Trivia / Dennis the Menace (UK)

• Acting for Two: In the nineties series, Dad and the Colonel were both voiced by John Baddeley, while Eve Karpf voiced both Mum and Matilda. In the 2013 series, Dennis and his dad both share a voice actor in Chris Johnson, perhaps foreshadowing the eventual reveal that Dennis' dad was the Dennis the Menace of the 80s.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: It's often assumed by the media that Dennis is no longer whacked with a slipper at the end of each strip because it wasn't politically correct. In truth, the practice of slippering had already become old hat by the time it was axed in the comic, and getting rid of it allowed for less predictable endings.
• Creator Backlash: Several of the comic's staff have gone on record as disliking the design used for Dennis during the 1980s and the start of the 1990s, feeling it made him look too teenage and thuggish rather than mischievous.
• Cross-Dressing Voices:
  • Dennis was voiced by Sophie Aldred for the first season of the 2009 series.
    • Earlier, he was voiced by Susan Sheridan for the 1990's Beano home video.
  • Walter was voiced by Judy Bennett in the 1990s series.
• Executive Meddling: Walter's girlfriend Matilda was created to dispel Moral Guardian rumours that Walter was gay and Dennis was homophobic. After a few years the character of Matilda was dropped and Walter was made less flamboyant. The most recent series and comics have since undone some of these changes, reintroducing his more flamboyant traits.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The first adaptation of Dennis the Menace was a puppet series shown on an early cable television station called The Children's Channel during 1990 and 1991. Virtually nothing about the show has been documented online, and the show's existence is rarely acknowledged by DC Thomson. It doesn't even get a mention in the 70th Anniversary book, History of the Beano
  • Some episodes can be found here.
• Missing Episode: CBBC skipped episode 26 of the 2013 series for unknown reasons.
• International Coproduction: Dennis and Gnasher - Australia (Sticky Pictures) and the UK (Red Kite Animation).
  • The same goes for the 2013 series Dennis the Menace and Gnasher also made in Australia and the UK with the same companies as before.
• No Export for You: The 2009 series and Unleashed! are the only shows that made it to the States.
• Screwed by the Network: The 1996 adaption was picked up in 2005 by Sprout, but it only aired on demand. a year later it was taken off due to "promoting bad behaviour".
  • The 2009 series was picked up by American TV channel The Hub, but then dropped after a year or two.
• Similarly Named Works: This strip shares its name with a different comic from America. The two are not related but coincidentally debuted the same month. Both works change their names subtly in each other's respective home bases (Dennis the Menace and Gnasher or Dennis and Gnasher within the U.S., Dennis within the U.K.) to avoid confusion.
• Un-Canceled: The second animated series returned mid-2013 to coincide with the 75th anniversary of The Beano. It started on July 8th 2013, but as with the comics, Mum and Dad were redesigned. The cast changed as well, with Dennis having a new voice actor. Basically, it wasn't a second season after all, but rather, a Continuity Reboot.
  • Confirmed on Red Kite Animation's Facebook Page.

---