Big Kids facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Big Kids
Big Kids logo
Genre	Children's Comedy Drama
Created by	Lucy Daniel-Raby
Developed by	Elaine Sperber
Directed by	Baz Taylor
Starring	Imogen Stubbs Duncan Duff Matt Adams Kelly Salmon
Composer(s)	Tony Flynn
Country of origin	United Kingdom United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producer(s)	Cas Lester
Producer(s)	Jacinta Peel Janet Wray (assistant)
Editor(s)	Ian Williams
Camera setup	Peter Woodley
Running time	24 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC One (UK) Noggin (U.S.)
Original release	27 September (2000-09-27) – 20 December 2000 (2000-12-20)

Big Kids is a 13-episode children's comedy television series created by Lucy Daniel-Raby. The series was a British-American co-production of the BBC and the US network Noggin. It premiered on CBBC on BBC One on 27 September 2000 and on the Noggin channel on 29 January 2001. All 13 episodes were aired on Noggin's sister channel, Nickelodeon, from 9 to 30 March 2001.

Plot

The show follows the lives of the Spiller family: Simon, Kate, and their parents, Sarah, a piano teacher, and Geoff, a doctor. When the family attend a school charity event, Dr. and Mrs. Spiller are used in a performance by a hypnotist known by the stage name Ming the Mind Master. After the show is over, Kate and Simon realize their parents have never been properly hypnotized. At seemingly random moments, they black out and begin to act like children.

The two siblings have to deal with keeping their parents under control in their hypnotized state, trying to get their parents to believe what happens when they black out, and trying to discover what triggers the change. Often there's a role reversal, with Sarah and Geoff engaging during trances in behaviour for which they would otherwise scold their children, and Kate and Simon being forced to act like mature adults.

Eventually, the children convince their parents by showing them filmed footage, and discover the trigger is any word with "ming" in it, just like the hypnotist's name. They finally track down Ming and convince him to unhypnotize the Spiller parents, apparently restoring them to normal. However, their childish behaviour on the carousel leaves the children confused – whether Sarah and Geoff are acting like this deliberately or have fallen back into a state of hypnosis is left ambiguous.

Episode list

1. Performance by a Hypnotist
2. Kate Avoids Friends
3. Videotaping Mum and Dad
4. Library/Shopping
5. Restaurant
6. New Car/Concert
7. Museum
8. Aunt Muriel
9. Chicken Pox
10. Puppy
11. Simon Pursues Melanie
12. Trigger Revealed
13. Finding Hypnotist

Cast

• Duncan Duff - Dr. Geoffrey "Geoff" Spiller
• Imogen Stubbs - Sarah Spiller
• Matt Adams - Simon Spiller
• Kelly Salmon - Kate Spiller
• Sam Green - Jake Tyler
• Jasper Britton - Ming
• Amanda Fairbank-Hynes - Becky
• Barnaby Francis - Edward Bagley

Awards and nominations

• Big Kids at BBC Programmes