Hank Zipzer (TV series)

Hank Zipzer
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Henry Winkler
Based on	Hank Zipzer: The World's Greatest Underachiever by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver
Starring	Nick James Jayden Jean Paul-Denis Chloe Wong Felicity Montagu Nick Mohammed Jude Foley Juliet Cowan Neil Fitzmaurice Vincenzo Nicoli Madeline Holliday Henry Winkler Alicia Lai Javone Prince
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	39 (list of episodes)
Production company(s)	Kindle Entertainment[1]
Release
Original network	CBBC
First shown in	United Kingdom
Original release	28 January 2014 (2014-01-28) – present
External links
Production website

Hank Zipzer is a children's television series which stars Nick James in the titular role as a 12-year-old dyslexic schoolboy. The show is based on the series of books by Henry Winkler, who plays the character of Mr. Rock, Hank's music teacher. The first series premiered in January 2014 on CBBC and a second and third series have been commissioned.^[2] Unlike the books that took place in America, the series takes place in Britain. The second series began airing on 13 August 2015. Javone Prince made his first appearance as Mr Joy in series 2, episode 5, "Hank's Hero". The third series began airing on 26th May 2016, which will be followed by an 84-minute Christmas movie later in 2016. A fourth series has been confirmed by Winkler.^[3]

Plot

The series focuses on the misadventures of Hank Zipzer, a 12-year-old schoolboy in London who suffers from dyslexia. Hanks friends are called Franky and Ashley, and Nick McKelty is his nemesis. The show is based on Henry Winkler's Hank Zipzer children's books, which are based on his own experiences as a dyslexic child. In the show, he plays Hank's favourite teacher, Mr. Rock, who is based on Winkler's own music teacher. Javone Prince joined the cast in series 2.

Cast

• Nick James as Hank
• Jayden Jean Paul-Denis as Frankie
• Chloe Wong as Ashley (series 1)
• Alicia Lai as Ashley (series 2–3)
• Felicity Montagu as Miss Adolf
• Nick Mohammed as Mr Love (main series 1–2, guest series 3)
• Jude Foley as McKelty
• Juliet Cowan as Rosa
• Neil Fitzmaurice as Stan
• Vincenzo Nicoli as Papa Pete
• Madeline Holliday as Emily
• Henry Winkler as Mr Rock
• Javone Prince as Mr Joy (series 2–3)

Episodes

Production

CBBC commissioned the series in 2013 to be produced by Kindle Entertainment, and filming commenced in October 2013.^[4][5] The show is filmed in St Catherine's Catholic High School in Halifax, Yorkshire for Series 1-2 .For Series 3 it's filmed at Birkdale High School in Dewsbury, Yorkshire .^[6] The first series premiered on 28 January 2014 and concluded on 22 April 2014.

On 9 June 2014, Cheryl Taylor, the CBBC controller, announced that the show had been renewed for a second series of thirteen episodes.^[2] Nick James, Henry Winkler, Felicity Montagu and Nick Mohammed will all return, as Hank, Mr Rock, Miss Adolf and Mr Love respectively.^[7][8] Javone Prince joined the main cast.^[9]

Jon Macqueen replaced script editors Lucy Guy and Danny Springs.^[10] Jim Poyser joined as a producer.^[11] Returning writers include Mark Oswin and Madeleine Brettingham, who each wrote one episode and Lucy Guy, who wrote two.^[12][13][14] Several new writers worked on the second series, including Jon Macqueen (two episodes),^[10] Mark Evans (one episode), and Adam Goodwin & Jonathan Parkyn (one episode).^[15]

A third series is currently in production, with George Poles serving as script editor.^[16] Lucy Guy will write two episodes.^[17]

Matt Bloom is lead director on all three series.

Awards

References