Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids

This British cartoon was based on a book franchise of the same name by Jamie Rix, who had involvement in bringing his books to the small screen. It aired on CITV for six years from 2000-2006, and had a revival on Nicktoons from 2011-2012.

We begin with the stop-motion intro, featuring the unnamed boy walking into the Squeam Screen, as he awaits to see another Cautionary Tale for Lovers of Squeam, hosted by none other than Mr. Grizzly himself, who was made for the series to give narrator Nigel Planer a physical character role.

Then, we head into the stories, animated in traditional animation or Flash in later seasons. Most are based on the book series, while some are especially made for the TV series. The stories are all pretty much the same, they feature children who are pretty much jerks to everyone and eventually meet their comeuppance by getting killed off in really gruesome ways, and it's always satisfying seeing what happens to the children.

Anyways, there's a good reason why this was a tradition of CITV viewers from its original six-year run. It featured content you never really saw in children's TV shows. There's loads of blood, there's occasional gore, there's loads of gruesome content and on-screen deaths. It's awesome! And the worst bit about it? (other than the downgrade to CGI and Flash in the Nicktoons seasons) It's very addictive to watch because of this.

This is a fun childhood favourite (although I didn't really grow up with it) and it's perfect for anyone who's wanting a cautionary tale.

This show has the most vile artstyle I've ever seen. The voice acting is the only redeeming quality with this cheap, badly produced show.

How did this run for 13 years.

Grizzly tales for gruesome kids is the perfect entertainment for children who enjoy fright and comedy. I watched this myself as a child and loved it, the animation was simple and Nigel Planer was brilliant as the narrator and voices of the characters. Not only was it entertaining each episode also contained a message that wasn't too preachy, it also had some adult humour as a little nod to the parents. Each episode is about 8-10 minutes long which means it doesn't get boring. I'm not a fan of the " Grizzly Tales" which is the same but the animation is different and the beginning is different and without the beloved spider Spindleshank but maybe I'm too set in my ways to accept the reboot. If you're looking for an entertaining few minutes I highly recommend Grizzly tales for gruesome kids, I can't really find any flaws and it holds many dear memories for me. 10/10

An iconic CITV programme from the golden era. The series are very fun to watch. However, I only watch the CITV series not the other series that was on Nicktoons because Nick ruined it and Carlton Television did it so well. Totally recommend if you are a 2000s kid like me. This was one of CITV's greatest programmes that isn't available on ITVX. However, you can watch the series on YouTube for free. The animation is good for me first few series but got really Flashy by the time the next two series aired. Nigel Planer is also amazing at both narrating the stories as well as voicing every character & his laugh is hilarious!

Back when I was 11 years old I loved this show. It has a creepy and macabre feel to it just like the Addams family, the Beetlejuice cartoons and later on The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. It was super popular in my school too. The stories are short and original.