Crackanory is a storytelling television series aimed at adults and inspired by the popular children's series Jackanory. It is broadcast on the UKTV channel Dave. Each episode features tales narrated by contemporary comedians and actors, containing a mix of live-action, original music and animation, all read from the same oversized chair, in a set consistent and reflective of the story. The first series attracted widespread critical acclaim and over half a million viewers to Dave. There are a number of reoccurring themes through the series, with the fictional company Tripec Plastics, the town of Specsham, and "fat Nicola from accounts" being frequently referenced.
First series
Episode 1
Jack Dee "Bitter Tweet" Sally Phillips "What Peebee Did Next"
Episode 2
Rebecca Front "Fakespeare" Kevin Eldon "What Do You Say?"
Episode 3
Harry Enfield "The Teacup Has Landed" Sarah Solemani "Pleasure Drone" and
Episode 4
Sharon Horgan "The Translator" Charlie Higson "The Road to Hell"
Episode 5
Richard Hammond "Becoming Zoe" and
Jessica Hynes "My Former Self"
Episode 6
Hugh Dennis "Head In the Clouds" Stephen Mangan "The Newsreader" and
Live action actors in the series included Alex Macqueen, Cariad Lloyd, Katherine Jakeways, James Bachman, Martha Howe-Douglas, Nick Mohammed, Vera Filatova, Cassie and Connie Powney
Second series
A second series was broadcast in 2014 and featured comedian Rik Mayall, who had recorded a story prior to his death. (He had performed George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl on the original Jackanory.) Channel boss Steve North called it a "complete privilege" to work with Mayall.
Episode 1
Vic Reeves "In Space No-one Can Hear You Clean" Rik Mayall "The Weatherman"
Episode 2
Ben Miller "Man's Best Friend" Sue Perkins "Return to Sender"
Episode 3
David Mitchell "The Surprise" Katherine Parkinson "The Crisis Plan"
Episode 4
Johnny Vegas "Self Storage" Meera Syal "The Obituary Writer"
Episode 5
Warwick Davis "The Untangler" Emilia Fox "Murder He Wrote"
Episode 6
Simon Callow "Let Me Be the Judge" Ruby Wax "I'm Still Here"
Live action actors in the second series included Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Rosie Cavaliero, Michael Fish, Alice Lowe, Elis James, Victoria Wicks, Lucy Montgomery, Dominic Coleman, Tom Meeten and Sara Pascoe.
Third series
The third series, commissioned by UKTV, was broadcast in December 2015 and was sponsored by the Amazon-owned digital audio service Audible. The guest story readers for the six-part series included Christopher Lloyd, known for his roles in long-running sitcom Taxi and as Doc Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy.
Episode 1
Paul Whitehouse "Uncivil War" Carrie Fisher "Dread and Breakfast"
Episode 2
Catherine Tate "The Catchment Area" Richard Ayoade "The Frogbeast of Pontfidd"
Episode 3
Jimmy Carr "The Zombie That Roared" Christopher Lloyd "Di Sat Nav"
Episode 4
Robbie Coltrane "The Last Laugh" Sarah Millican "Abbatnoir"
Episode 5
Morgana Robinson "The Truth About Suz" Greg Davies "The Vexed Message"
Episode 6
Simon Bird "Unlucky for Sam" Tamsin Greig "Bob's House"
Live action actors in the third series included Janine Duvitski, Amy Hoggart, Ray Panthaki, Kerry Howard, Alice Lowe, Martha Howe-Douglas, Marcia Warren, Kerry Godliman and Steve Oram.
Fourth series
The fourth series, also commissioned by UKTV, was broadcast in January and February 2017. Each eight half-hour episode contained one, not two stories, unlike in previous series. UKTV commissioning executive Tanya Qureshi stated that, "We are thrilled to be bringing back the award-winning Crackanory for a fourth time on Dave. It has become one of our landmark brands and the ambitions of the show continue to grow with each new series. We’re hugely excited to see the storytelling format evolve into a single narrative per episode, and to reveal the talented narrators who will be taking a seat in the iconic Crackanory chair."
