Yonderland
| Yonderland | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Created by | |
| Written by |
|
| Directed by | Steve Connelly |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 8 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company | Working Title Films |
| Original release | |
| Network | |
| Release | 10 November 2013 |
Yonderland is a British family fantasy comedy television series that was first broadcast on Sky One on November 10 2013. It was produced by Working Title Films and is co-created, written by and stars the main performers from CBBC's hit series Horrible Histories.[1]
Plot
33-year-old Debbie Maddox (Martha Howe-Douglas) is becoming increasingly bored with life as a suburban stay-at-home mum now that her children have started school. Then one day an elf (voice of Mathew Baynton) appears from a portal in her cupboard insisting that she's the 'Chosen One' destined to save Yonderland, a magical land threatened by the evil Negatus (Simon Farnaby). Reluctantly, Debbie agrees to meet with the Elders of the realm... only to discover that they've lost the scroll that explains what the Chosen One is actually supposed to do. Yonderland, it turns out, is a very silly place indeed, and it will take all Debbie's resources to complete each week's quest in time to pick up the children from school.
Cast
- Martha Howe-Douglas as Debbie Maddox
- Dan Renton Skinner as Peter Maddox
- Mathew Baynton as the Elf and Chief Elder Choop
- Simon Farnaby as Negatus and Vice-Elder Flowers
- Laurence Rickard as Wizard Bradley and Scribe Elder Ho-Tan
- Jim Howick as the Crone and Lord Elder Pressley
- Ben Willbond as Wise Elder Vex
Production
On 22 March 2013, SkyOne's Lucy Lumsden announced Yonderland, saying: "We are delighted to give the incredibly talented Horrible Histories cast the opportunity to write and star in a brand new show for the whole family on Sky1." The show was co-produced by Working Title Films. [2] Principal filming under former HH director Steve Connelly began the following May.
The show initially grew out of its six creators -- Baynton, Farnaby, Howe-Douglas, Howick, Rickard and Willbond -- looking for a way to continue working together after Horrible Histories ceased production in 2012. Wanting to maintain the same uniquely costume-and-character-driven style and basic sketch-comedy framework, the new troupe quickly settled on the fantasy genre as the logical next step.[3] At the same time, Baynton and Willbond had been developing a film idea about an ordinary person dragged into a parallel universe. Willbond told the British Comedy Guide that "We wanted to make a family adventure, the kind we grew up with, fantasy movies with puppets, like Labyrinth and The NeverEnding Story."[4]
Adapting this concept to a TV series was a natural fit, Willbond explains. "We thought, that’s great, because Martha can be our ‘hero’, as it were, and she can come through this portal every week and solve whatever problem presents itself in that episode, and the rest of us would play a variety of different characters – sometimes multiple characters in the same episode, or sometimes lead characters in an episode."[5] In terms of writing together for the first time as a troupe, Howick noted to The Guardian that "[By now] we're such a tight unit, we know exactly what the humour is, and what the tone is." Baynton agreed: "It just grew very nicely out of what happens when the six of us are together in a room."[6]
In keeping with the nostalgic, "lo-fi" tone, Yonderland's world features numerous Muppet-style puppet characters designed and built by longtime Jim Henson associates Baker Coogan.[7] Baynton confirmed to the British Comedy Guide that "There is the odd bit of CGI for the portal and a couple of other moments but that's it really... It broadens the world to be able to have all kinds of creatures wandering around, not just humans. You can write a lot of jokes around them, too. It keeps the world surprising to feel that a tree could suddenly open its mouth and talk. Anything is possible."[8] Rickard added: "Because you can make everything photo-realistic these days, it kind of takes the joy out of it. Even if it's brilliant CGI, you still know it's CGI. You might go, 'that's impressive', but you know it's not there, it's not tangible, and it's the same with comedy. I'd much rather have the version where you go, 'OK, I can tell that's a hand inside a rubber puppet, but at the end of the arm is a man doing a very funny voice, a good performer'."[9]
Episode list
| # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions)[10] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Chosen Mum" | Steve Connelly | Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond | 10 November 2013 | TBA |
| 2 | "Wizard Bradley" | Steve Connelly | Simon Farnaby | 10 November 2013 | |
| 3 | "Reformation" | Steve Connelly | Jim Howick and Laurence Rickard | 17 November 2013 | TBA |
| 4 | "The Ultimate Prize" | Steve Connelly | Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond | 24 November 2013 | TBA |
| 5 | "Closing the Portal" | Steve Connelly | Toby Davies | 1 December 2013 | TBA |
| 6 | "The Idiot King" | Steve Connelly | Mathew Baynton | 8 December 2013 | TBA |
| 7 | "The Heart of the Sun" | Steve Connelly | Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond | 15 December 2013 | TBA |
| 8 | "Dirty Ernie" | Steve Connelly | Simon Farnaby | 22 December 2013 | TBA |
References
- ^ "Creating Yonderland". Sky1 website. 13 May 2013. Retrieved 11 Nov 2013.
- ^ "Horrible Histories cast create new Sky comedy Yonderland". Comedy.co.uk. 22 March 2013. Retrieved 11 Nov 2013.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "Yonderland: We wanted to raid the dressing-up box and speak in silly voices". Radio Times. 10 November 2013. Retrieved 11 Nov 2013.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "Interview with Ben Willbond". Comedy.co.uk. 8 November 2013. Retrieved 11 Nov 2013.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "Yonderland: Interview with Ben Willbond and Laurence Rickard". Den of Geek.com. 5 November 2013. Retrieved 11 Nov 2013.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "Yonderland: 'A silly TV show, not deeply political'". The Guardian. 8 November 2013. Retrieved 11 Nov 2013.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "Yonderland: What Horrible Histories did next". The Guardian. 8 November 2013. Retrieved 11 Nov 2013.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "Interview with Mathew Baynton". Comedy.co.uk. 8 November 2013. Retrieved 11 Nov 2013.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "Interview with Laurence Rickard". Comedy.co.uk. 8 November 2013. Retrieved 11 Nov 2013.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "BARB Top 30s".