''Zig and Zag'' is an
animated sitcom
An animated sitcom is a subgenre of the sitcom that is animation, animated instead of live action and is generally made or created for adult animation, adult audiences in most cases. ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''The Simpsons'', ''South Park'', and ...
series, commissioned by
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 ...
and
RTÉ
(RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...
and featuring the
extraterrestrial puppets
Zig and Zag from the planet Zog. It aired on
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 ...
and
RTÉjr
RTÉjr is an Irish free-to-air children's television channel operated by state-owned broadcaster RTÉ. The channel mainly targets a demographic of 2- to 7-year-olds, but some cartoons for older children also air. The channel is part of RTÉ K ...
.
Both Zig and Zag are voiced by the characters' original voice actors, creators and writers, Ciaran Morrison and Mick O'Hara.
Plot
Alien brothers Zig and Zag crash land in humdrum suburbia and set up home. On their fun filled adventures they 'make the most' of what Planet Earth has to offer.
Cast
*Ciaran Morrison as Zig (''Zigmund Ambrose Zogly'') a beige extraterrestrial. He is the brother of Zag.
*Mick O'Hara as Zag (''Zagnatius Hillary Zogly'') a purple extraterrestrial. He is the brother of Zig.
*
Debra Stephenson
Debra Stephenson (born 4 June 1972) is an English actress, comedian, impressionist and singer, best known for her roles as Diane Powell in ''Playing the Field'', Shell Dockley in '' Bad Girls'' and as Frankie Baldwin in ''Coronation Street''.
...
as Nellie.
*
Tara Flynn
Tara Flynn is an Irish actress and writer.
Career
Flynn has written three satirical books: ''You're Grand: The Irishwoman's Secret Guide to Life'', ''Giving Out Yards: The Art of Complaint, Irish Style'' and ''Rage-In: Trolls and Tribulations of ...
as Abs.
*
Paul Tylak
Paul Tylak is an Irish writer, actor and comedian.
Personal life
Paul Tylak was born to an Irish mother and Sri Lankan father, and grew up between Ireland and England. He attended the now closed De Burgh School in Tadworth, Surrey. He has live ...
as Pek
*
Inel Tomlinson
Inel Tomlinson is an actor, TV personality and stand-up comedian from London, best known for being one half of Johnny and Inel alongside Johnny Cochrane, the UK's first black comedy double act. As part of Johnny and Inel, the duo are well know ...
as Agent A. Gent
*Allen Doyle as Mrs. Eyebrows.
*Sam McGovern as Agent Honey
*Lisa Garvey as Mrs. Jones
The above actors also act as an ensemble cast providing all additional voices for recurring or one-off characters that feature in each episode.
Characters
Main
*Zig: A carefree alien with a heart of gold and a brain with the shape and processing power of a banana. He's not the brightest spark in the solar system, but he's endlessly enthusiastic, curious and ready for whatever adventures come his way.
*Zag: A classic older brother type; over confident, thinks he smarter than he really is and acts older than his age. Zag is always immaculately groomed with purple fur with green spots and in terms of fashion is always ‘on trend’. He also processes ‘super’ manners, employed when getting around influential adults or stubborn neighbours. In the episode "DI Why?", it is revealed that Zag's middle name is Hilary.
*Nellie: A fun pre-teen who helps her Dad out in the local
mini-mart. Nellie is opinionated and quick to pick apart Zig and Zag's Semi-thought-out plans, she usually redirects them on to the right path, even if unintentionally. She thinks Zig is cute and loves to play up to him with faux flirting to get a reaction but it always goes completely over his own head. She is an offhand with Zag as she doesn't like his affectations. More often than not Nellie becomes a valuable ally when things get really out of hand for Zig and Zag! She's probably the Z brothers' best friend on Earth.
Recurring
*Mrs. Eyebrows: Zig and Zag's enigmatic next door neighbour, an elderly woman who has an imaginary cat called Mr. President.
*Mr. Jones: Mr. Jones is a nervous, always running late type. His favourite thing of all is his ‘quiet time’, but that is more often than not ruined as Zig and Zag always run to him for any and every bit of ‘how things work on Earth’ advice. And despite his protestations, Mr. Jones has become their unwitting mentor.
