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''Numbertime'' is a BBC educational television series for primary schools that was aired on BBC Two from 20 September 1993 to 3 December 2001. For its first four series, it was presented by Lolita Chakrabarti. El Nombre, an animated character from ''Numbertime'', eventually became the concept for another educational BBC children's television program; his name means "The Name" in Spanish, and not "The Number", which would be "El Número". The third line of his opening song and his farewell catchphrase were also changed several times during the series' run, to reflect their focus - however, the original ones ("Writing numbers in the desert sand" and "Adios amigos, and keep counting") remain the most famous. ==Series 1: Numbers 1 to 10 (1993)== The first series, which is aimed at four- to five-year-olds, comprised ten episodes focusing on the numbers 1-10, in order; each episode opened with Lolita introducing herself to the viewer, and pulling the number for the episode off its string (which was hanging from the studio ceiling), then pushing it into its correct hole in a wall, and singing the main theme, ''One to Ten'', as each of its holes lit up in turn, which was repeated throughout the programme. In between, there were comedy sketches (mostly based on nursery rhymes), and animations, the most famous involving El Nombre, the Mexican gerbil who parodied Zorro, showing little Juan how to draw numbers as his four-piece mariachi band played ''The Mexican Hat Dance'' (and said "Again!" once he had finished, as it gave them an excuse to play again), and a sequence encouraging the viewer to spot things of the number for each episode - it was the same video, with a different number of things each time (and a recurring song, ''Numbers All Around'', which was sung by a group of children). Each episode ended with Lolita singing a song (or occasionally, introducing an animation), after which she would set viewers the challenge of looking for things in the number of the week's episode before saying that she would "see them next Numbertime". *Episode 1: ''Number 1'' (20 September 1993) The Narrator proudly presents ''Nursery Rhyme Theatre No. 1 - Little Miss Muffet'' with several interruptions, and Little Jack Horner has one minute to ''Find 1 Plum'' on Sammy Sallow's game show of the same name; if he succeeds, he can choose one mountain bike, or one computer, or one picture of Sallow. This episode also ends with ''One Finger, One Thumb, Keep Moving'', which is sung by the group of children who sang ''Numbers All Around'' earlier on in it. *Episode 2: ''Number 2'' (27 September 1993) The Narrator introduces ''Nursery Rhyme Theatre No. 2'' with Marvo the Magician (and his Two Amazing Dickey Birds), and Sammy Sport reports on Jack and Jill's attempt to break the world record for the fastest time to run up a hill, fill a pail with water, and take it back down the hill again (under 2 minutes); this episode also ends with Lolita singing ''The Animals Went in Two by Two''. *Episode 3: ''Number 3'' (4 October 1993) Sammy Sport is joined by Baa-Baa Black Sheep for the results of the "Win a Bag of Wool" competition, while Goldilocks invites viewers to ''Guess Whose House'' (for Sammy Sallow's game show of the same name); the Numbertime Top Ten also brings us, at No. 3, the ever-popular "Three-Sided Triangles", who sing an original song named ''We're Triangles (Oh Yes We Are)''. *Episode 4: ''Number 4'' (11 October 1993) Farmer Giles introduces the finals of ''One Girl and Her Sheep'' at which Little Bo Peep and her dog Shep are competing, and the Knave of Hearts talks to the Queen of Hearts about her famous royal tarts; Lolita tells us to "grab our partners and take the floor" as she introduces a quartet of dancing squares, who sing an original song named ''Do the Square Dance''. *Episode 5: ''Number 5'' (18 October 1993) Australian chef Wally Bee (and his assistant, Bruce) attempt to show viewers how to cook five fat sausages on a barbecue for ''Barbecue Time'', and Harry Headline pays a visit to the home of the Five Pigs Family for ''Five Minutes' Fame''; Little Juan also has his 5th birthday in this episode's ''El Nombre'' sketch, and this episode ends with Lolita singing ''Fly, Little Dickey Birds, Round and Round''. *Episode 6: ''Number 6'' (1 November 1993) A gardener named Fred enlists the help of his family in pulling up his enormous turnip for ''Garden Time'', and Mr. and Mrs. Jones have to ''Take 6 Eggs'' on Sammy Sallow's game show of the same name and put them on either side of a seesaw to make it balance, for which they have three attempts to do so; this episode also ends with Lolita singing ''This Old Man'' in voiceover. *Episode 7: ''Number 7'' (8 November 1993) Sammy Sport travels to Scotland to see a remarkable fishing contest between the famous Seven Fat Fishermen, to see which one of them can catch the biggest fish, and ordering seven lots of fish and chips turns out to be more trouble than it is worth for the Shopkeeper and his Customer (who has got seven children, and they all want fish and chips); this episode also ends with Lolita singing ''In My Little