Adam
10-11-2007, 10:43 AM
I've taken from BBC Internal Newspaper "Ariel" which has taken me a while to write up. Good article featuring Dom Byrne.
He's not green, googly-eyed or glued to the back of the good ship Guisto. But Dominic Byrne has much in common with Zorst, the animated alien barnacle he voices in the new CBeebies series Space Pirates
Both deliver news reports into madcap radio shows under maverick commands, while they also share a line in dire jokes. 'I do the odd impression,' offers Byrne, a member of the Chris Moyles breakfast show team. 'I think they're really good, but many thousands of listeners text in to tell me otherwise.'
The similarity is not entirely coincidental. Tony Reed, producer of Space Pirates - a live action music series for 4 - 6 year-olds set aboard a shp that orbits planet Earth surfacing for music to play on it pirate radio station Guisto FM - is a big fan of Radio 1's breakfast show. 'It was the inspiration for the programme.' he says simply. 'I want to reflect that anarchic quality and the sense of a group of people having fun.'
He'd heard Byrne speak on air about his young children. 'We do talk a lot about what we're doing in life,' agrees the sbj. 'In my case this tends to be about nappies or the kids embarrassing me the zoo. It's not particularly cool, but that doesn't matter.'
But it was only after hearing his trial for CBeebies Radio that Reed matched Byrne with the cartoon creature, who delivers two dreadful travel andn weather reports per 30 minutes episode. 'It was his usual journalistic voice and delivery, but with a dad twang. Just right for Zorst.'
Like the breakfast show, Space Pirates has music and belly laughs at its heart. Its starting point for some brave musical choices was the notion that children of this age enjoy the music their parents listen to. Arranged around a theme - be it music to drum to, jump or to cheer you up - the series features pop video classics like YMCA and Scissor Sisters, musical guests including McFly and Jamelia, cover versions by house hand The Jingles (a puppet rat trio) and specially recorded world music. 'I didn't want to just cobble together library footage, but to use bespoke performances for that age range,' explains Reed who filmed everything from Mongolian throat musicians to lion dancers during 15 day tour of Papua New Guinea, Beijing, Australia and South Africa.
The Jingles - brought to life by three singing, Jim Henson-trained puppeteers - play cover versions of Jamiroquai through to Gilbert O'Sullivan, arrange by former Busted keyboard player Chris Banks who also wrote and performed the theme tune.
It's already getting Radio 1 rotation. It's catchy and brilliant,' reckons Byrne,' and getting the music right is half the battle.'
The humour, too, needed to hit the mark. With Comedian Luke Toulson in the key role of Captain DJ, the script was penned by a pool of fiver comedy writers with Reed and exec producer Alison Stewart bringing their pre-school expertise to the script editing process. 'We ended up with something that was totally appropriate for the audience but with multi layered humour, with slap stick, jokes and a while new level of verbal comedy,' says Reed.
Indeed, the mix of space, pirates, comedy and pop should tick many boxes. The run of 30 shows is likely to appeal to boys and the upper end of the CBeebies audience - both undeserved groups.
There may be 8m curious adults tuning in too. 'We talk about it a lot on air,' says Byrne. 'Chris is our Captain DJ, we're already calling our Producer Lippy after the talking microphone and Zorst could be a real thread to my day job.'
He's not green, googly-eyed or glued to the back of the good ship Guisto. But Dominic Byrne has much in common with Zorst, the animated alien barnacle he voices in the new CBeebies series Space Pirates
Both deliver news reports into madcap radio shows under maverick commands, while they also share a line in dire jokes. 'I do the odd impression,' offers Byrne, a member of the Chris Moyles breakfast show team. 'I think they're really good, but many thousands of listeners text in to tell me otherwise.'
The similarity is not entirely coincidental. Tony Reed, producer of Space Pirates - a live action music series for 4 - 6 year-olds set aboard a shp that orbits planet Earth surfacing for music to play on it pirate radio station Guisto FM - is a big fan of Radio 1's breakfast show. 'It was the inspiration for the programme.' he says simply. 'I want to reflect that anarchic quality and the sense of a group of people having fun.'
He'd heard Byrne speak on air about his young children. 'We do talk a lot about what we're doing in life,' agrees the sbj. 'In my case this tends to be about nappies or the kids embarrassing me the zoo. It's not particularly cool, but that doesn't matter.'
But it was only after hearing his trial for CBeebies Radio that Reed matched Byrne with the cartoon creature, who delivers two dreadful travel andn weather reports per 30 minutes episode. 'It was his usual journalistic voice and delivery, but with a dad twang. Just right for Zorst.'
Like the breakfast show, Space Pirates has music and belly laughs at its heart. Its starting point for some brave musical choices was the notion that children of this age enjoy the music their parents listen to. Arranged around a theme - be it music to drum to, jump or to cheer you up - the series features pop video classics like YMCA and Scissor Sisters, musical guests including McFly and Jamelia, cover versions by house hand The Jingles (a puppet rat trio) and specially recorded world music. 'I didn't want to just cobble together library footage, but to use bespoke performances for that age range,' explains Reed who filmed everything from Mongolian throat musicians to lion dancers during 15 day tour of Papua New Guinea, Beijing, Australia and South Africa.
The Jingles - brought to life by three singing, Jim Henson-trained puppeteers - play cover versions of Jamiroquai through to Gilbert O'Sullivan, arrange by former Busted keyboard player Chris Banks who also wrote and performed the theme tune.
It's already getting Radio 1 rotation. It's catchy and brilliant,' reckons Byrne,' and getting the music right is half the battle.'
The humour, too, needed to hit the mark. With Comedian Luke Toulson in the key role of Captain DJ, the script was penned by a pool of fiver comedy writers with Reed and exec producer Alison Stewart bringing their pre-school expertise to the script editing process. 'We ended up with something that was totally appropriate for the audience but with multi layered humour, with slap stick, jokes and a while new level of verbal comedy,' says Reed.
Indeed, the mix of space, pirates, comedy and pop should tick many boxes. The run of 30 shows is likely to appeal to boys and the upper end of the CBeebies audience - both undeserved groups.
There may be 8m curious adults tuning in too. 'We talk about it a lot on air,' says Byrne. 'Chris is our Captain DJ, we're already calling our Producer Lippy after the talking microphone and Zorst could be a real thread to my day job.'