Megamaths facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Megamaths |
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Opening titles of the second and third series
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| Genre | Educational children's series |
| Written by | Neil Ben (Series 1–3) Chris Lillicrap (Series 1) Michael Malaghan (Series 1–4) Kjartan Poskitt (Series 1) Simon Davies (Series 2–7) |
| Directed by | Neil Ben (Series 1–3) Ken Robertson (Series 4) |
| Starring |
List
Jenny Hutchinson (Joker, Series 1)
Gareth Jones (Joker, Series 2–4) Tony Armatrading (King of Clubs, Series 1–4) Simon Davies (King of Diamonds, Series 1–4/Colin Cool & Harry Fraction, Series 5–7) Andrew Grainger (King of Hearts & Jack of Clubs, Series 1–4) Paul Raffield (King of Spades & Jack of Hearts, Series 1–3) Paul Leonard (King of Spades, Series 4) Liz Crowther (Queen of Diamonds, Series 1) Carolyn Pickles (Queen of Diamonds, Series 2–3) Anne Keaveney (Queen of Diamonds, Series 4) Janine Duvitski (Queen of Hearts, Series 1) Annee Blott (Queen of Hearts, Series 2–3) Julia Deakin (Queen of Hearts, Series 4) Polly Highton (Queen of Spades, Series 1) Souad Faress (Queen of Spades, Series 2–3) Su Douglas (Queen of Spades, Series 4) Josette Bushell-Mingo (Jackie of Diamonds, Series 1) Isobel Middleton (Jackie of Spades, Series 1–3) Jan Goodman (Jackie of Spades, Series 4) Ginny Holder (Five of Hearts, Series 2) Albey Brooks (Urchin, Series 2) Craig Heaney (Maths Man, Series 5) Kim Vithana (Her Wholeness, Series 5) Liz Anson (Sue Harker, Series 5) Paul Vates (Maths Man, Series 6–7) Clive Perrott (His Wholeness, Series 6–7) Paven Virk (Princess Nebulous, Series 7) |
| Voices of |
List
Kim Chandler (Digit, Series 1–4)
Paul Mark Elliot (Brimstone, Series 1–4) Sam Elsayeb (Series 1) Laura Harling (Series 1) Marie Phillips (Goyle, Series 1–4) Phil Woodfine (Gar, Series 1–4) Su Douglas (VERA, Series 6–7) |
| Composer(s) | Sandy Nuttgens (Series 1–4) Mike Scott (Series 1–4) Archie Brown (Series 5–7) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 7 |
| No. of episodes | 40 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Anne Brogan (Series 2–3) Clare Elstow (Series 4–7) |
| Producer(s) | David Scott-Cowan (Series 1–3) Andrea Christodoulou (Series 2–3) Elaine Mullings (Series 4) Allan Johnston (Series 5–7) |
| Running time | 20 minutes (Series 1–6) 15 minutes (Series 7) |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC Two |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original release | 16 September 1996 – 4 February 2002 |
Megamaths is a BBC educational television series for primary schools that was originally aired on BBC Two from 16 September 1996 to 4 February 2002. For its first four series, it was set in a castle on top of Table Mountain, populated by the four card suits (Kings, Queens and Jacks/Jackies, and a Joker who looked after children that visited the castle and took part in mathematical challenges). There were two gargoyles at the portcullis of the castle who spoke mostly in rhyme, and an animated dragon called Brimstone who lived in the castle cellar (with his pet kitten, Digit). Each episode featured a song explaining the episode's mathematical content.