* Mrs. Jones: Mrs. Jones is the opposite of her husband; larger than life, enthusiastic and is always striving to be the perfect neighbour! She often lands on Zig and Zag's doorstep with some freshly baked beetroot
macaroon
A macaroon ( ) is a small cake or biscuit, typically made from ground almonds (the original main ingredient), coconut or other nuts (or even potato), with sugar and sometimes flavourings (e.g. honey, vanilla, spices), food colouring, glacé che ...
s, so they ain’t complaining!
* Brie and Stilton: are the Jones’ strange staring children. They never utter a word, all you ever hear them doing is breathing loudly through their noses.
* Nellie's Dad: We never see Nellie's Dad's face. He is always stacking shelves up a ladder. He is always sent tumbling when Zig takes an item from the bottom of a recently stacked pile of goods, this is followed by Zag announcing over the shop's
Tannoy
Tannoy is a British manufacturer of loudspeakers and public address systems. Founded by Guy Fountain in London in 1926 as the Tulsemere Manufacturing Company, today the company is part of the Music Tribe group of brands.
History
Tannoy Ltd is ...
‘Clean up on aisle three!’!
*The Secret Agents: The two Agents work for P.A.N.T.S (Prevention of Alien Network Takeover Squad) Agent A. Gent is an old school
Man-in-Black, he has spent his whole career convinced that Earth is going to be invaded by aliens, but it never happened! He was just about to retire when Zig and Zag crash-landed in his neighbourhood. At last, the alien invasion he predicted is imminent! To get him out of the office and out of his hair his boss tasks Agent A. Gent and a level headed young operative Agent Honey to keep an eye on Zig and Zag... just in case.
* Abs & Pek Von Pumpiniron: The Von Pumpiniron's are an ex-tumbling act who now run the local Megagym. They live next door to Zig and Zag, are super-sporty and highly competitive. It's a mystery to Zig and Zag whether Abs is male or female. Pek doesn't speak any English, however Zig some how understands his every word.
* 'The Marshmallow of Destiny: Zig has a marshmallow that he keeps in his anorak pocket. He only seeks the mallow's advice in times of extreme crisis. Zig is the only one who hears or sees the MOD imparting his wise advice.
Production
On 15 April 2015 it was announced that a new animated Zig and Zag series was in production for
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 ...
and
RTÉ
(RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...
. On 16 August 2015 the theme tune was composed and recorded by
Ricky Wilson and
Simon Rix
Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who formed in 2000 as Parva, releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their current name that same year. Since their formation the band h ...
from the band
Kaiser Chiefs
Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who formed in 2000 as Parva, releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their current name that same year. Since their formation the band h ...
. It was also announced that it would start in early 2016.
Episodes
Series 1 (2016)
The first series of twenty six episodes began broadcasting on
RTÉjr
RTÉjr is an Irish free-to-air children's television channel operated by state-owned broadcaster RTÉ. The channel mainly targets a demographic of 2- to 7-year-olds, but some cartoons for older children also air. The channel is part of RTÉ K ...
on 1 March 2016 and
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 ...
on 25 April 2016.
Shorts (2016–17)
A series of shorts, known as ''Zogcasts'' air on CBBC.
Music
*Theme Tune: The forty second theme tune entitled ‘5,4,3,2,1’ was created by
Ricky Wilson and
Simon Rix
Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who formed in 2000 as Parva, releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their current name that same year. Since their formation the band h ...
from British indie rock band
Kaiser Chiefs
Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who formed in 2000 as Parva, releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their current name that same year. Since their formation the band h ...
who were fans of
Zig and Zag from their time of
The Big Breakfast
''The Big Breakfast'' is a British breakfast light entertainment television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4. Originally presented by Chris Evans and Gaby Roslin, the show was latterly presented by Mo Gilligan and AJ Odudu.
The pro ...
.
*The Zog Drop: In every episode when
Zig and Zag have that eureka moment that sends them on their way to glory (or failure) they burst into a spontaneous
Haka
Haka (; plural ''haka'', in both Māori and English) are a variety of ceremonial performance art in Māori culture. It is often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted or chanted accompani ...
style dance created by composer for the series Jonathan Casey.
References
{{reflist
2016 British television series debuts
2010s British animated television series
2010s British children's television series
2010s British teen sitcoms
2016 Irish television series debuts
British children's animated comedy television series
Irish children's animated comedy television series
British flash animated television series
Irish flash animated television series
BBC children's television shows
RTÉ original programming
Animated television series about brothers
Animated television series about extraterrestrial life