dick and Dom in da Bungalow''. Kirkby said he based the character of Harry Batt on a "Seventies The Sweeney, Sweeney stereotype, but with a Geordie accent." The character was only intended to be a one-time app ...
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Children's
A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority. Children generally have fewer rights and responsibilities than adults. They are classed as unable to make serious decisions. ''Child'' may also describe a relationship with a parent (such as sons and daughters of any age) or, metaphorically, an authority figure, or signify group membership in a clan, tribe, or religion; it can also signify being strongly affected by a specific time, place, or circumstance, as in "a child of nature" or "a child of the Sixties." Biological, legal and social definitions In the biological sciences, a child is usually defined as a person between birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. Legally, the term ''child'' may refer to anyone below ...
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CBBC (TV Channel)
CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air 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 7–16. Its sister channel CBeebies broadcasts programming and content for children aged under 7. It broadcasts every day from 7am to 7pm (7am to 9pm from 11 April 2016 to 4 January 2022), timesharing with BBC Three. History Launched on 11 February 2002 alongside its sister channel, CBeebies, which serves the under 6 audience, the name was previously used to brand all BBC Children's content carried on BBC One and BBC Two. CBBC was named Channel of the Year at the Children's BAFTA awards in November 2008, 2012 and 2015. The channel averages 300,000 viewers daily. The channel originally shared bandwidth on the digital terrestrial television platform with BBC Choice, and later BBC Three, needing that CBBC sign off at 7pm daily. On 22 August 2008 ...
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Clap-o-meter
A clap-o-meter, clapometer or applause meter is a measurement instrument that purports to measure and display the volume of clapping or applause made by an audience. It can be used to indicate the popularity of contestants and decide the result of competitions based on audience popularity. Specific implementations may or may not be based on an actual sound level meters. Clap-o-meters were a popular element in talent shows and television game shows in the 1950s and 1960s, most notably '' Opportunity Knocks'', BBCPress Your Buttons Now!/ref> but have been since been supplanted by other, more sophisticated, methods of measuring audience response. History One of the first appearances of a clap-o-meter was in 1956, on the British TV game show ''Opportunity Knocks'', developed and presented by Hughie Green. The clap-o-meter itself was a wooden box labelled "Audience Reaction Indicator". The prop is now part of the collection of the National Media Museum, in Bradford. Clap-o-meter ...
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Keith Harris (ventriloquist)
Keith Shenton Harris (21 September 1947 – 28 April 2015) was an English ventriloquist, best known for his television show '' The Keith Harris Show'' (1982–86), audio recordings, and club appearances with his puppets Orville the Duck and Cuddles the Monkey. He had a UK Top 10 hit single in 1982 with "Orville's Song" which reached number 4 in the charts. The son of variety performers, Harris assisted in his father's ventriloquy acts as a child; as a teenager, he created his own ventriloquism characters which he performed at holiday resorts in the summer season, attracting the attention of television producers. He debuted on screen in 1965 and became a popular act guest starring on various shows; he had his first solo series ''Cuddles and Company'' in the 1970s, but got his big break in 1982 with ''The Keith Harris Show''. He, Orville and Cuddles became popular performers on primetime television until ''The Quack Chat Show'' was cancelled in 1990, as audiences and television p ...
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Royal Variety Performance
The ''Royal Variety Performance'' is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the British royal family. The evening's performance is presented as a live variety show, usually from a theatre in London and consists of family entertainment that includes comedy, music, dance, magic and other speciality acts. The ''Royal Variety Performance'' traditionally begins with the entrance of the members of the royal family followed by singing of the national anthem, God Save the King, which was also performed by the participating acts as a traditional end to Royal Variety Performances; with the exception of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, as a result of which, As If We Never Said Goodbye opened that year's show instead, sung by that year's host, Jason Manford. Background and founding The first performance, on 1 July 1912, was called th ...
