Megamaths

1996–1999

Megamaths is an Educational programme about Maths that originally aired on BBC2 between 1996 and 2001. Each episode was 20 minutes long and was written by Maths Television Presenter Simon Davies. Other people that have been in the series are Liz Crowther and Annee Blott. Between 1996 and 1999 it was presented in a castle where there were the four card suites and jokers. There were two gargoyles at the front of the castle who spoke in rhyme. After megamaths ran for 3 series they decided to stop the castle idea and two presenters presented in a studio.

First aired
16 Sep 1996
Episode length
20 min
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Writers
Christopher Lillicrap, Kjartan Poskitt, Michael Malaghan, Neil Ben
Producer
David Scott Cowan
Elsewhere
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Cast

Seasons · 18 episodes

  • Tables

    Season 1 · 1996

    This season is comprised of ten episodes focusing on multiplication. Each episode opens and ends with the episode's table being chanted, and the Joker (played by Jenny Hutchinson) introduced it in rhyme while speaking directly to the audience (she would also welcome teams of schoolchildren who came to visit the castle and give them advice as they took part in mathematical challenges). The two gargoyles, Gar (male) and Goyle (female), also made observations on the mathematical happenings in the castle then summarized what its residents learned near the end of each episode (the week's table would also be displayed on the portcullis as it lowered), and the castle pets, Brimstone the dragon and Digit the kitten (who were drawn by Bevanfield Films in this series), had their own adventures below stairs in the cellar. This series was originally aired on Mondays as part of the BBC's schools programmes strand, then entitled Daytime on Two, at 9:40am.

  • Money

    Season 2 · 1998

    The second series, which was produced in 1997 after the BBC's corporate change (as evidenced by the then-new BBC logo at the end of each episode), comprised five episodes focusing on money to particular amounts. Each episode opened with an auction where the royals bid each other up to that week's money amount, and this series also saw the arrival of a new Joker played by former Children's ITV host Gareth Jones (but while the original Joker possessed the ability to appear and disappear by snapping her fingers, he did not possess any magical powers). Brimstone and Digit also underwent a redesign in this series by new animators Tony Garth Films Ltd, and their appearance was significantly different to how they had originally appeared for the first series (as they looked more comical). This series and the next two were originally screened on Tuesdays as part of the newly renamed Schools Programmes strand at 11:15am.

  • Division

    Season 3 · 1998

    The third series, which was again produced in 1997 after the BBC's corporate change (as evidenced by the then-new BBC logo at the end of each episode), comprised five episodes focusing on division by particular amounts. Each episode featured a quintet of acrobats who would repeatedly rearrange themselves to show how division was related to multiplication, and because this series was aired directly after the second one, they could have been seen as one series until they were issued as separate Video Plus Packs (reflecting that they were not).

  • Measure

    Season 4 · 1999

    The fourth series, which was produced in 1998 (and the last to be set at the castle on Table Mountain), comprised five episodes focusing on units of measurement. Brimstone and Digit also underwent a second redesign for their final series by second new animators Blue Sunflower Animation, but their appearance was only slightly different to how they had appeared for the second and third series.

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