The three remaining series, however, were set in a "Superhero School" space station, featuring a trainee superhero named Maths Man who was initially guided by a female tutor, Her Wholeness, in the fifth series, and later by a male tutor, His Wholeness, in the sixth and seventh series. In the fifth series, there were also recurring sketches of a quiz show named Find that Fraction hosted by Colin Cool (played by Simon Davies who co-wrote the second to fourth series with director Neil Ben and had played the King of Diamonds in all four Table Mountain series), and a sports show named Sports Stand hosted by Sue Harker (a spoof of Sue Barker, who was played by Liz Anson) and Harry Fraction (a spoof of Harry Gration, who was also played by Simon Davies), along with a supervillain named The Diddler who Maths Man had to solve mathematical problems caused by when he ventured down to Earth (in the final episode, she was revealed to actually be Her Wholeness in disguise). In the sixth series, the Superhero School gained an on-board computer named VERA (whose initials stood for "Voice-Enhanced Resource Activator", and was voiced by Su Douglas who also played the Queen of Spades in the fourth series) and a character named 2D3D who appeared in his virtual reality glasses (Maths Man now also spoke directly to the audience when he ventured down to Earth calling them his "Maths Team", and His Wholeness set a puzzle for them at the end of each episode). In the seventh and final series, the episodes were shortened from twenty minutes to fifteen, and again featured Maths Man getting sent down to Earth to solve mathematical problems in everyday life.
Contents
Series 1: Tables (1996)
The first series, which was co-written by Christopher Lillicrap (who had previously written the first, second and fourth series of the BBC's earlier primary maths show, Numbertime, as well as the El Nombre sketches of its third series), comprised ten episodes focusing on multiplication. Each episode opened and ended with the episode's table being chanted, and the Joker (played by Jenny Hutchinson) introduced it in rhyme while speaking directly to the audience (she would also welcome teams of schoolchildren who came to visit the castle and give them advice as they took part in mathematical challenges). The two gargoyles, Gar (male) and Goyle (female), also made observations on the mathematical happenings in the castle then summarised what its residents learned near the end of each episode (the week's table would also be displayed on the portcullis as it lowered), and the castle pets, Brimstone the dragon and Digit the kitten (who were drawn by Bevanfield Films in this series), had their own adventures below stairs in the cellar.
This series was originally aired on Mondays as part of the BBC's schools programmes strand, then entitled Daytime on Two, at 9:40am.
| No. overall |
No. in series |
Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Two Times" | 16 September 1996 |
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This episode introduces the concept of the times sign for multiplying, and the two times table. To celebrate the invention of the times sign by the Kings, the Queen of Spades makes a two times table banner in their new counting house for the Two cards. |
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| 2 | 2 | "Five Times" | 23 September 1996 |
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The Jack of Clubs and the Five cards must sow twenty sunflower seeds in equal rows, and the Queen of Spades works out the wages. |
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| 3 | 3 | "Ten Times" | 30 September 1996 |
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The King of Clubs orders a waistcoat with ten silver buttons. But all the other Kings, on hearing the news, want to outdo each other, and Ace Tailors end up with a hundred silver buttons to sew altogether. |
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| 4 | 4 | "Three Times" | 7 October 1996 |
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The Queen of Hearts gets more than she bargains for when she tries to buy a new pair of gloves and socks, but finds that the Three cards' stall at the courtyard sale only sells things in sets of three. |
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| 5 | 5 | "Six Times" | 14 October 1996 |
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The Jack of Clubs and the Six cards have to make a celery and salami soup for six people, and the King of Spades invents a Times Machine but it keeps coming up with the wrong answers. |
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| 6 | 6 | "Nine Times" | 28 October 1996 |
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It is the Queen of Diamonds' birthday, and all her presents are in nines. But it is possible to have too much of a good thing. |
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| 7 | 7 | "Four Times" | 4 November 1996 |
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The King of Clubs orders a table, but once again the other Kings seek to outdo him, and Ace Carpenters end up having a very busy day. |
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| 8 | 8 | "Eight Times" | 11 November 1996 |
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The Jackie of Diamonds and the Eight cards are trying to make a multiple pie – all the ingredients must be in multiples of eight. But the Eight of Diamonds is ill and the Ace of Diamonds from Ace Catering is sent to take her place, with disastrous results. |
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| 9 | 9 | "Seven Times" | 18 November 1996 |
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The Seven cards must provide thirty-five apples for the Queen of Hearts' tarts – but there must be the same number of apples on each tree. |
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| 10 | 10 | "Big Numbers" | 25 November 1996 |
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The castle residents are off on holiday, but it is going to take some big multiplication to work out how much of everything they need to take with them. |
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Series 2: Money (January–February 1998)
The second series, which was produced in 1997 after the BBC's corporate change (as evidenced by the then-new BBC logo at the end of each episode), comprised five episodes focusing on money to particular amounts. Each episode opened with an auction where the royals bid each other up to that week's money amount, and this series also saw the arrival of a new Joker played by former Children's ITV host Gareth Jones (but while the original Joker possessed the ability to appear and disappear by snapping her fingers, he did not possess any magical powers). Brimstone and Digit also underwent a redesign in this series by new animators Tony Garth Films Ltd, and their appearance was significantly different to how they had originally appeared for the first series (as they looked more comical).
