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''The Magic Key'' is a British educational animated television series based on the "Biff, Chip and Kipper" stories from the Oxford Reading Tree published by
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, originally written by Roderick Hunt and illustrated by Alex Brychta. The series is a co-production between Collingwood O'Hare Entertainment Limited and
HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (commonly written as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Sop ...
, in association with the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and aired within the
BBC Schools BBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges, is the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From launch until June 1983, programming was based o ...
strand on BBC Two from 2000 until 2001.


Plot

The series centres on the lives of three children, Biff, Chip and Kipper Robinson, their parents, their grandmother, their friends, Wilf and Wilma Page, Nadim Shah, Anneena Patel and the Robinsons' dog, Floppy. Floppy wears a collar around his neck with a golden key upon it. The key is magic, as the title suggests, and seems to do some strange things whenever one of the children asks a question and Floppy wishes for something. It starts to glow and transports the 7 children, Floppy and sometimes the Robinsons' grandmother through a vortex to other worlds, where they have exciting adventures, such as dealing with trolls in a cavern, being characters inside of a computer game, or finding the Fountain of Youth and when the adventure is done, they get a gift and the key glows and they all go home. Alongside the main story, to fit in with the book's original educational values, there are helpful hints towards teaching children the best use of English.


Characters

* Kipper Robinson * Biff Robinson * Chip Robinson * Mum * Dad * Floppy the dog * Gran Robinson * Wilf Page * Wilma Page * Anneena Patel * Nadim Shah * Mrs. May


Original Stories

The ''Oxford Reading Tree'' series was first published in 1985 with a set of 30 stories, and there are now over 300 stories altogether. It is used by more than 80% of schools in the United Kingdom, and has been translated into numerous languages in over 120 countries. The books are aimed at children aged four to nine, and could form part of an English language syllabus in line with the
National curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with state or other ...
, designed to help children learn to speak and read Standard English. The original book that the series is named after was first published in January 1986. It has many differences from what the TV series would have, with the titular item being kept inside a chest instead of on Floppy's collar. The latter would not always be on every adventure with the key, either and the adventures would take place in a magic doll house.


Broadcast

It ran on the
BBC Schools BBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges, is the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From launch until June 1983, programming was based o ...
strand on BBC Two from 2000 to 2008 and it was also on the
CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) 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 bran ...
strand on
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
strand from October 2000 to March 2001. It also aired on
CBBC 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– ...
's ''Class TV'' strand in 2003 and again in 2007. It also ran during the
BBC Learning Zone The BBC Learning Zone (previously The Learning Zone) was an educational strand run by the BBC as an overnight service on BBC Two. It shows programming aimed at students in Primary, Secondary and Higher Education and to adult learners. Viewers ...
late night strand between August and September and again in December 2006. A Welsh version titled ''Yr Allwedd Hud'' was broadcast on the '' S4C Ysgolion'' strand from 2001 to 2004.


Episodes


Merchandise/Home Media

To coincide with the TV series, Oxford University Press published a series of books based on the episodes in 2000.
HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (commonly written as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Sop ...
released six VHS tapes of the series. The first two – "Troll Talk and Other Stories" and "The Rook King and Other Stories" were released on October 30, 2000. The other three – "Capital Letters And Full Stops". "Adjectives And Labels", and "Sentences And Questions", were released on September 24, 2001, and were aimed to teach children the basics of the English language. Another VHS titled "The Flying Circus and Other Stories" was released in the same year, 2001. HIT would later release all 26 episodes on a two-disc box set on September 11, 2006.


References


External links


The Magic Key website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Magic Key Series of children's books British television shows based on children's books British children's animated adventure television series British children's animated education television series British children's animated fantasy television series BBC children's television shows 2000 British television series debuts 2001 British television series endings 2000s British animated television series English-language television shows Animated television series about children Animated television series about dogs Television series by Mattel Creations HIT Entertainment CBeebies