Child Of The 1980's

Supergran started as a series of childrens books written by Forrest Wilson.  Unsurprisingly they were about Granny Smith, a grandmother who had super powers from the town of Chiselton.  Her arch-enemy was the villainous Scunner Campbell, who ironically gave her the powers in the first place when she got hit by a beam from one of his strange contraptions.

It is the TV adaptation that I remember best however.  Supergran herself was played by Gudrun Ure, a Scottish actress who looked fairly ridiculous in her tartan scarf and floppy hat, complete with bobble.  She looked every inch the sterotypical granny, except for when she was running, jumping or skateboarding down the road.

Each episode of the series revolved around the same basic storyline.  The Scunner Campbell would be up to some kind of mischief, and Supergran would stop him in his tracks, which always looked ridiculous as a little old lady in fingerless gloves and old fashioned boots wrestled a helicopter to the ground or scaled a massive wall.  Sometimes she would employ a daft invention to help save the day, such as a flying bicycle or an anti-gravity belt.

By todays standards the TV series looks a little dated, but it managed to attract some well known actors for guest appearances, most of whom are sadly no longer with us.  George Best, Spike Milligan, Roy Kinnear and Charles Hawtrey from the Carry On films all appeared, as did fellow Carry Oner Barbara Windsor, strongman Geoff Capes and Doctor Who number 2 Patrick Troughton, which happens to have been his last acting role before he died.

The theme song to Supergran is what I remember most though.  Written and performed by Billy Connolly it was even released as a single (it only managed to reach 32 when it was released in 1985).  The theme song had some great lines, such as “She’s got more bottle than United Dairies” and “Next to her they’re all big girls blouses“.  Check out the video clip of the closing credits below!

Search for Supergran items on Amazon.co.uk

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This entry is filed under Books and Magazines, TV - Kids and was posted on April 16th, 2009. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.