As the Bell Rings is a Disney Channel Australia original interstitial program which ran from 2007 to 2011. The format is a selection of short live-action comedy sequences. It is an Australian adaption of the Disney Channel Italy Original Series Quelli dell'intervallo, and was recognised as Most Outstanding Short Form Program at the ASTRA Awards in 2009.

Cast and characters

Characters

In season 3 five new characters were added: Vince, Tina, Zoe, Eddie and Marcus. Season 4 of As the Bell Rings featured a new character, Mia. Tori Bailey, who portrayed Mia, won the Australia and New Zealand Disney Casting Call Competition. She was one of five finalists who went into the studio and met with some of the As the Bell Rings crew. Bailey receiving the phone call that she had won the competition was featured as a special break-filler on Disney Channel Australia.

Cast

Broadcast

The series premiered on 24 September 2007 and screened on weekdays at 5:25 pm between The Suite Life on Deck/Wizards of Waverly Place and Hannah Montana. The shorts have also been repeated after movies and TV series. Season 2 aired between 2 January 2009 and 14 September 2009. Season 3, which included new cast members, completed filming on 17 July 2009, and premiered on 2 October 2009 running through 16 April 2010. A fourth season started filming in June 2010 and ended production in October 2010, and aired between 11 February 2011 and 17 June 2011.

Episodes

Series overview

The Australian version is similar to the United Kingdom version except the school is called Paterson High, the names of the characters are different and there is no laugh track. At the end of each episode they show bloopers of the actors. All of the characters are from Melbourne, except for Parker (Bardiya McKinnon) who is from Sydney and DJ (Sianoa Smit-McPhee) who is from Adelaide. As the Bell Rings was filmed at Docklands Studios Melbourne.

Season 1 (2007–08)

Season 2 (2009)

Season 3 (2009–10)

Season 4 (2011)