Dramarama (TV series)


Dramarama was a British children's anthology series broadcast on ITV between 1983 and 1989. The series tended to feature single dramas with a science fiction, supernatural and occasionally satirical theme. It was created by Anna Home, then head of children's and youth programming at TVS; however, the dramas themselves were produced by a total of twelve ITV regional companies. Thus, each episode was in practice a one-off production with its own cast and crew, up to and including the executive producer.
Dramarama was largely a showcase for new talent to television and offered debuts for Anthony Horowitz, Paul Abbott, Kay Mellor, Janice Hally, Tony Kearney, David Tennant and Ann Marie Di Mambro. It was also one of Dennis Spooner's last works.
One of the stories, Thames' Dodger, Bonzo And The Rest from 1984, proved so popular that it was spun off into its own series and Christmas special the following year - the series starred Lee Ross and recounted life in a large foster home. Another story, Granada's Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night from 1988, was developed into the long-running series Children's Ward. The original Dramarama story was co-written by Paul Abbott and Kay Mellor - at the time, working as staff writers for Granada.
The series has rarely been repeated in recent years, although two episodes - Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night and Back to Front - were broadcast on the CITV Channel as part of a 30th anniversary weekend in January 2013.

Episodes

Dramarama: Spooky (1982)

  1. War Games With Caroline
  2. The Exorcism of Amy
  3. The Danny Roberts Show
  4. The Ghostly Earl
  5. In a Dark, Dark Box...
  6. The Restless Ghost
  7. The Keeper

    Series one (1983)

  8. Mighty Mum And The Petnappers
  9. Rip It Up
  10. Venchvenchieie
  11. Jack And The Computer
  12. Because I Say So
  13. Bully For Cosmo
  14. Messages
  15. The Young Person's Guide To Getting Their Ball Back
  16. Sweet Revenge
  17. The Restless Ghost

    Series two (1984)

  18. Night Of The Narrow Boats
  19. Fowl Pest
  20. Dodger, Bonzo And The Rest
  21. Que Sera
  22. Stalemate
  23. Snoop!
  24. Mr. Stabs
  25. Josephine Jo
  26. The Purple People Eater
  27. On Your Tod
  28. The Old Firm: Two For Starters
  29. Rachel And Rosie

    Series three (1985)

  30. Easy
  31. The Coal Princess
  32. Look At Me
  33. The Young Person's Guide To Going Backwards In The World
  34. The Audition
  35. The Universe Downstairs
  36. A Proper Little Nooryeff
  37. Frog
  38. Private Eye
  39. Emily
  40. Silver
  41. The Golden Conch
  42. Purple Passion Video

    Series four (1986)

  43. The Come-Uppance of Captain Katt
  44. A Couple Of Charlies
  45. Wayfarers
  46. Play Acting
  47. Last Days At Black Bert's
  48. Maureen Reid, Where Are You?
  49. Flashback
  50. Direct Action
  51. Waiting For Elvis
  52. Just A Game
  53. Flyaway Friend
  54. Pig Ignorance
  55. Jessie's Place
  56. Frankie's Hat

    Series five (1987)

  57. Cannondrum
  58. Snap
  59. The Horrible Story
  60. My Friend Julie
  61. The Creature Beyond Torches' End
  62. My Mum's A Courgette
  63. Brainwaves
  64. Undertow Of The Armada
  65. Stan's First Night
  66. Living Doll
  67. Peter
  68. The Halt
  69. Mr Magus Is Waiting For You
  70. Tam
  71. A Spirited Performance
  72. Badger On The Barge

    Series six (1988)

  73. Forever Young
  74. The Macramé Man
  75. The Wrong Button
  76. Bubbles
  77. Blackbird Singing In The Dead Of Night
  78. Big T For Trouble
  79. Room For One More
  80. Making Waves
  81. Just A Normal Girl
  82. Now You See Them
  83. Bogeymen
  84. The Alien
  85. The Secret Of Croftmore
  86. The Bubblegum Brigade
  87. Playing For Wales
  88. Snap Decision

    Series seven (1989)

  89. Codzmorf
  90. Ghost Story
  91. Badger
  92. Back To Front
  93. Monstrous
  94. The Pisces Connection
  95. Rosie The Great
  96. Snakes And Loofahs
  97. Just Wild About Harry
  98. Mitchin
  99. In The Pink
Only four ITV companies of the time did not contribute to the series: Anglia, Channel, Grampian and LWT.
TVS produced the greatest number of episodes.

Video

A videotape containing the episodes "Big T for Trouble", "Just Wild About Harry" and "Venchie" was released by Video Gems, c. 1990. It is now out of print.

DVD

All episodes produced by Thames Television have been released on DVD by Network, who have also released the 1983 series Spooky which was shown under the Dramarama banner.
The home video rights to the remaining episodes are held by ITV Studios, aside from those produced by Scottish, TVS and the one episode produced by TSW. The TVS episodes cannot be released commercially but some have appeared on YouTube, and STV itself placed all its episodes on YouTube in 2010, but has since removed them.