The Rubbish World of Dave Spud series, aimed primarily at 5 - 11yr olds, is based on my original idea and was commissioned by CITV in the UK, the first series of 26 x 11 minutes hit our tellybox's Sept 2019. The series has been big ratings success in the UK, so a 2nd season was commissioned of a further 52 episodes, then a third series - with ep's being released through 2024. 

I wrote a bunch of the episodes, but also work closely with a small team of writers and script editor for the rest. I also direct the series and do the music editing (fitting the music to the episodes). The series has been sold to Australia, Russia, Sweden, Basque Country, and there is an excellent Welsh one and a Gaelic version I've yet to see.  

 

The Rubbish World of Dave Spud follows the misadventures of a very average boy, Dave Spud (voiced by Johnny Vegas), and his family. Along comes some rather extraordinary occurrences from unlikely, prob seemingly ordinarily mundane scenario, thats the misbehaving/rubbish world bit, Dave gets the blame (regardless of whether it is or isn't his fault, but it usually is) so Dave united with his staunch (my favourite word after watching the marvellous Grey Gardens documentary) family, and friends including a Starfish called Gareth, a one eyed flea ridden dog, and some slightly more 'human' friends, albeit Katie is a zombie, the Spuds must deal with it, whatever 'it' is and 'DO IT WITH GUSTO'(and be back in time for dinner preferably) 

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voice cast also includes talent such as Philip Glenister, Arthur Smith, Lisa Hammond, Jane Horrocks, Akiya Henry, Inel Tomlinson, David Holt, Gina Yashere, and Johnny Vegas as our Dave Spud. Brit Awards-winning electronic music duo Basement Jaxx (Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe) have done a fantastic job creating new original library of music that I then select and edit to picture to become the soundtrack to the series.

 

I am very proud of the series as the brief was it had to make us laugh, but also care - I enjoyed the freedom of being able to use different approaches to telling the narrative, and of course the music was a joy to work with. The biggest challenge for me was keeping everything down to 11 minutes  - as I do love to get carried away in a moment and take it to ridiculous levels - but alas, and maybe thankfully for the audience, no time to be too indulgent! The best summery of the show I can give is that we try and find the magic in the ordinary, or expand small things into great universe sized things for the fun of it!! 

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I wanted the show do its own thing and yet remain true to its Anna Spud and Pensioner Penny family tree roots (my prev animated shorts that can be found on the 'odds n sods' page) all the production team get into the Spud spirit and make it real pleasure to work on despite a really tight turnaround and modest budget, we certainly try and make up for that in personality!! And delighted it's found an appreciative audience.  

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Where can I see it? In UK its shown on ITVX. various clips on youtube, the official social media on twitter/Insta/FaceBook is @DaveSpudWorld. 

Merch: there are two 'Official Guides to' annuals published by Sweet Cherry publishing and also an online store that has clothes/jigsaws/mugs etc 

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March 2022 The Rubbish World of Dave Spud won The Royal Television Award for best Children's programme. This felt like a full circle after the origins of many of its traits and of course 'Gran' character developed from my student film 'Pensioner Penny' that also won an RTS award and booted me into the industry. In 2024 the series picked up Best Children's series at the British Animation Awards (BAAS)

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