The Secret Show is a British animated television series created by Tony Collingwood and produced by Collingwood O'Hare Entertainment. It was commissioned by the BBC and distributed globally by BBC Worldwide.
The series premiered on 16 September 2006 during TMi on BBC Two. A total of 52 episodes were produced.
Details The series follows 2 spies, Anita Knight and Victor Volt as they try to save the world from the latest threats to civilization. They work for the secret organization, U.Z.Z. (Umbo Zim Zam), which is owned by their commanding agent, whose codename is "Changed Daily" for reasons of security, always to an unusual or ridiculous phrase. U.Z.Z. also comprises Professor Professor, whose inventions (that are usually untested and highly dangerous) and scientific background frequently save the day; Special Agent Ray who often runs missions behind the scenes; and a large team of standard agents.
They frequently counter threats from their main enemy, T.H.E.M. - The Horrible Evil Menace. T.H.E.M. is headed up by the evil antagonist in the series, Doctor Doctor, who is intent on taking over the world, and has her own crack team of agents called "Expendables" who wear billiard ball-style helmets. However, some episodes do feature a different set of enemies, such as the underground species of Imposters or Reptogators, the space alien Floaty Heads or Changed Daily's nanny as a child, who has world domination plans of her own. Many episodes feature a sealed orange cylinder, known only as "The Secret Thing". It is not known what the Secret Thing actually is, although in one episode Doctor Doctor steals it, however it is a fake, filled with confetti. Even when it is not central to the episode, the Secret Thing is always featured, half poking out from somewhere. Each episode also features a robotic spider walking up the wall and a four digit code which can be entered on the Secret Show website to unlock extras.
The show never starts as "The Secret Show", but rather as "The Fluffy Bunny Show" for young children, which features Sweet Little Granny in a rocking chair, with a banjo and six fluffy, pink bunnies. As she begins to sing the intro for her show, she's interrupted by agents for U.Z.Z., headed by Agent Ray, and commandeer the show, always using a different method of dispatch. The Secret Show then begins, much to Sweet Little Granny's dismay. The bunnies, however, frequently appear throughout the show in unexpected places. And in "A Purrfect Villain", Sweet Old Grandpa appears instead of Granny because she was getting a hip replacement operation (presumably from an injury caused by one of U.Z.Z.'s actions). When the show gets interrupted by Ray, Grandpa picks up the bunnies and runs from the agents who appears many times in that episode. The US version sometimes edits this opening out of the broadcast.
Characters U.Z.Z. agents Victor Volt (voiced by Alan Marriott) is one of the two main protagonists; wearing a blue jumpsuit, and riding a purple skybike, he is partnered with Anita Knight. He's the only American-Canadian agent, was recruited by U.Z.Z at a comic book convention in San Diego, and is easily distracted and often acts childishly, sometimes getting the two agents into trouble or causing a crisis that requires further intervention by U.Z.Z. Victor's level of competence generally changes depending on the situation; in some cases he acts incompetently, whereas only scenes later he may manipulate the situation brilliantly. Victor is also a vegetarian and a "Ninth Grade Stone-Skipping Champion" (revealed in the episode "The Abyss"). Anita Knight (voiced by Kate Harbour) is one of the two main protagonists; with blonde hair that ends in a cute little curl, wearing a purple jumpsuit and headband, and riding a green skybike, she is partnered with Victor Volt. Somewhat more intelligent than Victor, she often has to save the day when Victor lands them in a sticky situation. She claims to be allergic to sea water, but when in sea water, she grows a mermaid tail (for reasons unknown.) Professor Professor (voiced by Rob Rackstraw) is a brilliant scientist from Germany, and the only other member of U.Z.Z apart from Victor and Anita who sit in the main meeting room with Changed Daily. He has a bald head with some green hair in the back, and wear red glasses and sometimes a "Pointy Stick" that extends. He speaks with a German accent. Although something of a mad scientist, his inventions are often brilliant, although occasionally some may backfire (which is why he calls most of his inventions "totally untested und highly dangerous") and create a threat, such as a baldness cure that threatens to consume the earth with hair and giant Head Lice. His parents always wanted a professor in the family so they named him Professor, and when he became a professor at U.Z.Z. he was named Professor Professor (in which Changed Daily calls it a silly name). He once was a student at "The School for the Chronically Gifted", and a classmate of the show's antagonist, Doctor Doctor. Changed Daily is under the impression he is French. He always asks Victor "Are you still alive?" after he crashes (which is often and is usually caused by him). Changed Daily (voiced by Keith Wickham) is the leader of U.Z.Z., with a strong British accent, a mustache and a classy suit. He always has a new