Harry Hill's Shark Infested Custard

Harry Hill's Shark Infested Custard
Title Card
Created by	Harry Hill
Starring	Harry Hill Siobhan Hayes Joann Condon
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Producer	Avalon Television
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	CITV
Release	21 October 2005 – 13 January 2006

Harry Hill's Shark Infested Custard was a children's television series that was broadcast in the United Kingdom between October 21, 2005, and January 13, 2006. The show marked Stand-up comedian Harry Hill's first move into the world of children's television. As of 2012, the show is still regularly being repeated on Cartoon Network, with up to three broadcasts a day, despite only thirteen episodes ever being made.

Background

The series was produced by Hill's long-running production team Avalon Television, and broadcast on ITV between October 2005 and January 2006. Hill co-wrote the series with British comedian Dean Wilkinson. The series was originally broadcast at 4:30pm on Fridays on CITV, children's programming on the ITV Network. The series co-starred Siobhan Hayes and Joann Condon. The name of the show is derived from the punchline of the well-known children's joke, "What's yellow and dangerous? Shark-infested custard." The show was deemed as new territory for Harry Hill, as prior to broadcast, he had never made the plunge into children's televsion before. However, for many years Harry, whose comedy has always generally been smut-free and seldom of harsh language, has appealed to a large audience of all ages; with his mad comedic routines. While it may have originally been have a surprise when Harry announced his show plans on his website, the cross to children's entertainment was not entirely unexpected. Two books - Harry Hill's Whopping Great Joke Book and Harry Hill's Bumper Book of Bloopers - were released to tie in with the series.

Synopsis

In a very similar setup to his Channel 4 breakthrough series in the 1990s, Harry Hill, the show included various sketches, recurring jokes, musical numbers, a segment entitled "Meet The Johnsons", in which Harry would invite a family with the surname Johnson onto the show, and a Multi-Coloured Swap Shop style game entitled "Help The Aged". The series also featured classic Harry Hill characters, such as Stouffer the Cat, and Harry's "son from his first marriage" - ventriloquist doll Garry Hill. Several new characters were also introduced - Burly Caroline, Harry Hill Snr., Speed Camera Boy, a giant, and a musical "genius", Evelynne Hussey. The self-aware forumulaic style continued, with each show ending on a song, as per Harry Hill.

The following blurb was used to synopsise the series when originally broadcast: "Families of Johnsons will flock to climb Harold Hill…… Got a family of Johnsons? Plastered celebrities will struggle to be recognised…… Natasha Kaplinsky, the tap-dancing Armadillo will defend her title in Harry’s ‘Pet Idol’……Have you got a pet to challenge this thick-skinned prima donna? This is a rare opportunity to watch bald men spell, to marvel at Evelynne’s wonderful instrument and to find a friend for Speed Camera Boy – if you’re very quick! In the studio hundreds of 8-11 year olds will out the woman with the annoying laugh…banish vegetables that don’t look like Harry ….and if you’ve got a Nan, you too can have 15 minutes of fame…".

Transmissions

Series

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	21 October 2005	13 January 2006	13