Alphablocks is a British animated television series for preschoolers that debuted on CBeebies on 25 January 2010. The programme was created by Joe Elliot and produced by Alphablocks Ltd (Magic Lantern in series 1) with Blue Zoo.[1] It was commissioned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The show follows the Alphablocks, characters made of blocks who represent each letter of the alphabet. They live in a fictional planet called Alphaland and embark on adventures relating to word concepts.

Alphablocks
Genre
Created byJoe Elliot
Written by
  • Max Allen
  • Joe Elliot
  • Neil & Annabel Richards
  • Maurice Suckling
Voices of
ComposerBen Lee-Delisle
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series4
No. of episodes95
Production
Executive producers
  • Rebecca Shallcross
  • Joe Elliot
ProducerSioned Wyn Roberts
Running time
  • 3 minutes (series 1)
  • 5 minutes (series 2-4)
  • 10-20 minutes (specials)
Production companies
Original release
NetworkCBeebies
Release25 January 2010 (2010-01-25) –
14 February 2022 (2022-02-14)
Related

List of episodes

SeriesEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
12625 January 2010 (2010-01-25)19 February 2010 (2010-02-19)
2268 March 2011 (2011-03-08)30 March 2012 (2012-03-30)
3261 October 2012 (2012-10-01)23 January 2013 (2013-01-23)
41317 June 2013 (2013-06-17)2 July 2013 (2013-07-02)
5TBDTBDTBD
Specials816 October 2021 (2021-10-16)14 February 2022 (2022-02-14)
Word Magic2623 March 2020 (2020-03-23)

Series 1 (2010)

No.
overall
No. in
season
TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
11"Alphablocks"[2]Blue Zoo (Animation)Joe Elliot & Max AllenJanuary 25, 2010 (2010-01-25)
22"Bee"Blue Zoo (Animation)Joe Elliot; Max Allen (Lead Writer)January 25, 2010 (2010-01-25)
33"Top"Blue Zoo (Animation)Neil Richards, Maurice SucklingJanuary 26, 2010 (2010-01-26)
44"Why"Blue Zoo (Animation)Max Allen (Lead Writer)January 26, 2010 (2010-01-26)
55"Key"Blue Zoo (Animation)Max Allen (Lead Writer)January 27, 2010 (2010-01-27)
66"Glow"Blue Zoo (Animation)Emma CollinsJanuary 27, 2010 (2010-01-27)
77"Sing"Blue Zoo (Animation)Joe ElliotJanuary 28, 2010 (2010-01-28)
88"Band"Blue Zoo (Animation)Max Allen (Lead Writer)January 28, 2010 (2010-01-28)
99"Party"Blue Zoo (Animation)Max Allen (Lead Writer)January 29, 2010 (2010-01-29)
1010"Cha Cha Cha"Blue Zoo (Animation)Neil Richards & Maurice SucklingFebruary 1, 2010 (2010-02-01)
1111"Race"Blue Zoo (Animation)Joe ElliotFebruary 1, 2010 (2010-02-01)
1212"Moon"Blue Zoo (Animation)Emma CollinsFebruary 2, 2010 (2010-02-02)
1313"Alphalympics"Blue Zoo (Animation)Max Allen (Lead Writer)February 3, 2010 (2010-02-03)
1414"Sail"Blue Zoo (Animation)Neil Richards & Maurice SucklingFebruary 4, 2010 (2010-02-04)
1515"UFO"Blue Zoo (Animation)Max Allen (Lead Writer)February 5, 2010 (2010-02-05)
1616"Fox"Blue Zoo (Animation)Max Allen (Lead Writer)February 5, 2010 (2010-02-05)
1717"Surprise"Blue Zoo (Animation)Neil Richards & Maurice SucklingFebruary 8, 2010 (2010-02-08)
1818"Bus"Blue Zoo (Animation)Neil Richards & Maurice SucklingFebruary 9, 2010 (2010-02-09)
1919"Space"Blue Zoo (Animation)Neil Richards, Maurice SucklingFebruary 10, 2010 (2010-02-10)
2020"Hide"Blue Zoo (Animation)Emma CollinsFebruary 11, 2010 (2010-02-11)
2121"Quiet"Blue Zoo (Animation)Max Allen (Lead Writer)February 12, 2010 (2010-02-12)
2222"Map"Blue Zoo (Animation)Max Allen (Lead Writer)February 15, 2010 (2010-02-15)
2323"Jaybird"Blue Zoo (Animation)Emma CollinsFebruary 16, 2010 (2010-02-16)
2424"Note"Blue Zoo (Animation)Emma CollinsFebruary 17, 2010 (2010-02-17)
2525"Zzzzz"Blue Zoo (Animation)Emma CollinsFebruary 19, 2010 (2010-02-19)
2626"Magic"Blue Zoo (Animation)Joe ElliotFebruary 19, 2010 (2010-02-19)

Series 2 (2011-12)

