Look and Read/Zzaap and the Word Master

From LookingAndSeeing.co.uk - a website about schools broadcasting

A thoroughly modern kids' drama, made deliberately without any separate teaching bits, or any songs whatsoever. Relevant bits of vocabulary do pop up on screen from time to time though, like in Captain Crimson, and the whole thrust of the storyline is jolly didactic in itself, with plenty of vocabulary and word puzzles to solve throughout. The story involves two kids, Josie and Peter, who have a go on an educational computer game in school, but get physically sucked in to the computer because the game's been hijacked by the malign Victor Virus, who wants to be unleashed onto the internet so he can take over the world. The kids then have to work their way through the levels of the game, facing various challenges - sometimes physical but mostly educational - along the way. They are helped from the real world by the school's computer technician, Simon, and Frances, another pupil.

The story is framed by scenes of the author, Berlie Doherty, actually writing it on her computer. She has a personalised Office Assistant, a blue bug called Zzaap, which comes to life and participates in the story, trying to help the children, though at first Victor persuades the kids that Zzaap is really the virus so they zap him.

The story is told in five episodes, then there's a sixth one which is all grammar and no story, just Zzaap reviewing all of the language points that we might have learned during the previous episodes - a sort of big long in-between bit. This final episode is something extra and not essential to enjoying the series, so it is often left out from repeat runs of just the story.

[edit] Episodes

Episode listings from published BBC schedules.

1. Into the Crystal Caverns
   • In this new drama series two children travel through a mystery underground world and solve word clues to move up a level.
2. The Castle of Gloom
   • Things look bleak as Josie and Peter run into Sir Clifford Clank.
3. The Glen of the Green Man
   • Zzaap recovers - but now he is green instead of blue. Hamish struggles with adverbs. Victor Virus appears in disguise.
4. No Hope Valley
   • The Snow Queen provides a way through. Zzaap and Victor Virus face up to each other in a shoot-out.
5. The Word Master
   • Passing through Grendel's cave, Josie and Peter meet the Scarecrow and help him to sort out compound words before they reach the Word Master's study.
6. Zzaap Looks Back
   • A revision programme looking back over adverbs, adjectives, rhymes, spelling, punctuation, plot and suspense.

[edit] Credits

Starring

Neil Morrissey as the voice of Zzaap Jamie Gill as Frances Amanda Riley as Josie Kieran Hardcastle as Peter Stephen Mapes as Victor Virus Deborah Steele as Miss Wordsworth Tom Mullion as Simon Michael Windsor as Rock Face, Skinless and Grendel Lawrie McNichol as the Carved Heads Roy Barraclough as Sir Clifford Clank Miriam Acharki as Scheherezade Paul Sharma as the Green Man James Bryce as Lord Hamish Sarah Patterson as the Snow Queen Nick Ball as Scarecrow Philip Bird as the Word Master with Berlie Doherty

Written by	Berlie Doherty
Music by	Gregor Philp
Executive producer	Moira Scott
Producer	Karen Johnson
Director	Michael Kerrigan

[edit] Broadcasts

Here is a list of all of the broadcasts of this story on the BBC. See the Schedules section for precise dates and times.

• Spring 2001, BBC2
• Spring 2002, BBC2
• Summer 2002, CBBC (three times!)
• Autumn 2002, CBBC (twice)
• Spring 2003, BBC2
• Spring 2003, CBBC
• Spring 2004, BBC2
• Spring 2004, CBBC
• Spring 2005, BBC2
• Spring 2005, CBBC
• Spring 2006, BBC2
• Spring 2006, CBBC
• Autumn 2006, BBC2
• Spring 2007, CBBC
• Summer 2008, BBC2