The Story Makers
Encyclopedia
The Story Makers is a children's television programme broadcast on the BBC
's pre-school digital television
network, CBeebies
. The Story Makers is set in a children’s library
, and encourages literacy
and creativity
.
s who live in the library and hide in the daytime) come out and are joined by a guest presenter, one of the members of the Wordsworth family, who recites "The sun is down, the stars are bright, Story Makers come out at night". The Wordsworths together with Jelly and Jackson are the Story Makers.
Objects found in the library are put into the top of the story machine (transformed from a desktop computer
); Jelly, Jackson and the story maker then recite "Imagine, imagine, imagine a story!"; and the story machine produces a book containing a story based on the object. The story in the book is then "read out" (although this is replaced on screen by live action
or an animation
). The first story is usually a Play Book (live action with small children), and the remaining stories are animated (cartoon
s, stop-motion animation, or puppets). The characters in the stories are fairly consistent, including Sniff and Wag (two puppet dogs), Blue Cow
(a cartoon cow, created by Blue-Zoo
), Kevin the Spaceman (puppet), and so on. There is always a Blue Cow story and a Play Book - the third story varies.
As dawn breaks, the Story Maker takes his or her leave ("Dawn is upon us, the morning is nigh, we've made our stories, so we bid you goodbye") and disappears, Jelly and Jackson hide, and the story machine turns back into a computer, but the books produced overnight remain for the librarian and children to find when the library opens in the morning.
The story makers include:
The two puppet characters:
Seven Presenters:
Each Wordsworth has magical
story-making powers.
The Story Makers presenters are all played by actors.
The story makers are named after English poets, William Wordsworth
, John Milton
, Lord Byron, Dante Rossetti (or possibly Christina Rossetti
), Percy Bysshe Shelley
(or possibly Mary Shelley
), William Blake
, and John Webster
.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's pre-school digital television
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
network, CBeebies
CBeebies
CBeebies is the brand used by the BBC for programming aimed at children 6 years and under. It is used as a themed strand in the UK on terrestrial television, as a separate free-to-air domestic British channel and used for international varients supported by advertising, subscription or both...
. The Story Makers is set in a children’s library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
, and encourages literacy
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
and creativity
Creativity
Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs...
.
The programme
The programme starts as the library shuts in the evening. At the stroke of midnight, Jelly and Jackson (green and pink puppetPuppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
s who live in the library and hide in the daytime) come out and are joined by a guest presenter, one of the members of the Wordsworth family, who recites "The sun is down, the stars are bright, Story Makers come out at night". The Wordsworths together with Jelly and Jackson are the Story Makers.
Objects found in the library are put into the top of the story machine (transformed from a desktop computer
Desktop computer
A desktop computer is a personal computer in a form intended for regular use at a single location, as opposed to a mobile laptop or portable computer. Early desktop computers are designed to lay flat on the desk, while modern towers stand upright...
); Jelly, Jackson and the story maker then recite "Imagine, imagine, imagine a story!"; and the story machine produces a book containing a story based on the object. The story in the book is then "read out" (although this is replaced on screen by live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
or an animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
). The first story is usually a Play Book (live action with small children), and the remaining stories are animated (cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
s, stop-motion animation, or puppets). The characters in the stories are fairly consistent, including Sniff and Wag (two puppet dogs), Blue Cow
Blue Cow (cartoon)
Blue Cow is a cartoon cow created by Blue-Zoo. She appears on the BBC children's television series The Story Makers. The show is primarily shown on the CBeebies channel but has been shown previously on BBC Two....
(a cartoon cow, created by Blue-Zoo
Blue-Zoo Productions
Blue-Zoo Productions Ltd. is an award winning UK based computer animation studio. Founded in 2000 by Tom Box, Oli Hyatt, Adam Shaw and Nic Sims, it mainly produces content for TV broadcast. It is most well known for creating the children's animation series Blue Cow as part of the BBC series The...
), Kevin the Spaceman (puppet), and so on. There is always a Blue Cow story and a Play Book - the third story varies.
As dawn breaks, the Story Maker takes his or her leave ("Dawn is upon us, the morning is nigh, we've made our stories, so we bid you goodbye") and disappears, Jelly and Jackson hide, and the story machine turns back into a computer, but the books produced overnight remain for the librarian and children to find when the library opens in the morning.
The story makers
The two puppet characters:
- Jackson (voiced by Nick Mercer who also provides the voice for Blue Cow) - Jackson is pink and porcupinePorcupinePorcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about long, with...
-like and 7 years old. - Jelly (voiced by Aliex Yuill) - green with hair sticking out and is 3 years old.
Seven Presenters:
- Milton Wordsworth (played by Danny John-JulesDanny John-JulesDaniel "Danny" John-Jules is a British actor, singer and dancer. John-Jules attended Rutherford Comprehensive School, Penfold Street, Marylebone, from 1972 to 1977. He is best known for portraying Cat in the television programme Red Dwarf.-Dance and song:John-Jules is a baritone...
) - Byron Wordsworth (played by Michael Offei)
- Rossetti Wordsworth (played by Dystin Johnson)
- Shelley Wordsworth (played by Lauretta Nkwocha)
- Blake Wordsworth (played by Paul J Medford)
- Webster Wordsworth (played by Joe Vera)
- Kristian Wordsworth (Played by Kristian 'Cod Eye' Pickering)
Each Wordsworth has magical
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
story-making powers.
The Story Makers presenters are all played by actors.
The story makers are named after English poets, William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
, John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
, Lord Byron, Dante Rossetti (or possibly Christina Rossetti
Christina Rossetti
Christina Georgina Rossetti was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems...
), Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
(or possibly Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
), William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
, and John Webster
John Webster
John Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.- Biography :Webster's life is obscure, and the dates...
.