Gigglebiz is a British children's comedy television programme (described as a 'live-action comedy sketch show' by the BBC) consisting of five series that have been broadcast on CBeebies, the BBC's younger children's channel, starting in 2009. The TV series was starred and created by Justin Fletcher, who plays the lead character in all of the comedy sketches and also wrote a few sketches in its first series. Some of the sketches are filmed in the studio, while other sketches are filmed outside; for example, one is filmed at Portmeirion, used for the fictional town of Wiggyville where Captain Adorable's sketches are set from Series 1 to 2. The show is interspersed with a selection of children called the Gigglekids, who tell jokes to Justin himself, in their own section called 'Giggle Box'. In many episodes, there is also ‘Silly Time’, where Justin says "It's Silly Time!", then some of the other characters dance to music. In one scene during this, four characters are shown dancing at once. Silly Time doesn't happen in every episode however.

History

Gigglebiz's production began in the mid-1990s, when Justin Fletcher produced a showreel named Justin Time, to showcase his acting abilities to television companies. In November 2008, CBeebies aired three TV pilots featuring Fletcher, called Humphrey the Painter, Gigglebox, and Captain Adorable: The Locked Door Adventure, with the objective being that one of them would become a full series. Following the broadcast of the pilots, CBeebies announced on November 25 that Gigglebox would become the full series, and would air within the channel's 2009 schedule. On May 5, 2009, the show's final title was announced as Gigglebiz, and that it would begin airing within the summer of that year. The first series was broadcast in September 2009, comprising 25 13-minute episodes and 20 characters each. The first episode premiered on 7 September 2009. A Christmas special was broadcast on 15 December 2010. The second series comprised 15 episodes being broadcast in January 2011 and saw several characters disappear to make way for five new ones, replacing them. The spinoff quiz show GiggleQuiz came after Gigglebiz, premiering on 28 October 2019 and later in December 2020. Series 1 was filmed from March 2009 to April 2009, Series 2 was filmed from July 2010 to August 2010, Series 3 was filmed from May 2013 to June 2013, Series 4 was filmed from July 2014 to August 2014, Series 5 was filmed from March 2018 to May 2018 and GiggleQuiz was filmed between June 2019 to August 2019.

Characters

Main characters

Former characters

Additional Characters

Transmissions

Gigglebiz (Main Series)

Gigglebiz Christmas Special

GiggleQuiz (Spin-Off Series)

Episodes

There are 114 episodes of Gigglebiz across 5 seasons. Only in Series 5 and in GiggleQuiz did the episodes have proper titles.

Series 5

DVDS

3 Disc and 4 Disc DVD sets

Spinoff (GiggleQuiz)

On 3 July 2018, a spinoff mock quiz show, entitled GiggleQuiz, was announced, being made with Justin Fletcher reprising his main character role. It first aired on 28 October 2019. Unlike Gigglebiz, it is, as said, a mock quiz show. The aim of the game was to answer questions about clips and pictures, shown from the previous series (Series 3–5). It is hosted by Arthur Sleep, and the team captains are Gail Force and Keith Fitt. Nana Knickerbocker hosts her own round named "Nana's Panto Showdown". Rapids Johnson, (in Season 1 only) Wizard Tripwick, Dina Lady, Captain Adorable, Ann Teak, The Lost Pirate, and Professor Muddles appear as the possible contestants. The other characters make cameos. GiggleQuiz began its second season on 16 December 2020, starting with the episode "A Giggle Quizmas". It later re-aired in March 2021 to air the episode "Wizard Tripwick's Crystal Ball".

GiggleQuiz Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

Creators

Gigglebiz was created by Justin Fletcher, who was best-known for Mr. Tumble. The other creators are: