SMart was a British CBBC television programme based on art, which began in 1994 and ended in 2009. The programme was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London. Previously it had been recorded in Studio A at Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham. The format is similar to the Tony Hart programmes Take Hart and Hartbeat. The show was revamped into an hour-long show in 2007; from 1994 to 2006 it was previously a 25-minute show. From 1994 to 2005, the show also featured Morph, originally from Take Hart. The series run featured 199 episodes, last airing on 11 August 2011.

SMart
SMart
GenreArt & Crafts
Presented byMark Speight (1994–2008)
Jay Burridge (1994–2003)
Zoe Ball (1994–1996)
Josie d'Arby (1996–1998)
Kirsten O'Brien (1999–2009)
Lizi Botham (1999–2004)
Susan Ribeiro (2002–2003)
Mike Fischetti (2007–2009)
Various Guest Presenters (2007–2009)
Theme music composerKjartan Poskitt (1994–2003)
Steve Brown (2003–07)
Matt Thomas (2007–09)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series16
No. of episodes199 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerJoe Godwin
Production locationsBBC Pebble Mill (1994–2004)
BBC Television Centre (2004–09)
Running time25 minutes (1994–2006)
60 minutes (2007–09)
Original release
NetworkBBC One (1994–2006)
BBC Two (2007–08)
CBBC (2009)
Release5 October 1994 (1994-10-05) –
4 April 2009 (2009-04-04)
Related
SMart on the Road
SMart Hart
SMarteenies

Production

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The BBC noticed the success of Art Attack with Neil Buchanan for CITV which started in 1990 and decided to create their own art show that was accessible to children similar to Art Attack.[citation needed]

The original theme tune was composed by Kjartan Poskitt, famous for the Murderous Maths series of books. From 2003, a different tune was used, written by Steve Brown (known as the fictional musical director Glen Ponder in Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge). In 2007, this was remixed by Matt Thomas of Mosquito Music in line with the new format.[citation needed]

In 2007, the new autumn series had a new format mixing some of the old segments with new ideas. It was aired on Sunday, and repeated on Wednesdays. It involved more child participation in games and celebrity guests. This new format also allowed for episodes of The Fairly OddParents (and sometimes Thumb Wrestling Federation) to be aired halfway in. One of the segments displayed art that had been sent in by viewers, to the backing music of 'Give It Away' by Zero 7.[citation needed]

Following the death of presenter Mark Speight's fiancée Natasha Collins in January 2008, repeats of the show and its CBeebies spin-off SMarteenies were suspended. Speight left the programme, saying his "tragic loss" had left him unable to continue; he later committed suicide.[1] The BBC indicated, however, that there would still be a new series of SMart later that year.[2]

The format was utilised again when a new series began with a new timeslot on Sunday 29 June 2008, airing on CBBC on BBC Two, still presented by Kirsten O'Brien and Mike Fischetti. A special tribute to Mark Speight was also broadcast. Along with this new format, guest presenters appear each week to assist the two presenters.[citation needed]

Series 16 began airing on 3 January 2009 in the same style to the series before. The major change was that the original airings moved to the CBBC channel rather than BBC Two. Kirsten O'Brien and Mike Fischetti both returned to host the show and the show continued to have guest presenters. The games involving children in the studio were dropped and instead children participated via webcam or pre-recorded on location. The show also added segments on fun aspects of digital photography.[citation needed]

Spin-offs

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The success of SMart allowed it to spawn various spin-off series. The first was SMart on the Road where either Mark Speight or Kirsten O'Brien, with the help of Lizi Botham, would travel around the country helping people with major projects, for example decorating a room or making a fun garden. It starred Kirsten O'Brien, Mark Speight, Jay Burridge and Lizi Botham.

SMarteenies was the second spin-off, where Kirsten, Mark, Jay and "Bizi Lizi" went through fun makes for younger viewers, including man of letters and shapes and Kirsten's Household Makes with Doogie the Dog. This programme was specifically aimed at a younger demographic, roughly from 3–6 years old on was aired on CBeebies. It starred Kirsten O'Brien, Mark Speight, Jay Burridge and Lizi Botham.