This series and the next two were originally screened on Tuesdays as part of the newly renamed Schools Programmes strand at 11:15am.
| No. overall |
No. in series |
Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | "Money to 20p" | 13 January 1998 |
| The King of Hearts spends all his different coins of 20p at the Ace Launderette while cleaning the Queen of Hearts' silk handkerchief. | |||
| 12 | 2 | "Money to 50p" | 20 January 1998 |
| The King of Spades is the highest bidder at an auction and wins a magnificent rickshaw, but it turns out to be more trouble than it is worth when Ace Clamper gets involved. | |||
| 13 | 3 | "Money to £1" | 27 January 1998 |
| The Jack of Clubs accidentally does the King of Clubs out of one pound when he buys what turns out to be a set of five glass bottles. They hatch a plan to make back the money by filling the bottles with moat water and tricking the other royals into thinking it is a miraculous cure-all-ills medicine called "Ol' Peculiar Wonder Juice". But things do not end well. | |||
| 14 | 4 | "Money to £5" | 3 February 1998 |
| The Queen of Diamonds never accepts change, and pays the price for it when she overspends on a shopping spree. | |||
| 15 | 5 | "Money to £10" | 10 February 1998 |
| When the King of Diamonds sells one of his magnificent diamonds for ten pounds, he decides to spend it on a complete makeover. But it proves to be more trouble than it is worth. | |||
Series 3: Division (February–March 1998)
The third series, which was again produced in 1997 after the BBC's corporate change (as evidenced by the then-new BBC logo at the end of each episode), comprised five episodes focusing on division by particular amounts. Each episode featured a quintet of acrobats who would repeatedly rearrange themselves to show how division was related to multiplication, and because this series was aired directly after the second one, they could have been seen as one series until they were issued as separate Video Plus Packs (reflecting that they were not).
| No. overall |
No. in series |
Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 1 | "Divide by Two" | 24 February 1998 |
| The Kings play football, and must work on their division as well as their footballing skills. Then the King of Spades builds a Division Machine from America. | |||
| 17 | 2 | "Divide by Four" | 3 March 1998 |
| The Jack of Clubs and the Four cards must make a new bench for the castle gardens. | |||
| 18 | 3 | "Divide by Ten" | 10 March 1998 |
| The Queen of Diamonds wants her number cards kitted out with splendid new shirts, which means a lot of work for Ace Tailors. | |||
| 19 | 4 | "Divide by Five" | 17 March 1998 |
| It is the annual Kings' Cooks Day, and the Kings of Clubs and Diamonds must serve a top-notch meal to five number cards – or they will have to try again next year. | |||
| 20 | 5 | "Divide by Three" | 24 March 1998 |
| The Spades find the long lost treasure of an ancient pirate Ace, but dividing it between them proves difficult. | |||
Series 4: Measure (1999)
The fourth series, which was produced in 1998 (and the last to be set at the castle on Table Mountain), comprised five episodes focusing on units of measurement. Brimstone and Digit also underwent a second redesign for their final series by second new animators Blue Sunflower Animation, but their appearance was only slightly different to how they had appeared for the second and third series.
