Richard McCourt and Dominic Wood pitch their travelling funfair in a different fictional town each week, inviting children and parents to compete for Golden Hoops in games designed to maximise mess. Winners of the hoops progress to the three-round Finaleval, where the last player standing avoids the bin concealing Cyril the Clown and lifts the Hoopla Trophy.
The contests favour humiliation over skill: Gypsy Rose Dick forces opponents to blend cold baked beans, boiled cabbage and curry sauce into a chugging cocktail; Roger Malcolm’s ghost train sloshes liquid from helmets; The Hand of Cackamanga eliminates dodgem riders splattered by a giant green-slime glove. Brain Scoop spins contestants on a Tilt-A-Whirl before quizzing them on a fake newspaper, while Kiss or Punch demands blindfolded players decide whether to kiss or punch a cardboard celebrity.
Filmed at Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre across summer 2012 and stripped across Friday evenings, the ten-part series ended with an Ofcom reprimand after an 11-year-old girl was shown retching into a bucket; regulators ruled McCourt’s prompting “verging on the aggressive” and the BBC negligent in its duty of care. A positive notice from Caitlin Moran in The Times couldn’t prevent the axe.
Production Details
CBBC / 1 Season / 10 Episodes / 2012
Producer(s): Steve Ryde
Main Cast