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Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime, and was head of state of 15 realms at the time of her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch and the longest verified reign of any female monarch in history. Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). Her father acceded to the throne in 1936 upon the abdication of his brother Edward VIII, making the ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth the heir presumptive. She was educated privately at home and began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In November 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten, a former prince ...
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Puppet
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods or strings to move the body, head, limbs, and in some cases the mouth and eyes of the puppet. The puppeteer often speaks in the voice of the character of the puppet, and then synchronizes the movements of the puppet's mouth with this spoken part. The actions, gestures and spoken parts acted out by the puppeteer with the puppet are typically used in storytelling. Puppetry is a very ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in Ancient Greece. There are many different varieties of puppets, and they are made from a wide range of materials, depending on their form and intended use. They range from very simple in construction and operation to very complex. Two simple types of puppets are the finger puppet, which is a tiny puppet that fits on ...
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Ventriloquist
Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ventriloquizing, and the ability to do so is commonly called in English the ability to "throw" one's voice. History Origins Originally, ventriloquism was a religious practice. The name comes from the Latin for 'to speak from the stomach: (belly) and (speak). The Greeks called this gastromancy ( grc-gre, εγγαστριμυθία). The noises produced by the stomach were thought to be the voices of the unliving, who took up residence in the stomach of the ventriloquist. The ventriloquist would then interpret the sounds, as they were thought to be able to speak to the dead, as well as foretell the future. One of the earliest recorded group of prophets to use this technique was the Pythia, the priestess at the temple of Apollo in Delphi, ...
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Mr Mackay
''Porridge (1974 TV series), Porridge'' is a British sitcom, starring Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale, written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and broadcast on BBC One, BBC1 from 1974 to 1977. The programme ran for three series, and included two Christmas specials and a feature film of the Porridge (film), same name (in the United States, the film was released under the title ''Doing Time''). The sitcom focuses on two prison inmates, Norman Stanley Fletcher (played by Barker) and Lennie Godber (played by Beckinsale), who are serving time at the fictional HM Prison, HMP Slade in Cumberland. Several characters from ''Porridge'' reappear in the sequel series ''Going Straight'' (1978) and in the 2003 spoof documentary ''Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher''. The 2016 Porridge (2016 TV series), sequel series of ''Porridge'' has different cast of characters, although Nigel Norman Fletcher in the 2016 series is the grandson of Norman Stanley Fletcher in the original seri ...
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Porridge (1974 TV Series)
Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, or it can be mixed with spices, meat or vegetables to make a savoury dish. It is usually served hot in a bowl, depending on its consistency. Oat porridge, or oatmeal, is one of the most common types of porridge. Gruel is a thinner version of porridge. Type of grains The term "porridge" is often used specifically for oat porridge (oatmeal), which is typically eaten for breakfast with salt, sugar, fruit, milk, cream or butter and sometimes other flavourings. Oat porridge is also sold in ready-made or partly cooked form as an instant breakfast. Other grains used for porridge include rice, wheat, barley, corn, triticale and buckwheat. Many types of porridge have their own names, such as congee, polenta, grits and kasha. Conventional uses ...
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Andrew Van Buren
Andrew Van Buren is a British multi skilled performer, illusionist, plate spinner and showman who specialises in presenting large-scale illusions, plate spinning routines, magic, juggling and circus style skills in all type of performance venues. Biography Andrew Van Buren spent his childhood touring the world with his parents' Fred Van Buren and Greta's magic and illusion show. Having been taken on stage for the first time at just six weeks old, he learned his trade growing up in theatres and circus, on-stage, off-stage and backstage as well as gaining experience in fairgrounds and on multiple television and film sets. During this time he teamed up with a Hungarian State Circus artiste who taught him the art of trick cycling, which led to his performing unicycling, juggling and plate spinning with real breakable plates. Andrew now tours his own shows and specialises in theatre, corporate and cabaret settings, cruise liners, television and outdoor events. Other than in a perf ...
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