Bananaman (TV series)

Bananaman
Title card
Genre
Written byBernie Kay
Directed byTerry Ward
Starring
ComposerDave Cooke
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series3
No. of episodes40
Production
ProducerTrevor Bond
CinematographyStephen Williams
EditorMorgan Daniels Limited
Running time5 minutes
Production company101 Productions
Original release
Network
Release3 October 1983 (1983-10-03) –
15 June 1988 (1988-06-15)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Bananaman is a British animated comedy series which ran from 3 October 1983 to 15 June 1988. It was based on the comic strip character Bananaman from the DC Thomson comic Nutty, and directed and produced by Terry Ward and Trevor Bond at 101 Productions. The show ran for 40 five-minute episodes, each of which featured the voices of The Goodies (Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie) and Jill Shilling. The soundtrack was composed by Dave Cooke.

Parts of the character Eric Wimp were changed for the series: he was now called Eric Twinge, had a distinctive banana-shaped hairstyle rather than being bald (like he was in the first few years in the comic), and had a love interest (only when transformed) in the form of Fiona, a newsreader, based on Selina Scott.

"This is 29 Acacia Road. And this is Eric, the schoolboy who leads an amazing double life. For when Eric eats a banana, an amazing transformation occurs. Eric is Bananaman, ever alert for the call to action!"

- opening narration

When Danger Mouse first aired on Nickelodeon in America, Bananaman was shown after it to round out the show to a half hour.