Megamaths
BBC primary maths series with castles, superheroes, and animated dragons.
Megamaths is a BBC educational television series for primary schools that aired on BBC Two from 16 September 1996 to 4 February 2002. The programme initially featured a castle setting with card-suit characters and later shifted to a space-station superhero school. It is notable for its blend of live action and animation across seven series.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Educational children's series
- Director
- Neil Ben (Series 1–2); Ken Robertson (Series 3)
- Composer
- Sandy Nuttgens (Series 1–3)
- Mike Scott (Series 1–3)
- Archie Brown (Series 4–6)
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Series
- 6
- Episodes
- 40
- Executive producers
- Anne Brogan (Series 2); Clare Elstow (Series 3–6)
Facts from the source article.
Episodes
The first series comprised ten episodes focusing on multiplication, co-written by Christopher Lillicrap. Each episode opened and closed with the week's table being chanted, and the Joker (played by Jenny Hutchinson) introduced it in rhyme while speaking directly to the audience. The gargoyles Gar and Goyle made observations and summarised the learning, and the animated dragon Brimstone and his kitten Digit had adventures in the cellar. This series aired on Mondays at 9:40am as part of Daytime on Two. The second series, produced in 1997 after the BBC's corporate change, also had ten episodes: the first five focused on money and the last five on division. A new Joker played by Gareth Jones appeared, lacking the magical powers of his predecessor. Brimstone and Digit were redesigned by Tony Garth Films Ltd. The second and third series were screened on Tuesdays at 11:15am as part of the renamed Schools Programmes strand.
Resources
All seven series were issued as Video Plus Packs by BBC Educational Publishing in the same year they aired, with some episodes altered to add Video Plus branding or remove opening titles. Teachers' notes were published for the first four series and included with their Video Plus Packs, along with activity books containing photocopiable worksheets and song lyrics. Activity packs with audio cassettes and A2 posters were also released. In 1998, Logotron Limited released a CD-ROM based on the first series, and the BBC had a webpage featuring castle-based games that has since been taken down. Only the fifth series was reissued as a DVD Plus Pack in 2006.
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