| No. overall |
No. in series |
Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 1 | "Sports Day" | 12 January 1999 |
| It is Sports Day, and everyone is fed up of the King of Diamonds always winning. Will this year be different? This episode explains centimetres. | |||
| 22 | 2 | "The King's New Clothes" | 19 January 1999 |
| The King of Spades wants a groovy new tunic for speech day, as this year his theme is how to look cool. But he does not know the first thing about units of measurement. This episode explains millimetres. | |||
| 23 | 3 | "Decorating" | 26 January 1999 |
| Ace Painters and Decorators demonstrate different types of rulers as they help the King and Queen of Diamonds redecorate. This episode explains metres. | |||
| 24 | 4 | "Treasure Hunt" | 2 February 1999 |
| The Aces organise a surprise treasure hunt for the royals, which will test their measuring skills. This episode explains kilometres. | |||
| 25 | 5 | "Holidays" | 9 February 1999 |
| The Kings and Queens prepare for their holidays. The Kings must measure their suitcases, and the Queen of Spades must work out the distance they all have to walk on their hiking trip. This episode recaps all the units of measurement. | |||
Series 5: Fractions (2000)
The fifth series, which was produced in 1999, comprised five episodes focusing on fractions and decimals (and was the first to be set at the Superhero School space station). The trainee superhero, Maths Man (played by Craig Heaney), was guided by his mathematical tutor Her Wholeness (played by Kim Vithana), with recurring sketches of quiz show Find that Fraction with Colin Cool and sports show Sports Stand with Sue Harker and Harry Fraction. Each week, Her Wholeness would also receive a call from Earth about mathematical problems caused by supervillain The Diddler, and send Maths Man down to Earth to solve them (in the final episode, she was revealed to actually be Her Wholeness in disguise). This was also the only series that was reissued as a DVD Plus Pack.
This first Superhero School-themed series was originally transmitted on Mondays as part of the Schools Programmes strand at 11:50am.
| No. overall |
No. in series |
Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 1 | "Halves and Quarters" | 17 January 2000 |
| 27 | 2 | "Quarters and Eighths" | 24 January 2000 |
| 28 | 3 | "Fifths and Tenths" | 31 January 2000 |
| 29 | 4 | "Thirds and Sixths" | 7 February 2000 |
| 30 | 5 | "Decimals/Fractions" | 14 February 2000 |
Series 6: Shape and Space (2001)
The sixth series, which was produced in 2000, comprised five episodes focusing on shape, space and position. Maths Man (now played by Paul Vates), was now guided by a new mathematical tutor His Wholeness (played by Clive Perrott), and aided by Superhero School's new on-board computer VERA whose initials were an acronym for "Voice-Enhanced Resource Activator", along with a character named 2D3D who appeared in his virtual reality glasses. In this series, Maths Man would speak directly to the audience when he was sent down to Earth referring to them as his "Maths Team", and His Wholeness would also set a puzzle for them at the end of each episode.
This second Superhero School-based series was originally transmitted on Fridays as part of the Schools Programmes strand at 11:30am.
