''Uncle Max'' is a British children's comedy television series originally airing on

CITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

, and now

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 ...

. It features David Schneider as the title character, Uncle Max, and William Howe as Luke, Max's nine-year-old nephew, although in the second series Jonathon Hanly took over from William. The show is very similar in style to '' Mr. Bean'', with the basic premise being that Uncle Max is incapable of embarking on any adventure without upsetting another individual or group of individuals in some shape or form. The first series was filmed in Johannesburg in South Africa and produced by

Andy Rowley Andy Rowley (born 28 December 1959; Preston, Lancashire) is a British television producer known for his children's dramas, including '' Jeopardy'', which won a BAFTA Award for best children's drama in 2002, and '' Microsoap'', Prix Jeunesse winne ...

over a seven-week block in the summer of 2005, the show was written by David Schneider and 13 episodes were made for CITV and screened on the

channel in 2006. The second series was filmed in Galway, in Ireland. Schneider admitted in an interview for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' that parts of the series are references to

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in t ...

; the majority of the footage is a tribute to the cartoons which Schneider grew up with, cartoons such as ''

Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series centers on the ...

'', ''

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the original series, ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are ...

'' and ''

Wacky Races Eccentricity (also called quirkiness) is an unusual or odd behavior on the part of an individual. This behavior would typically be perceived as unusual or unnecessary, without being demonstrably maladaptive. Eccentricity is contrasted with no ...

''. Scheider also stated that the name of the Uncle is descended from his own uncle, Max Ward, who was born in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

but now lives in Hackney, London. Of his own Uncle Max, Schneider says that he used to get into all sorts of scrapes and adventures and would take the young David along for the ride. The programme contains very little spoken audio at all, instead vocal noises (such as gasping, grunting, moaning, panting, banging, sighing and a bit of broken vocal) similar to the type of voice

Rowan Atkinson Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles on the sitcoms '' Blackadder'' (1983–1989) and '' Mr. Bean'' (1990–1995), and the film series ''Johnny English'' (2003–20 ...

gives Mr. Bean in the animated series and the CITV show aimed for deaf children, '' ZZZap!''. It is made by Little Bird Pictures and marketed as a silent comedy. Many of the acts are exaggerated as in many kids shows and done in

slow motion Slow motion (commonly abbreviated as slo-mo or slow-mo) is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger in the early 20th century. This can be accomplished through the use ...

to create some tension.

List of episodes

Broadcasting

* United Kingdom –

(formerly shown on

) *

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

–

Ketnet Ketnet is a Dutch-language public children's television channel in Belgium owned and operated by the VRT, Flemish public broadcaster. It broadcasts a mix of locally produced and imported productions on the VRT3 channel from 6am until 8pm. On 1 D ...

References

External links

* * 2006 British television series debuts 2008 British television series endings 2000s British children's television series 2000s British teen sitcoms BBC children's television shows English-language television shows ITV children's television shows {{UK-tv-prog-stub