Garden, Now Promise You Won't Laugh'' (also known as ''One Potato, Two Potato''). *Episode 8: ''Number 8'' (15 November 1993) Sammy Sport travels down to Shoeburyness to interview the Old Woman who Lives in a Shoe (who has 8 children), and the Policeman enlists the viewers' help in finding Wee Willie Winkie for ''Crime Spot''; Lolita also imagines what the world would be like if everything was eight-shaped as she visits the Planet of the Eights to sing an original song about it (and this is the only occasion in this series that she is not seen in her usual purple outfit, but a silver spacesuit). It is also evening in Little Juan's town in this episode's ''El Nombre'' sketch. *Episode 9: ''Number 9'' (22 November 1993) Lucky the Cat looks back over her nine lives, as she guests on ''This Is My Life'', and Harry Headline comes to the garden of Miss Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, to look at the wonderful display of flowers for ''Garden Time''; unfortunately, he ruins her chances of winning their "Best Flowers Competition", and she ends up coming ninth. This was also the only episode for this series to not end with a song - instead, Lolita shows the viewers a homemade necklace which has nine beads (three red, three blue, and three yellow), in reference to the episode's third animated sketch. *Episode 10: ''Number 10'' (29 November 1993) Farmer Giles (and his dog, Scruff) show viewers a wonderful, new, and very quick way to mow a meadow for ''Farming News'', and Sammy Sport travels to Ten Pin Alley to watch Ten Pin Pete attempt to become the new Ten Pin Champ; Lolita also shows the viewers ten Russian dolls, and this episode ends with ''Ten in the Bed'' (which is, again, sung by the group of children who sang ''Numbers All Around'' earlier on in it). Also, because this episode was the last in the series, Lolita did not tell the viewers that she would "see them next Numbertime". *Writer: Christopher Lillicrap *Cast: Tony Bluto, Joanna Brookes, Regina Freedman, Jenny Jules, Andy McEwan, Mo Sesay *El Nombre voices (uncredited): Sophie Aldred, Kate Robbins, Steve Steen *Education Officer: Su Hurrell *Music: Andrew Dodge *Animation: Ealing Animation, Hedley Griffin, Peter Lang, Alan Rogers, Marcus Parker-Rhodes *Film Camera: Nick Squires *Film Sound: Eric Wisby, John Hooper *Film Editor: Nick Hutchings *Vision Mixers: Carol Abbott, Hilary Briegel *Camera Supervisor: Eric Metcalfe *Resource Co-ordinator: Roxanna White *Studio Lighting: Bryn Edwards *Studio Sound: Martin Deane *Costume Design: Colin Lavers *Make-up Design: Jane Walker *Videotape Editor: John O'Connor *Assistant Floor Manager: Sally Bates *Production Manager: Oliver Cookson *Production Assistants: Amarjit Ram, Hilary Hardaker *Design: Bob Steer *Executive Producer: Judy Whitfield *Director: Andrea Christodoulou *Series Producer: Clare Elstow *© BBC Education MCMXCIII In 1994, BBC Enterprises (now BBC Worldwide) released a video entitled "Number Time" (spelled with two words) containing sixty minutes of edited highlights from this series (it was the only one at the time); it was later rereleased as part of a "two-on-one" video in 1997 with the ''Words and Pictures'' "Alphabet Fun Time" video, which had originally been released around the same time and contained fifty-eight minutes of highlights from that show's 1992 series. This series was later rereleased in full as a "Video Plus Pack" in 1996. From 22 September to 1 December 1998, the BBC broadcast a "revised" version of this series as a lead-in to the sixth series; in place of Lolita, Bill (see Series 4) and Bernie (see Series 5) introduced each episode with a numberline of their own (however, Lolita's voice was still heard narrating some re-used animated sketches). All of the live-action sketches were replaced with Dolls' House (again, see Series 5) ones - and the ''El Nombre'' sketches were slightly lengthened. Sequences of children discussing the ten numbers were also introduced.〔(YouTube - BBC Schools Numbertime Number 5 )〕 ==Series 2: Shapes (Spring 1995)== The second series, which is again aimed at four- to five-year-olds, comprised five episodes, focusing on the four basic two-dimensional shapes; each episode would open with Lolita standing by a mobile with the four basic shapes hanging from it and singing the series' main theme, ''Squares and Triangles, Circles and Rectangles'' as the mobile began to turn. Once it had stopped turning, she would walk over to the shape that was nearest to her, then ask the viewers if they knew what it was, before it lit up and she told them - and from this series onwards, El Nombre was given ''two'' sketches per episode (the first to show Juan instances of that week's shape around the town, with Juan being clumsy and getting confronted by the other villagers after El Nombre had left, and the second to draw it in the desert sand). This series also featured four cut-out animated characters made up from the shapes its episodes were focusing on (a circular man with magical powers, a square robot, a triangular knight with a magical lance and a rectangular man); in the last episode, they worked together to build a house. Each episode would end