Alphablocks
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. 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.
List of episodes
 | This section may be written from a fan's point of view, rather than a neutral point of view. (June 2023) |
| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 26 | 25 January 2010 | 19 February 2010 | |
| 2 | 26 | 8 March 2011 | 30 March 2012 | |
| 3 | 26 | 1 October 2012 | 23 January 2013 | |
| 4 | 13 | 17 June 2013 | 2 July 2013 | |
| 5 | TBD | TBD | TBD | |
| Specials | 8 | 16 October 2021 | 14 February 2022 | |
| Word Magic | 26 | 23 March 2020 | ||
Series 1 (2010)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Alphablocks" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Joe Elliot & Max Allen | January 25, 2010 |
| 2 | 2 | "Bee" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Joe Elliot; Max Allen (Lead Writer) | January 25, 2010 |
| 3 | 3 | "Top" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Neil Richards, Maurice Suckling | January 26, 2010 |
| 4 | 4 | "Why" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Max Allen (Lead Writer) | January 26, 2010 |
| 5 | 5 | "Key" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Max Allen (Lead Writer) | January 27, 2010 |
| 6 | 6 | "Glow" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Emma Collins | January 27, 2010 |
| 7 | 7 | "Sing" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Joe Elliot | January 28, 2010 |
| 8 | 8 | "Band" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Max Allen (Lead Writer) | January 28, 2010 |
| 9 | 9 | "Party" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Max Allen (Lead Writer) | January 29, 2010 |
| 10 | 10 | "Cha Cha Cha" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Neil Richards & Maurice Suckling | February 1, 2010 |
| 11 | 11 | "Race" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Joe Elliot | February 1, 2010 |
| 12 | 12 | "Moon" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Emma Collins | February 2, 2010 |
| 13 | 13 | "Alphalympics" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Max Allen (Lead Writer) | February 3, 2010 |
| 14 | 14 | "Sail" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Neil Richards & Maurice Suckling | February 4, 2010 |
| 15 | 15 | "UFO" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Max Allen (Lead Writer) | February 5, 2010 |
| 16 | 16 | "Fox" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Max Allen (Lead Writer) | February 5, 2010 |
| 17 | 17 | "Surprise" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Neil Richards & Maurice Suckling | February 8, 2010 |
| 18 | 18 | "Bus" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Neil Richards & Maurice Suckling | February 9, 2010 |
| 19 | 19 | "Space" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Neil Richards, Maurice Suckling | February 10, 2010 |
| 20 | 20 | "Hide" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Emma Collins | February 11, 2010 |
| 21 | 21 | "Quiet" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Max Allen (Lead Writer) | February 12, 2010 |
| 22 | 22 | "Map" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Max Allen (Lead Writer) | February 15, 2010 |
| 23 | 23 | "Jaybird" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Emma Collins | February 16, 2010 |
| 24 | 24 | "Note" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Emma Collins | February 17, 2010 |
| 25 | 25 | "Zzzzz" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Emma Collins | February 19, 2010 |
| 26 | 26 | "Magic" | Blue Zoo (Animation) | Joe Elliot | February 19, 2010 |
Series 2 (2011-12)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | 1 | "Taps" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Neil and Annabel Richards | February 27, 2012 |
| 28 | 2 | "In" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Max Allen | February 28, 2012 |
| 29 | 3 | "Man" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Emma Collins | February 29, 2012 |
| 30 | 4 | "Din" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Max Allen | March 1, 2012 |
| 31 | 5 | "Dog" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Emma Collins | March 2, 2012 |
| 32 | 6 | "Cat" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Emma Collins | March 2, 2012 |