A special episode, SMart Africa, was made by the BBC to coincide with Africa Week. The episode contained easy ways to make things. This episode, with Kirsten O'Brien and Mark Speight, was aired as part of the 2003 series.

Presenters

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Presenter Start Finish
Zoe Ball 1994 1996
Josie d'Arby 1996 1998
Jay Burridge 1994 2003
Susan Ribeiro 2002 2003
Lizi Botham 1999 2004
Mark Speight 1994 2008
Kirsten O'Brien 1999 2009
Mike Fischetti 2007 2009

Guest presenters

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2007

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9 September 16 September 23 September 30 September 7 October 14 October 21 October 28 October 4 November 11 November 18 November 25 November 2 December 9 December
Lil' Chris Ross Lee Anne Foy James Phelps & Oliver Phelps Lizo Mzimba Stephanie McIntosh Barney Harwood Bill Turnbull Dani Harmer Jake Humphrey Andy Akinwolere Edith Bowman Ed Petrie Iwan Thomas
16 December
Anthony Horowitz

2008

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29 June 6 July 13 July 20 July 27 July 3 August 10 August 17 August 24 August 31 August 7 September 14 September 21 September
Sam Nixon & Mark Rhodes Melvin Odoom Ed Petrie Ortis Deley Lizo Mzimba Andy Akinwolere Michael Absalom James Mackenzie Ben Hanson & Ciaran Joyce Ted Robbins Rani Price Sam Nixon & Mark Rhodes Zöe Salmon

2009

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3 January 10 January 17 January 31 January 7 February 14 February 21 February 28 February 7 March 14 March 21 March 28 March 4 April
Barney Harwood Arlene Phillips & Bruno Tonioli Ben Major Carol Kirkwood Johny Pitts Martin Offiah Konnie Huq Phillips Idowu The Saturdays Michael Absalom Helen Skelton & Joel Defries Andy Akinwolere Bill Oddie

Series guide

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Series Editions Start date Finish date
1 6 5 October 1994 9 November 1994
2 12 5 October 1995 21 December 1995
3 12 3 October 1996 19 December 1996
4 12 2 October 1997 18 December 1997
5 12 1 October 1998 17 December 1998
6 12 7 October 1999 23 December 1999
7 12 5 October 2000 21 December 2000
8 13 13 November 2001 27 December 2001
9 13 12 November 2002 1 January 2003
10 11 18 November 2003 26 December 2003
11 10 16 November 2004 16 December 2004
12 15 29 November 2005 22 December 2005
13 15 9 January 2007 27 February 2007
14 16 9 September 2007 23 December 2007
15 13 29 June 2008 21 September 2008
16 13 3 January 2009 28 March 2009

Smart on the Road series guide

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Series Editions Start Date Finish Date
1 12 8 January 1999 26 March 1999
Special 1 9 April 1999 9 April 1999
2 13 10 January 2000 27 March 2000
Specials 2 28 March 2000 29 May 2000
3 12 5 January 2001 23 March 2001
Special 1 30 March 2001 30 March 2001
4 13 28 December 2001 22 March 2002
5 13 14 January 2003 25 February 2003

Legacy

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In March 2011, CBBC started to air Deadly Art which followed a very similar format to SMart and also stars Mike Fischetti. They look to the wild for inspiration (to tie in with the "Deadly" series e.g. Deadly 60). Then CBBC aired Totally Rubbish and their current art series is Art Ninja, whose presenter Ricky Martin said he watched Art Attack and SMart religiously as a child.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Presenter Speight hanged himself". BBC News. 20 May 2008. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
  2. ^ "TV presenter left suicide notes". BBC News. 16 April 2008. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
  3. ^ Arts, Creative Bloq Staff 2015-02-16T09:56:56 46Z Computer (16 February 2015). "Aardman designer encourages kids to get creative in art TV show". Creative Bloq.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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