Harry's Mad is a British children's television programme that aired on CITV in the United Kingdom between 4 January 1993 and 11 March 1996. It is based upon a book written by Dick King-Smith. Steve Attridge originally adapted the book and wrote most of the first 3 series.
Premise
The show begins when Harry Holdsworth (Gareth Parrington) inherits his American great-uncle George's macaw named Madison. At first, the Holdsworth family are not very pleased with their new pet, but they soon start to notice that Madison is no ordinary parrot, and that he is highly intelligent and very articulate. He becomes an instant family member. As well as getting the Holdsworths out of many problems, Madison is also the cause of many too. Terry Crumm (Mark Billingham) hears about Madison's intelligence and sets out to steal him on many occasions, but most of the time Madison foils his plans and saves the day.
In the third series, the family sell their house and move to a rather run down hotel which they took over when Aunt Agatha moved to America. Harry is studying for his GCSEs back at his old school and so is not featured much in this series. Instead, Hattie, played by Amy Butterworth, and Jools, played by Richard Castillo, Aunt Agatha's adopted children, take his place.
In the fourth and final series, Jools leaves the family and Harry returns from his GCSEs.
Many guest stars appeared in Harry's Mad including Dave Lee Travis, Michaela Strachan and Steve Davis.
The parrot Madison was played by a living parrot in only certain scenes that required the view of his full body, such as when he was flying or perched on Harry's arm. In most other scenes, however, an animatronic parrot was used to allow Madison to talk and interact with other characters properly.
Transmissions Series Start date End date Episodes
Episodes The show ran for four series, which were originally broadcast in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 respectively.
Series 1 (1993) + No. overall No. in series Plot Original release date 1 1 Harry inherits a parrot called Madison from his great uncle George. There are also secrets of the macaw. 4 January 1993 2 2 Now that Mum and Dad are in on Harry's secret he and Madison are getting along well. Everything seems to be fine until Harry reveals his secret to his parents. 11 January 1993 3 3 Madison the wine drinking Parrot makes some interesting suggestions. 18 January 1993 4 4 25 January 1993 5 5 1 February 1993 6 6 8 February 1993
Series 2 (1994) + No. overall No. in series Title Original broadcast date 7 1 Magic Moments 10 January 1994 8 2 Under the Stars 17 January 1994 9 3 Mad Macaw 24 January 1994 10 4 Beat Thy Neighbour 31 January 1994 11 5 Golden Oldies 7 February 1994 12 6 Snookered 21 February 1994 13 7 There's No Such Thing as Ghosts, Harry 28 February 1994 14 8 Endangered Species 7 March 1994 15 9 Treasure Island 14 March 1994
Series 3 (1995) + No. overall No. in series Title Original broadcast date 16 1 A Fresh Start 9 January 1995 17 2 Guest Disappearances 16 January 1995 18 3 Heartbreak Hotel 23 January 1995 19 4 The Health Inspector 27 January 1995 20 5 Meaty Chunks 30 January 1995 21 6 The Great Rudini 6 February 1995 22 7 Sick as a Parrot 13 February 1995 23 8 Antics and Antiques 20 February 1995 24 9 A Tail of First Aid 6 March 1995 25 10 The Bird of Paradise 13 March 1995
Series 4 (1996) + No. overall No. in series Title Original broadcast date 26 1 Harry in Lurve 8 January 1996 27 2 A Piece of Cake 15 January 1996 28 3 Illegal Eagles 22 January 1996 29 4 That's Entertainment 29 January 1996 30 5 Tea and Cakes at the Madison Hotel 5 February 1996 31 6 Stark Raving Mad 12 February 1996 32 7 Mad's Hat Trick 19 February 1996 33 8 Spooks 26 February 1996 34 9 Gambling Is a Risky Business 4 March 1996 35 10 The Vegetable Show 11 March 1996 36 11 Halloween Special 31 October 1996
Trivia Although the animatronic parrot was mostly accurate, there is one revealing mistake; the animatronic parrot has a uniformly grey beak while the real parrot has a black and white beak. Whilst Madison is a macaw in this series, in the original book, he is an African grey parrot.
References
External links