| 33 | 7 | "Pen" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Max Allen | March 8, 2011 |
| 34 | 8 | "Up" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Joe Elliot | March 6, 2012 |
| 35 | 9 | "Red" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Neil and Annabel Richards | March 7, 2012 |
| 36 | 10 | "Hen" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Emma Collins | March 8, 2012 |
| 37 | 11 | "Bop" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Neil and Annabel Richards | March 9, 2012 |
| 38 | 12 | "Fred" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Max Allen | March 12, 2012 |
| 39 | 13 | "Hill" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Neil and Annabel Richards | March 13, 2012 |
| 40 | 14 | "Van" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Emma Collins | March 14, 2012 |
| 41 | 15 | "Zap" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Emma Collins | March 15, 2012 |
| 42 | 16 | "Dot" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Emma Collins | March 16, 2012 |
| 43 | 17 | "Surprise" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Neil and Annabel Richards | March 19, 2012 |
| 44 | 18 | "Web" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Max Allen | March 20, 2012 |
| 45 | 19 | "Box" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Max Allen | March 21, 2012 |
| 46 | 20 | "Quick" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Max Allen | March 22, 2012 |
| 47 | 21 | "Kick" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Joe Elliot | March 23, 2012 |
| 48 | 22 | "Wig" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Sioned Wyn Roberts | March 26, 2012 |
| 49 | 23 | "Rainbow" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Neil & Annabel Richards | March 27, 2012 |
| 50 | 24 | "On" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Emma Collins | March 28, 2012 |
| 51 | 25 | "ABC" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Max Allen | March 29, 2012 |
| 52 | 26 | "The Cat Sat On The Mat" | Helen Arntsen (General) & Lizzie Hicks (Animation) | Joe Elliot | March 30, 2012 |
Series 3 (2012–13)
- Wish (UG word family)
- Snowman (AN word family)
- Win (IN word family)
- Hat (AP word family)
- Little Red N
- Dots
- Frog on a Dog (short vowels I and O)
- Best (letter blend ST)
- Fit (IT word family)
- Odd (short vowel O; nonsense words)
- Champ (digraphs CH and SH)
- Song (digraph NG)
- Thing (digraph TH)
- Train (digraph AI)
- Beep (digraph EE)
- Tightrope (trigraph IGH)
- Toad (digraph OA)
- Book (digraph OO)
- Hey! (vowels A, I, O, and OO)
- Card (digraph AR)
- The End (digraphs OI, OR, and UR)
- How now brown cow (digraph OW)
- Fair (trigraphs AIR, EAR, and URE, and digraph ER)
- Ants (introduction to letter blends)
- Ink (INK word family)
- Crash (short vowel A; onomatopoeic words)
Series 4 (2013)
- Four (words with ending blends)
- Clap (words with beginning blends)
- Prank (words with beginning and ending blends)
- Plusman (compound words)
- Alphabet (digraphs WH and PH)
- Name (long vowel A)
- Sleep (long vowel E)
- Mine (long vowel I)
- Home (long vowel O)
- Blue (long vowel U, and digraph EW)
- Outlaw (words with AW and AU)
- Birthday Girl (digraph IR)
- Cowboy (digraphs OY and OU)
Series 5 (TBD)
Episodes of this season remain unknown, but it was announced in Cbeebies’ new commissions for the Blocks series. 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)
- Band Together (making words with letters appearing in alphabetical order)
- The Wonderful Wizard of Az (changing vowels in CVC words)
- Boo! (vowels A, O, and OO)
- Letters to Santa (Christmas vocabulary)
- Making Friends
- Crossover (the A1-Z26 cipher)
- The Case of the Missing Blocks (word magic with 2 words)
- The Blocks v Blocks Games (anagrams)
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, 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.
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.
The episodes last for 1–3 minutes.
References
- ^ "Alphablocks". Blue Zoo Animation Studio. Archived from the original on 14 April 2012.
- ^ Alphablocks, retrieved 15 February 2022
- ^ "Home grown talent, animations and culturally relevant co-productions lead the way as BBC Children's announce new commissions".
- ^ "Alphablocks & Numberblocks". Retrieved 23 October 2022.