| No. overall |
No. in series |
Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | 1 | "Two-Dimensional Shapes" | 19 January 2001 |
| Maths Man learns about triangles, quadrilaterals and polygons, and is sent down to the Bristol Kite Festival to make a kite. | |||
| 32 | 2 | "Three-Dimensional Shapes" | 26 January 2001 |
| Maths Man learns about prisms, pyramids and cuboids, and is sent down to the workshop at Legoland Windsor to build a church. | |||
| 33 | 3 | "Symmetry" | 2 February 2001 |
| Maths Man learns about symmetry through shapes, buildings (specifically, the Taj Mahal), reflections and paintings, and is sent down to a castle to find three symmetrical items: an English flag, a knight's helmet and a stocks (he also duplicates a man sitting in them). | |||
| 34 | 4 | "Patterns" | 9 February 2001 |
| Maths Man learns about patterns and tessellations through shapes, stamps, book covers, parties, the Hokey Cokey, chessboards and paintings, and is sent down to an art gallery to make a pattern from tiles that have shooting stars, rockets, moons and planets on them. | |||
| 35 | 5 | "Moving Around" | 16 February 2001 |
| Maths Man learns about directions, angles and degrees through a clock, and is beamed down to a zoo so he can find his way to the tapir and rabbit enclosures. He is then beamed back up to Superhero School to learn about grid references through a map of the space station, and beamed down to an amusement park so he can find his way to a pirate galleon and a tall slide. Finally, he is beamed back up to Superhero School for a second time to learn about the eight points of a compass, and beamed back down to the amusement park so he can find his way to the "Dancing Sombreros", a carousel, and the "NPower Shortwave Run" (he also rides the last one once he has reached it). | |||
Series 7: Problem Solving (2002)
The seventh and final series, which was produced in 2001 and shortened the episode length from twenty minutes to fifteen, comprised five episodes focusing on solving various mathematical problems. Maths Man, again played by Paul Vates, was again sent down to Earth to solve mathematical problems in everyday life. This series also featured the character Princess Nebulous, played by Paven Virk.
This third Superhero School-themed series was originally transmitted on Mondays as part of the Schools Programmes strand at 11:50am.
| No. overall |
No. in series |
Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | 1 | "One-Step Problems" | 7 January 2002 |
| 37 | 2 | "Two-Step Problems" | 14 January 2002 |
| 38 | 3 | "Measure: Length and Time" | 21 January 2002 |
| 39 | 4 | "Measure: Mass and Capacity" | 28 January 2002 |
| 40 | 5 | "Money" | 4 February 2002 |
Resources
VHS
All seven series were issued as Video Plus Packs in the same year they aired by BBC Educational Publishing (now BBC Active), which slightly altered the episodes to add the BBC's Video Plus branding to them (and, in some cases, to remove the opening titles).
| Release name | UK release date | Notes | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Megamaths Tables | 1996 | Video Plus Pack | |
| Megamaths Money | 1998 | Video Plus Pack | |
| Megamaths Division | 1998 | Video Plus Pack | |
| Megamaths Measure | 1999 | Video Plus Pack | |
| Megamaths Fractions | 2000 | Video Plus Pack | |
| Megamaths Shape and Space | 2001 | Video Plus Pack | |
| Megamaths Problem Solving | 2002 | Video Plus Pack |
Books
Teachers' notes were published for the first four series at the times they premiered, and they were included with their respective Video Plus Packs along with activity books that featured photocopiable worksheets and the words to the series' songs. Activity packs featuring the activity books, along with audio cassettes featuring songs of the series and A2 posters for classroom walls, were also released.
| Release name | UK release date | Author | Publisher | Notes | Reference |
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| Megamaths Tables | 1998 | N/A | BBC Educational Publishing | Teachers' Notes |
CD-ROMs
In 1998, one year after the BBC's corporate change, Logotron Limited released a CD-ROM based on the first series. The BBC themselves also had a webpage for the series at this time, based around the castle and featuring games set in it, but it has since been taken down.
| Release name | UK release date | Publisher | Platform | Notes | Reference |
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| Megamaths Tables CD-ROM | 28 September 1998 | Logotron Limited | MAC | For ages 5–11 | |
| Megamaths Tables CD-ROM | 28 September 1998 | Logotron Limited | PC | For ages 5–11 |
DVDs
Despite the fact that all seven series were issued as Video Plus Packs, only the fifth one was ever reissued as a DVD Plus Pack in 2006.
| Release name | UK release date | Notes | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Megamaths Fractions | July 2006 | DVD Plus Pack |