No.
overall
No. in
season
TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
271"Taps"[2]Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Neil and Annabel RichardsFebruary 27, 2012 (2012-02-27)
282"In"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Max AllenFebruary 28, 2012 (2012-02-28)
293"Man"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Emma CollinsFebruary 29, 2012 (2012-02-29)
304"Din"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Max AllenMarch 1, 2012 (2012-03-01)
315"Dog"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Emma CollinsMarch 2, 2012 (2012-03-02)
326"Cat"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Emma CollinsMarch 2, 2012 (2012-03-02)
337"Pen"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Max AllenMarch 8, 2011 (2011-03-08)
348"Up"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Joe ElliotMarch 6, 2012 (2012-03-06)
359"Red"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Neil and Annabel RichardsMarch 7, 2012 (2012-03-07)
3610"Hen"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Emma CollinsMarch 8, 2012 (2012-03-08)
3711"Bop"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Neil and Annabel RichardsMarch 9, 2012 (2012-03-09)
3812"Fred"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Max AllenMarch 12, 2012 (2012-03-12)
3913"Hill"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Neil and Annabel RichardsMarch 13, 2012 (2012-03-13)
4014"Van"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Emma CollinsMarch 14, 2012 (2012-03-14)
4115"Zap"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Emma CollinsMarch 15, 2012 (2012-03-15)
4216"Dot"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Emma CollinsMarch 16, 2012 (2012-03-16)
4317"Surprise"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Neil and Annabel RichardsMarch 19, 2012 (2012-03-19)
4418"Web"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Max AllenMarch 20, 2012 (2012-03-20)
4519"Box"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Max AllenMarch 21, 2012 (2012-03-21)
4620"Quick"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Max AllenMarch 22, 2012 (2012-03-22)
4721"Kick"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Joe ElliotMarch 23, 2012 (2012-03-23)
4822"Wig"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Sioned Wyn RobertsMarch 26, 2012 (2012-03-26)
4923"Rainbow"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Neil & Annabel RichardsMarch 27, 2012 (2012-03-27)
5024"On"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Emma CollinsMarch 28, 2012 (2012-03-28)
5125"ABC"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Max AllenMarch 29, 2012 (2012-03-29)
5226"The Cat Sat On The Mat"Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation)Joe ElliotMarch 30, 2012 (2012-03-30)

Series 3 (2012–13)

  1. Wish (UG word family)
  2. Snowman (AN word family)
  3. Win (IN word family)
  4. Hat (AP word family)
  5. Little Red N
  6. Dots
  7. Frog on a Dog (short vowels I and O)
  8. Best (letter blend ST)
  9. Fit (IT word family)
  10. Odd (short vowel O; nonsense words)
  11. Champ (digraphs CH and SH)
  12. Song (digraph NG)
  13. Thing (digraph TH)
  14. Train (digraph AI)
  15. Beep (digraph EE)
  16. Tightrope (trigraph IGH)
  17. Toad (digraph OA)
  18. Book (digraph OO)
  19. Hey! (vowels A, I, O, and OO)
  20. Card (digraph AR)
  21. The End (digraphs OI, OR, and UR)
  22. How now brown cow (digraph OW)
  23. Fair (trigraphs AIR, EAR, and URE, and digraph ER)
  24. Ants (introduction to letter blends)
  25. Ink (INK word family)
  26. Crash (short vowel A; onomatopoeic words)

[2]

Series 4 (2013)

  1. Four (words with ending blends)
  2. Clap (words with beginning blends)
  3. Prank (words with beginning and ending blends)
  4. Plusman (compound words)
  5. Alphabet (digraphs WH and PH)
  6. Name (long vowel A)
  7. Sleep (long vowel E)
  8. Mine (long vowel I)
  9. Home (long vowel O)
  10. Blue (long vowel U, and digraph EW)
  11. Outlaw (words with AW and AU)
  12. Birthday Girl (digraph IR)
  13. Cowboy (digraphs OY and OU)

[2]

Series 5 (TBD)

Episodes of this season remain unknown, but it was announced in Cbeebies’ new commissions for the Blocks series.[3] It was later confirmed on February 9th, 2024 that it will release between the range of 2024 and 2027, and it's currently in the animation stage by LinkedIn user Dyle Sanders being confirmed to work on both Series 5 of both Alphablocks and Numberblocks.

Specials (2021-22)

  1. Band Together (making words with letters appearing in alphabetical order)
  2. The Wonderful Wizard of Az (changing vowels in CVC words)
  3. Boo! (vowels A, O, and OO)
  4. Letters to Santa (Christmas vocabulary)
  5. Making Friends
  6. Crossover (the A1-Z26 cipher)
  7. The Case of the Missing Blocks (word magic with 2 words)
  8. The Blocks v Blocks Games (anagrams)

[4]

Alphablocks: Word Magic

Alphablocks: Word Magic is a spin-off of Alphablocks.

Alphablocks: Word Magic is a series of 26 short episodes published all at the same time on BBC iPlayer in 2020,[2] Being the First Piece Of New Alphablocks Content Surfacing after 7 years of no episodes or specials, although these episodes tend to recap all of the letters from A to Z.[2]

Each and every episode will begin with the letter doing something, with the narrator describing it. After that, three words will be spelled with that letter, and a little scene will play that has something to do with that word. After the words, the same Alphablock animation will play a second time. There are 26 episodes, one for each letter in the alphabet.[2]

The episodes last for 1–3 minutes.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Alphablocks". Blue Zoo Animation Studio. Archived from the original on 14 April 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Alphablocks, retrieved 15 February 2022
  3. ^ "Home grown talent, animations and culturally relevant co-productions lead the way as BBC Children's announce new commissions".
  4. ^ "Alphablocks & Numberblocks". Retrieved 23 October 2022.