Art Attack

Lore & Background

In March 2000, The Britt Allcroft Company (later Gullane Entertainment) purchased The Media Merchants for £14 million. The show later went under HIT Entertainment after they purchased Gullane in September 2002. In June 2006, ITV announced the closure of its in-house children's production unit, leading to Art Attack being cancelled in July 2007. Repeats continued on CITV until 30 May 2011. In November 2008, HIT Entertainment announced a new partnership with Disney to revive the Latin American version, and in May 2011, Disney announced a UK revival, produced for Disney Junior. The revived series replaced The Head with a new character named Vincent Van Coconut, a talking palm tree.

Reader's Guide

Art Attack holds significance as a long-running British children's programme that introduced generations of viewers to art-making techniques through simple, hands-on projects. Its original run on CITV from 1990 to 2007 made it a staple of children's television, with host Neil Buchanan also serving as creator, writer, and producer. The show's format—featuring step-by-step demonstrations, the humorous puppet 'The Head,' and large-scale 'Big Art Attacks'—was distinctive and influential. The programme's international reach expanded through localized versions produced under Disney, including versions for Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Latin America, Brazil, India, and Scandinavia. The revival on Disney Junior from 2011 to 2015 targeted a preschool audience, updating the format with a new host and character. Art Attack's legacy includes its role in inspiring creativity in children and its adaptation across multiple cultures and languages. The programme also spawned a spin-off reality show in Latin America for Disney+ in 2023.

Did You Know?

• The Art Attack pilot was shot at a disused swimming pool in Gillingham, Kent in 1989.
• The Head, a puppet stone bust based on Constantine the Great, was voiced by Francis Wright from series 3 onward.
• In the revived series, The Head was replaced with a talking palm tree named Vincent Van Coconut, a parody of Vincent van Gogh.

From a TVS Strand to a National Institution

Art Attack began as a small segment within No. 73, a TVS children's programme. Neil Buchanan and Tim Edmunds, who had first crossed paths at Southern Television back in 1982 while working on No. 73 and Do It!, developed the art-focused strand together. The segment's popularity caught the eye of Nigel Pickard, the executive producer of children's programming at TVS, who approved a pilot. That pilot was filmed in 1989 at a disused swimming pool in Gillingham, Kent, and the full series followed in 1990. Buchanan, who co-created the show, went on to present, write, and produce it throughout its entire original run, generating the majority of the creative concepts himself. The show's energetic theme music, composed by Mr Miller & Mr Porter, drew inspiration from Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" from Top Gun, a suggestion Buchanan himself made.

Ownership, Studios, and the Disney Expansion

After TVS lost its broadcasting franchise, Buchanan and Edmunds acquired the rights to Art Attack and continued producing it through their own company, The Media Merchants. They partnered with STV Studios—then called SMG Productions—to get the series onto the ITV network, a connection partly facilitated by Nigel Pickard's move to Scottish Television. Peter Urie, another former TVS employee, established Television Support Services in 1993 to manage and co-write all Media Merchants productions. The show was primarily recorded at The Maidstone Studios in Kent. In 1998, a landmark deal with Disney's Buena Vista Productions produced 104 episodes for Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, filmed on a smaller set and largely using stock footage of Buchanan's hands. This expanded in 2000 to cover Latin America and Brazil. In March 2000, The Britt Allcroft Company bought The Media Merchants for £14 million, and the property later passed to HIT Entertainment after their 2002 acquisition of Gullane.

The Head and the Show's Comic Heart

One of Art Attack's most memorable features was "The Head," a puppet stone bust modeled on Constantine the Great. His role was to humorously recap the steps of the previous art project, then proudly—and often comically incorrectly—display his own attempt at recreating it. Sometimes his mistakes accidentally produced a different effect, which he'd be delighted by. He also told jokes and puns, particularly after the Big Art Attacks. The character went through several performers: Jim Sweeney in series 1, Andrew O'Connor in series 2, and from series 3 onward, Francis Wright both voiced and operated the redesigned puppet. The Head was absent from series 12, 13, 18, and 19. In the 2011 Disney Junior revival, the role was filled by "Vincent van Coconut," a talking palm tree voiced by Tim Hibber, whose name parodies the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh.

Cancellation, Revival, and a New Generation

After ITV announced the closure of its in-house children's production unit in June 2006, Art Attack was cancelled in July 2007, with repeats continuing on CITV until May 2011. HIT Entertainment subsequently shut down The Media Merchants, and the production team transitioned to The Foundation to work on shows like Mister Maker and Finger Tips. However, the show's life was far from over. In 2008, HIT partnered with Disney Latin America to revive the Argentine version, produced in Buenos Aires. By May 2011, Disney had purchased the property from HIT and announced revivals for the UK and other international markets. The new UK series launched on Disney Junior on 6 June 2011, presented by Jassa Ahluwalia, who narrated over footage of artists creating three works per episode. Lloyd Warbey later took over presenting. The format shifted toward a preschool audience, featured Disney-themed projects, and introduced local artist Alexiev Gandman for the Big Art Attacks. In 2023, a Latin American spin-off reality show, Art Attack: Modo desafío, debuted on Disney+.

Gallery