with Lolita singing an "extended" version of a song that had been heard earlier in the episode during a montage of the shape around the town (for the last one, she continued over the credits) and setting viewers the challenge of seeing how many of that week's shape they could find before the next episode. *Episode 11: ''Circles'' (24 April 1995) A man named Terry introduces the world-famous Ring a Ring o' Roses Formation Dance Team (and their manager, Cynthia) on ''Come Prancing'', and a prehistoric couple try to invent the round wheel (after square and triangular ones) for their car for ''Great Moments in History''; in this episode's second cut-out animated sketch, circular pawprints transform into a circular ladybird, a circular bird, a circular caterpillar which becomes a circular butterfly, a circular fish which blows circular bubbles, a circular car which emits circular smoke from its circular exhaust, a circular man's head, and a circular bear. *Episode 12: ''Squares'' (1 May 1995) Bobby Cube asks the Shape Spotters on ''Let's Shape Up'' to name the square (by pointing out its distinguishing features), while a square robot builds a square dog (which turns on him, but he scares it away by transforming into a much bigger square dog with a big square that he runs to and climbs up) and Jill Scoop reports on Old King Cole who is wanting his square bowl (after round, triangular and rectangular ones) for ''Newsdesk''. *Episode 13: ''Triangles'' (9 May 1995) Aladdin finds the lamp with a triangle on it (after the ones with a circle and square on them) for his Uncle Abanazer, but he wastes its three wishes (one for each of the triangle's sides and corners), by turning his uncle into a cat, and himself into a mouse, as well as making it disappear (which causes Abanazer to turn on him); a triangular knight also sets out to slay a triangular dragon (but gets burned to a crisp the first time, then gets rained on along with the triangular dragon's fire getting put out the second time), while Bobby Cube asks the Shape Spotters on ''Let's Shape Up'' (who are the same ones from the previous episode!) to identify the triangle (again, by pointing out its distinguishing features to them). *Episode 14: ''Rectangles'' (15 May 1995) Sammy Shape pays a visit to Old Mother Hubbard's cottage to find out what makes a rectangle a rectangle for ''Shapewatch'' (which, like the ''Crime Spot'' sketch from the first series, is a parody of ''Crimewatch'') and met by her dog (who, as in the nursery rhyme, wants a bone), while a rectangular man goes for a swim at a swimming pool (after going up a staircase and taking an elevator), Humpty Dumpty is asked to identify the shape of one of the bricks in the wall he is sitting on, and a woman named Jane keeps in touch with her grandmother by writing a rectangular letter and posting it into a rectangular postbox. *Episode 15: ''Shapes Together'' (22 May 1995) The rectangular man, the square robot, the triangular knight and the circular man (who now has a circular body and a wheel for a foot) work together to build a house and show that "all different shapes work well together", while Bobby Cube asks the Shape Spotters on ''Let's Shape Up'' to identify the "Shy Shapes" hiding in a cola can and Battenberg cake; in this episode's second ''El Nombre'' sketch, Juan draws El Nombre (a circle, rectangle, square and triangle stacked on top of each other) before drawing "the rope that hits him on the head and knocks him over". El Nombre then says that it has never happened to him - so Juan swings a rope at him and tells him "It has now!". The sombrero-less El Nombre then chases Juan through the streets of the town to an extended version of his theme song (with the new tagline "Drawing shapes in the desert sand" at the end), but he never catches him. *Cast: Gary Beadle, Carolyn Bonnyman, Mike Hayley, Anastasia Mulrooney, René Zagger *Written by: Christopher Lillicrap *El Nombre voices (uncredited): Sophie Aldred, Kate Robbins, Steve Steen *Music: Mark Blackledge, Andrew Dodge, Sue Herrod/Seán de Paor *Animations: Baxter Hobbins Slides Ltd, Ealing Animation, Frameline, Alan Rogers & Peter Lang *Studio Resources Manager: Steve Lowry *Camera Supervisor: John Hoare *Sound: Dave Goodwin *Lighting Director: Geoff Beech *Costume Design: Rosie Cheshire *Make-up Design: Judith Gill-Dougherty *Vision Mixer: Carol Abbott *Assistant Floor Manager: Sally Bates *Graphic Designer: Ellen Monaghan *Set Designer: Eric Walmsley *Videotape Editor: St. John O'Rorke *Executive Producer: Stacey Adams *Studio Director: Phil Chilvers *Production Team: Debby Black, Su Hurrell *Producer: Kristin Mason *© BBC Education MCMXCV In 1996, both this series and the next series were released on VHS as "Video Plus Packs" by BBC Educational Publishing (now BBC Active); the following year, they were also rereleased together as a double "Video Plus Pack" named "Numbertime Shapes/Side by Side". After the corporate change in 1997, BBC Education's then-current Internet address ( 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Numbertime」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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