name at the beginning of every episode; he will mention that "For reasons of security, my name is Changed Daily. Today, you may call me..." before then using his special cell phone to get his latest codename. This always turns out to be ridiculous, much to the amusement of Victor, Anita, Professor Professor, and others. Prior to becoming the commander, Changed Daily was once a top agent occupying the role that Victor now has; he was partnered with Lucy Woo, Anita's counterpart, and she is the only one who knows what Changed Daily's real name is. He always travels with his fireplace at his side to lean on. Whilst he excels as the leader of U.Z.Z, real field work is no longer his strong point, since he apparently has not done much of it in many years, but in one episode he and Professor Professor are demoted when accidentally falling into a training section. Special Agent Ray (voiced by Martin Hyder) is the Unit Commander for U.Z.Z. and provides back-up for Victor and Anita in the field. He is good at keeping his cool under fire and very loyal to U.Z.Z. Ray has a British accent, Elvis Presley-styled hair, an official blue suit, head phone communicator in his ear, and wears sunglasses. Often running missions behind the scenes, he is seen at the beginning of the show when he and his agents clear out the set of "The Fluffy Bunny Show", hosted by Sweet Little Granny, by saying "this time slot is needed urgently". He is also a vegetarian (although he eats fish) and has a nephew named Roy. Agent Kowalski (voiced by Kate Harbour) is the only other female U.Z.Z agent seen in The Secret Show, besides Anita. Little is known about her, except that she is the rank of a standard U.Z.Z agent, she is an American, and is new to U.Z.Z.
Other regulars The World Leader (voiced by Kate Harbour) is, as the name implies, the democratically elected leader of the entire world, and is a target for many villains. Her speech appears to be nothing but gibberish; her husband is able to interpret her supposed babbling. However, the official site implies that the World Leader is speaking ancient Aztec language, though in a very discordant manner. The World Leader's Husband (voiced by Rob Rackstraw) is small in height, and wears some sort of armour-type outfit. He has a quiet voice and seems to be the only person who can understand what the world leader says. Stacey Stern (voiced by Kate Harbour) is a news reporter, often seen reporting the mission currently being investigated by U.Z.Z. Her catch-phrase sign-off is 'You may be you, but I'm Stacy Stern!', lampooning a common TV news reporter style of self-introduction. Sweet Little Granny (voiced by Kate Harbour) is the host of The Fluffy Bunny Show, played before The Secret Show "steals" its time slot for television. She is married to Sweet Old Grandpa, who once hosted The Fluffy Bunny Show when Sweet Little Granny was having a hip replacement operation. When she made her debut on The Fluffy Bunny Show, she used to be known as Sweet Little Girl and, on her debut day, Changed Daily led a team of U.Z.Z. agents to steal the time slot just like Special Agent Ray currently does. Alphonse is an artist, although he is also seen producing an U.Z.Z. training film, entering a musical piece in the world anthem competition and commenting on illegal monument racing as Stacey Stern's "architectural correspondent". He is also a secret admirer of Anita and regularly shuns Victor, much to his distress. He also tortures Victor with some of his artwork (like his ball of whiteness being made of belly button fluff). Kent B. Trusted is, unbeknownst to U.Z.Z., a double agent working for T.H.E.M. He earned the highest medal you can get as an U.Z.Z. agent when he tried to help Doctor Doctor get the Secret Thing and failed. The identity of what exactly the Secret Thing is, is yet to be found out. His name is a pun on the phrase "Can't Be Trusted".
Villains
Doctor Doctor (voiced by Kate Harbour) is the main antagonist of The Secret Show and head of the evil organization, T.H.E.M - The Horrible Evil Menace. Intent on taking over the world, she is the cause of many of U.Z.Z.'s problems, but always fails. She is also known for her bad eyesight and bad teeth that seem to vibrate whenever she talks above a whisper. T.H.E.M. (The Horrible Evil Menace) is headed up by the evil Doctor Doctor, who is intent on taking over the world, and has her own crack team of agents, known as "Expendables" who wear pool ball-style helmets. Each helmet has a number except for the one worn by Kent B. Trusted. His helmet has the letter 'X' instead of a number. The Impostors are extremely dangerous villains that live 90 miles below the surface of the Earth and can "impost" humans using "Hologrammatic Replication" with their eye-shaped symbol on their chest. They like the cold and are allergic to Penguins. Inside their suits they are small, one-eyed, maggot-like creatures, and they can change size to look like giant Maggots. Their leader is known as Red Eye and has one eye and an eye-shaped symbol on its chest. When not imposting humans, they speak in gibberish, though they can be heard to make out the phrase "ding ba-doo" which means freezing the world. The Impostors can only survive outside their impostor suits at temperatures below freezing-so their ultimate aim is to create a new ice age.