Art Attack (TV series)

Art Attack is a British children's television series revolving around art hosted by Lloyd Warbey on Disney Jr. The original series was one of CITV's longest running programmes, running from 1990 to 2007, and was presented throughout by Neil Buchanan.
The new series launched on Disney Jr. (UK & Ireland) on June 6, 2011 and was presented by Jassa Ahluwalia. Each show involved Ahluwalia voicing-over footage of an artist producing three works of art, taking the viewer through the various stages of production step by step.
==History==
Art Attack was originally produced by Television South, the franchisee for British broadcaster ITV in the South of England. The series was devised by two TVS employees, Neil Buchanan and Tim Edmunds. Buchanan and Edmunds met each other at Southern Television in 1978, and worked together on No. 73 and Do It!.
The first Art Attacks were a strand within No. 73, and this segment proved so popular, Nigel Pickard the executive producer of children's programming at TVS green lit the pilot. The Art Attack pilot was shot on location at a disused swimming pool in Gillingham, Kent in 1989, and the series began the following year.
When TVS lost its ITV franchise holdings to Meridian Broadcasting, Edmunds and Buchanan bought the rights to the show and produced Art Attack through their company, The Media Merchants. The Media Merchants used fellow ITV franchisee Scottish Television Enterprises (Later known as "SMG Productions") as the production company holder to get the series on to network. This was partly down to the fact Nigel Pickard moved to Scottish Television. In 1993 another ex-TVS employee, Peter Urie set up a production management company, Television Support Services. Television Support Services managed all of the Media Merchants productions. The show was filmed from The Maidstone Studios, Maidstone, Kent.
In 2000, The Media Merchants was acquired by Thomas the Tank Engine owner The Britt Allcroft Company, who were later renamed Gullane Entertainment in September. The ownership transitioned once again in October 2002, when Gullane was purchased by rival children's company HIT Entertainment, who at the time were in a buying spree of existing children's properties.
ITV announced the cancellation of the original UK version of the series in July 2007. the majority of the Art Attack production team transferred over to the company The Foundation and worked on their shows Finger Tips and Mister Maker (both recorded at The Maidstone Studios).
===International Co-Productions===
On February 26, 1998, The Media Merchants announced a deal with Buena Vista Productions to commission a series of localized versions of Art Attack for European markets, namely Germany, France, Italy and Spain, to air on their local versions of Disney Channel. 104 episodes, split into 26 episodes for each market. Buena Vista International Television would handle distribution rights to these international episodes, and they would be branded under the Disney name.https://variety.com/1998/tv/news/attack-on-disney-1117468170/ At the same time, the original UK version began airing on Disney Channel UK as part of the deal.
Following this deal, on May 30, 2000, The Britt Allcroft Company announced that the Disney deal for Art Attack would expand to Latin America and Brazil, with 40 episodes being produced, split into 20 for each region.https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/5628875.disney-delight-over-art-attack/ After the Gullane rebranding, an additional 64 episodes were later commissioned for additional markets, making up for 208 international episodes altogether.https://www.c21media.net/news/more-thomas-and-art-attack-from-gullane/
These international versions shared some similarities to the UK version, as that they were also produced by The Media Merchants and recorded in Maidstone Studios. However, they were instead recorded on a smaller replica set, with respective presenters for each region. Footage of the Art Attacks being created were done by Buchanan, while the local presenter would voice over it, showing the artwork in-between stages and explain what to do next. Neil Buchanan's Big Art Attacks were retained in the international shows, as was The Head, who was dubbed by relevant local voice artists.
Disney ended production of these versions in 2005.
===2010's Disney Jr. Revival===
Following the cancellation of the original ITV series in 2007, The Media Merchants was shuttered by HIT Entertainment. At this time, HIT was under the ownership of Apax Partners, and were on the verge of selling-off franchises they didn't see as profitable or marketable as their big-name brands. By 2011, the ownership of the Art Attack series and format were fully acquired from HIT by The Walt Disney Company.
Prior to that date, in November 2008, HIT and Disney announced that the Latin American version of the show would be revived. This version would be recorded and produced in Argentina as a co-production with The Walt Disney Company Latin America.https://www.c21media.net/news/art-attack-heads-to-argentina/
On May 5, 2011, Disney EMEA announced that the revival of the show would be expanded to Europe and other territories. This would also include a new series for the United Kingdom market which would launch in June of that year.https://www.c21media.net/news/disney-takes-art-attack-global/
The revival series is aimed more at a pre-school audience, due to it airing on Disney Jr. It is produced in Latin America, and is recorded on a set in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the same one used for the Latin American revival. It is recorded similarity to the previous Disney versions, as it has the respective local presenter narrating over footage of an artist putting the artwork together. To fit in with the traditions of the recording location, the Big Art Attacks were done by local artist Alexiev Gandman, while The Head was replaced with a new character - a talking palm-tree named Vincent Van Coconut.
As the series was now a Disney property, episodes occasionally had makes based upon Disney characters or franchises.
The UK version of the revival was hosted by Jassa Ahluwalia for the first season and Lloyd Warbey for the rest, and lasted for four seasons altogether, from 2011 until 2015.
===2023 Latin America/Brazil Revival===
In 2020, The Walt Disney Company Latin America announced the production of Art Attack: Modo Desafío ("Art Attack: Challenge Mode") for Disney+ in Latin America and Brazil, each having their own separate versions aimed at the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking crowd.
Produced by Non Stop for The Walt Disney Company Latin America, Modo Desafío bares little resemblance to the original show, instead being a reality series featuring five presenters who are requested by new character Qbeta to do various art pieces in order to put their artistic skills to the test.
The series premiered on Disney+ on July 26, 2023.
==Characters==
===The Head===
The Head, was a puppet stone bust who humorously recaps the steps needed to produce the last art piece made. After doing this, he would usually show his creation of the previous art attack, most times however getting it hilariously wrong and usually bursting into tears. However, on one occasion, by accidentally doing part of the instructions incorrectly, he creates a similar effect than desired and is proud of his work. He can sometimes tell jokes after the Big Art Attacks.
In series one, 'The Head' was played by Jim Sweeney, in series two, Andrew O'Connor; and from series three, having been redesigned as a puppet, he was voiced and operated by Francis Wright. 'The Head' did not appear in series twelve or thirteen and from series seventeen to nineteen.
===Vincent Van Coconut===
In the revived series, The Head was replaced by a talking palm tree called Vincent Van Coconut, voiced by Tim Hibber. His name, Vincent van Coconut is a parody of the famous Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh.
==Series guide==
===Revived series===
Series	Episodes	Start Date 	End Date 	Length
1 	26 	6 June 2011 	28 November 2011	23:30'
2 	21 	2 June 2012 	20 October 2012 	23:30'
3 	TBC 	29 June 2013	2014 	23:30'
==Gallery==
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Art Attack Dibujando al Dr Dientes con Kermit.jpg
Art Attack Creando un Portalápiz con Kermit.jpg
Art Attack Arte Gigante con Kermit.jpg
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==References==
==External links==
*Art Attack at Disney.co.uk
*Art Attack at itv.com/citv
Category:Disney Channel shows
Category:Disney Jr. shows
Category:Non-Disney
Category:Live-action series