''Hank Zipzer'' is a British

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

, based on the ''

Hank Zipzer The ''Hank Zipzer: The World's Greatest Underachiever'Hank Zipzer: The Mostly True Confessions of the World's Best Underachiever'' in Books 1–3 and ''Hank Zipzer: The World's Best Underachiever'' in Book 4. series of American children's books ...

'' book series by

Henry Winkler Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE (born October 30, 1945), is an American actor, comedian, author, executive producer, and director. After rising to fame as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the American television series '' Happy Days'', Winkler has ...

and Lin Oliver. It stars Nick James as the 12-year-old

dyslexic Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

schoolboy, Hank Zipzer. Winkler also portrays Mr. Rock, Hank's music teacher. Unlike the books that took place in Winkler's native

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, the series takes place in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. It also included a 2016 Christmas special, '' Hank Zipzer's Christmas Catastrophe''.

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Ne ...

began streaming all three seasons on May 13, 2022, and will begin streaming ''Hank Zipzer's Christmas Catastrophe'' on December 2, 2022.

Plot

The series focuses on the misadventures of Hank Zipzer, a 12-year-old schoolboy in

who is

. Hank's friends are named Frankie and Ashley, and Nick McKelty is his worst enemy.

Cast

Episodes

The first season premiered in January 2014 on

CBBC 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 ...

. Unlike the books that took place in

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, the series takes place in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. The second season began airing on 13 August 2015.

Javone Prince Javone Prince is a British comedian and actor. He has appeared in many British comedy television shows, such as '' Horrible Histories'', ''Sorry, I've Got No Head'' and ''Little Miss Jocelyn.'' He also Featured in The Dumping Ground as the char ...

made his first appearance as Mr. Joy in series 2, episode 5, "Hank's Hero". The third season began airing on 26 May 2016, which was followed by an 84-minute Christmas television film, '' Hank Zipzer's Christmas Catastrophe,'' in December 2016.

Production

Development

has stated that they "could not sell the show in America. We couldn't sell the books. They said, 'Oh Hank Zipzer is so funny...but we won't do the television show. So we sold it to the BBC." At a later date, after the series was successful on the BBC, it was broadcast on the

Universal Kids Universal Kids is an American children's television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The channel launched on September 26, 2005, as PBS Kids Sprout, a preschool-oriented channel joint ...

Channel in the United States.

commissioned the series in 2013 to be produced by

Kindle Entertainment Kindle Entertainment is an independent television production company based in London, England. Kindle Entertainment was formed after ITV Kids (a section of ITV Productions) was closed, and current personnel includes Anne Brogan, the former cont ...

, and filming commenced in October 2013. Matt Bloom was the lead director on all three series.

Casting

Nick James was cast as Hank, while

was cast as the music teacher Mr. Rock (who was based on a music teacher Winkler once had in high school at McBurney). Winkler said that the real Mr. Rock was the only teacher in his high school who believed in him. In particular, when he was in the eleventh grade, this teacher told him: “Winkler if you ever do get out of here you are going to be great,” a statement that helped him get through school.

Filming

The show was filmed at

St Catherine's Catholic High School St Catherine's Catholic High School was a Catholic comprehensive secondary school in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. The school was named after Catherine of Siena. It was an 11 to 18 comprehensive school, with a post 16 curriculum delivered ...

in Halifax,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

for series 1–2. Series 3 was filmed at

Birkdale High School Birkdale High School was a secondary school located in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. History The school's buildings were constructed in two distinct phases; the older building, comprising mainly the former Wheelwright Grammar School for ...

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudd ...

Series changes

Second series

On 9 June 2014, Cheryl Taylor, the CBBC Controller, announced that the show had been renewed for a second series of thirteen episodes. Nick James,

, Felicity Montagu, and Nick Mohammed were all confirmed to return, as Hank, Mr. Rock, Miss Adolf, and Mr. Love respectively. Additionally,

joined the main cast as Mr. Joy. Jon Macqueen replaced script editors Lucy Guy and Danny Springs, while Jim Poyser joined as a producer. Returning writers include Mark Oswin and Madeleine Brettingham, who each wrote one episode and former script editor Lucy Guy, who wrote two. Several new writers worked on the second series, including Jon Macqueen (two episodes), Mark Evans (one episode), and Adam G. Goodwin & Jonathan Parkyn (one episode).

Cancellation

In April 2017, Neil Fitzmaurice, who plays Stan, Hank's father, confirmed that there will not be a new series of the show.

Reception

Release

Announcements began to circulate in November 2013 that

(the BBC's children's channel) had commissioned a television series of thirteen 30-minute episodes based on the Hank Zipzer books, while

, Walker Productions, and DHX Media partnered to create the series that would be debuting in early 2014. Winkler also announced the debut of the series at the 2013

British Academy of Film and Television Arts British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

awards.

Broadcasts

The show ran for three series (and one Christmas special), from January 2014 to December 2016 on the

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– ...

. All three seasons of the series stream globally on

, and in the U.K. on

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

began streaming '' Hank Zipzer's Christmas Catastrophe'' on December 2, 2022.

Awards

Nick James won the

British Academy Children's Awards The British Academy Children's Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). They have been awarded annually since 1996, before which time they were a part of the main British Aca ...

for

Performer The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfor ...

for his portrayal of Hank Zipzer in 2016. When discussing the award, James noted that he has received tweets from parents and children that the show has helped them understand and come to terms with dyslexia.