ZZZap!

Ahh. I almost forgot about ZZZap! and all the other Friday shows that followed. For me, this was the start of the weekend after school on Fridays. For as long as i watched it, the show never changed yet continued to mesmerise.

Cuthbert Lilly - A failed Sting impersonator, trying to make his way in the world doing different odd-jobs here and there.

Smart Art - The big blue cloaked fellow whose magic pen brought cars and washing machines to life.

Daisy Dares You - The mischievous hillbilly that dragged schoolkids into insane challenges.

The Handymen - A blue glove and a yellow glove joining forces in the only real competition to Blue Peter's 'here's-one-I-made-earlier' malarkey. THE HANDYMEN MADE CHOC-ICES, RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES!!!

All these were separated by 30 seconds of guessing an item from close up, usually bubble-wrap or a BIC biro.

Friday TEA-TIMES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.

ZZZap![1993-2001]: You will be missed. R.I.P.

Zzzap! is a fantastic TV show. It ran from 1993-2001 and is now being sorely missed. Series One of Zzzap! was just excellent. Cuthbert Lily, Daisy Dares You, Smarty Arty, The Handymen and Tricky Dicky were just some of the weird and wonderful characters contained in this giant comic. Zzzap! was basically comic sketches come to life. Each characters antics would be watched through the panels of each comic frame. Zzzap! was originally designed for deaf children, so it has a much wider visual appeal, ensuring all of the story lines key elements are portrayed through the characters movements and through big comical words popping up on the screen. The big characters have always been Cuthbert Lily and Daisy Dares. Cuthbert Lily was a fantastic slapstick legend. He was dead silly, and always ended up getting into mishap or trouble! Daisy Dares was a ragtag young woman who would get kicks out of making a crowd of schoolchildren complete a practically impossible task; usually involving cold baked beans, old milkshake, or anything mouldy, rancid, old and gunky. There has also always been the Handyman as well. Expert craftsmen in the form of two silk-gloved arms. These arms would make games, food, drinks and toys right before your very eyes, in a clear and concise manner, in a way that makes it easy for children both deaf and hearing to remember how to make. Then, there was Smarty Arty (played by the fantastic Neil Buchanan), a fantastically funny artist, who could draw things such as cars and people, and make them come to life! In the recent series there has also been the goof-ball character Minnie the Mini Magician, and irritating, boring character; but don't let her put you off of this unmissable television show. Two thumbs up!

Zzzap! by far was the greatest TV show i have ever seen. I still have a huge interest in it. It is about a comic that comes to life with all these wacky characters. The show went on from 1993-2001 and since then a majority of the characters have been swapped. The first series had characters including Cuthbert Lilly, Smart Arty, Tricky Dicky(my personal favourite), The Handymen and a puzzle page, From the on up to the end of series 8 the characters were Cuthbert Lilly, Smart Arty, Daisy Dares You, The Handymen and the puzzle page. From 9-11 the characters were Cuthbert Lilly, Minnie The mini magician, The Handymen, Daisy Dares You, and a few more puzzle page. At the very last season it was completely different and the giant comic was scrapped. All the characters stayed the same but instead of the comic it just had squares floating around the screen which was rather disappointing. Zzzap was excellent and made my childhood a thing to remember. I am still in search of episodes of the first season. I would highly recommend it to ANYONE

Hello Zzzap fans. I have a question for you all. Do you think Tricky should have stayed longer than series 1? I think he should have done as it wasn't fair.

Zzzap was a unique show i must admit combining the comic and the TV together in other words. SIMPLY AMAZING.

Only thing wrong with it is that we can't buy a Zzzap comic anywhere :( Plus who is your favourite character? Mine is Tricky Dicky and Minnie. I have given Zzzap a 9/10 in greatness But back to Tricky Dicky's Jelly sketch. He wasn't being scary he was just being friendly but the people didn't seem to notice that

What can I say about ZZZap!? It was one of the best children's TV shows ever made. Every Friday afternoon, 15 minutes of laughs, fun and general happiness at the thought of getting home and watching ZZZap!.

The show revolved around a TV comic which had come to life. It starred: Cuthbert Lilly, Played By Richard Waites: A character which has been in every episode of ZZZap! His frame says: Cuthbert Lilly: He's Dead Silly.

Daisy Dares You, Played By Deborah McCallum (Series 2 - 8) and then Claire Macaulay (Series 9 and 10): A character who likes to set different and sometimes messy challenges for groups of children.

Smart Arty, Played By Neil Buchanan: A character which in the first series made big pictures out of different materials, and in Series 2 - 7 had a magic pen which brought anything he drew to life.

The Handymen, Played By Sarah Pickthall: Two hands which made lots of tricks and interesting things too make.

Minnie The Mini Magician, Played By Sophie Aldred: A witch who was in learning, and made a lot of her spells go wrong.

Tricky Dicky, Played By Richard Waites: A character who was considered scary for young children only appeared in Series 1, made difficult and messy challenges for groups of Children.

Although aimed at Deaf Children, ZZZap! can be enjoyed by everyone.

Lots of people liked this show, and although there were many changes over the course of the Ten series, it was and still is one of the best, if not the best Children's show on TV.

ZZZap! 1993 - 2001.