Global InformationNumbertime information
| Numbertime | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Educational sketch show |
| Written by | Christopher Lillicrap Andrew Bernhardt (Series 3, 5–7 and 9) Toby Jones (Series 5) Guy Hallifax (Series 8–9) Charles Way |
| Directed by | Andrea Christodoulou (Series 1) Phil Chilvers (Series 2–5 and 7) Robin Carr (Series 6 and 8) Andrea Parr (Series 9) Neil Ben |
| Starring | Lolita Chakrabarti (Series 1–4) Ashley Artus (Series 5–7) Anthony Barclay (Series 3–4) Gary Beadle (Series 2) Tony Bluto (Series 1) Carolyn Bonnyman (Series 2) Brian Bowles (voice only, Series 9) Laura Brattan (Series 3–4; voice only, Series 5–9) Joanna Brookes (Series 1, 3 and 4) Otiz Cannelloni (Series 4) Paul Cawley (Series 3–7; voice only, Series 8–9) Ian Connaughton (Series 9) Simon Corris (Series 3–4) Sue Elliott-Nicholls (voice only, Series 8) Chris Emmett (Series 3–4) Michael Fenton-Stevens (Series 8–9) Regina Freedman (Series 1) Victoria Gay (Series 5–7) Roger Griffiths (Series 5–7) Mike Hayley (Series 2–7) Toby Jones (Series 5) Jenny Jules (Series 1) Moir Leslie (voice only, Series 9) Tania Levey (Series 5–6) Andy McEwan (Series 1) Brian Miller (Series 3–7) Anastasia Mulrooney (Series 2–4) Fidel Nanton (Series 5) Richard Pearce (voice only, Series 9) Mo Sesay (Series 1) Elisabeth Sladen (Series 3–4 and 9) Peter Temple (voice only, Series 7) Issy Van Randwyck (Series 3–7) Paul Vates (Series 8) René Zagger (Series 2) El Nombre Sophie Aldred Janet Ellis (Series 6–9) Kate Robbins Steve Steen Numbers Plus Nicola Blackman Tony Marshall Jefferson Clode Nia Davies Stephen Kemble (voice only) Paul J. Reeve |
| Composers | Neil Ben (Series 5–9) Mark Blackledge (Series 2–9) Archie Brown (Series 9) Charles Casey (Series 9) Stephen Chadwick (Series 8) Seán de Paor (Series 2) Andrew Dodge Richard Durrant (Series 5–8) Sue Herrod (Series 2) Simeon Jones (Series 9) Derek Nash (Series 4–9) Sandy Nuttgens (Series 5–9) Henry Marsh (Numbers Plus) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 9 |
| No. of episodes | 68 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Judy Whitfield (Series 1) Stacey Adams (Series 2) Anne Brogan (Series 5) Clare Elstow (Series 6–8) Sue Nott (Series 9) |
| Producers | Clare Elstow (Series 1) Kristin Mason (Series 2–9) Julie Ardrey (Series 8) Judy Brooks (Numbers Plus) |
| Running time | 15 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC Two |
| Release | 20 September 1993 – 3 December 2001 |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Numbertime is a BBC educational numeracy 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 used throughout the series, eventually became the concept for his own 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" which was also used for the seventh series, and "Adios amigos, and keep counting" which was also used for the fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth series) remain the most famous.
For the second series, El Nombre's tagline and farewell catchphrase were changed to "Drawing shapes in the desert sand" and "Adios amigos, and keep shaping up" respectively, while for the third series, they were changed to "Righting wrongs in the desert sand" and "Adios amigos, over and out" respectively; however, for the fourth series, his tagline was changed to "Counting numbers in the desert sand" (which was also used for the ninth series), and for the third episode of the fourth series, his farewell catchphrase was changed to "Adios amigos, and fetch some water". For the fifth series, both his tagline and farewell catchphrase were changed to "Telling time in the desert sand" and "Adios amigos, 'till the next time" respectively, while for the sixth series, his tagline was changed to "Using numbers in the desert sand"; finally, for the eighth series, his tagline was changed to "Counting money in the desert sand".