{ "id": "ep9r3e9m8m", "slug": "angry-kid", "title": "Angry Kid", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted", "label": "Unscripted, reality, and web-native series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_web_native", "label": "Web-native and streaming-original series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_web_native" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_web_native.early_english_webseries", "label": "Early English-language web series (1997–mid 2010s)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_web_native.early_english_webseries" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Unscripted, reality, and web-native series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted", "label": "Unscripted, reality, and web-native series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Angry Kid is a British stop-motion comedy series by Darren Walsh at Aardman Animations about a ginger-haired 15-year-old brat, made by pixellation with 400 masks, launched on Atom Films in May 2000 and later shown on BBC Three and Channel 4.", "snippet": "Angry Kid is a British stop-motion comedy series by Darren Walsh at Aardman Animations about a ginger-haired 15-year-old brat, made by pixellation with 400 masks, launched on Atom Films in May 2000 and later shown on BBC Three and Channel 4.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_web_native.early_english_webseries", "markdown": "# Angry Kid\n\n**Angry Kid** is a British stop-motion comedy series of short films created by director Darren Walsh at [Aardman Animations](https://www.edgepedia.org/aardman-animations), depicting the mini-adventures of a rude, ginger-haired schoolboy with a persistent attitude problem. It was first released as one-minute webisodes on the Atom Films website in May 2000, later ran on [BBC Three](https://www.edgepedia.org/bbc-three) and [Channel 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/channel-4), and returned as vlog-style videos on YouTube in the 2010s.[1](https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/angry_kid/) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/11/news3)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Creator | Darren Walsh, an Aardman director; he also voices the title character[1](https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/angry_kid/) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2647976/) |\n| Production company | Aardman Animations, the Bristol studio behind Wallace and Gromit[1](https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/angry_kid/) |\n| Technique | Pixellation: a live actor is moved a fraction at a time for each frame, wearing one of 400 face masks[1](https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/angry_kid/) |\n| Internet debut | First of 25 one-minute webisodes went online at Atom Films in early May 2000; a million viewers in seven weeks, described as an Internet record for a Web-based program[2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/11/news3) • [4](https://www.awn.com/news/aardman-delinquent-breaks-net) |\n| Television broadcast | BBC Three and Channel 4, 1999–2016, four series[1](https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/angry_kid/) |\n| Output | 50 episodes and 5 specials made before production ceased in 2007; 12 new vlog videos added in 2015[5](https://365bristol.com/story/2015/07/27/angry-kid-is-back-/1558/) |\n| Content rating | Most episodes contain adult content; the 2003 DVD compilation was certified 15 by the BBFC[6](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/28119/angry-kid) • [7](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/angry-kid-film-review-by-keith-dudhnath) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Character and premise\n\nThe title character is a redheaded, runny-nosed British boy stuck, in one description, at the awkward age between childhood and adolescence; TVmaze describes him as a 15-year-old brat whose mini-adventures mostly contain adult content.[8](https://www.tvpassport.com/series/angry-kid/1452086) • [6](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/28119/angry-kid) He is childish, arrogant, and a torment to his parents, his friend \"Specky\", and his sister.[1](https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/angry_kid/) Episode subjects listed on IMDb include shaving, puberty, telepathy, and dogs stealing his chips.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2647976/) The Guardian described the character at launch as \"a bug-eyed juvenile delinquent in an unzipped Parka\", closer in tone to [South Park](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-park) or [The Simpsons](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-simpsons) than to the cosy world of British family animation, and quoted Aardman's own description of the series as \"anarchic, irreverent and definitely not family viewing\".[2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/11/news3)\n\nDarren Walsh voices Angry Kid, with David Holt as Dad; other cast members listed by IMDb include Jo Allen and Beth Chalmers as Lil Sis.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2647976/) A festival catalog credits a one-minute short titled \"Bone\" to Darren Walsh with the year 1998, indicating that shorts existed before the 2000 web launch.[9](https://animafestival.be/animafestival/up/a-propos/Archives/2016/catalogue_2016_compressed.pdf)\n\n## Animation technique\n\nThe series uses pixellation, a stop-motion process in which a human actor serves as a three-dimensional puppet, moving a fraction at a time for each frame of film.[1](https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/angry_kid/) The actor wears a series of masks, and both the pose and the mask's expression are altered slightly for each exposure.[10](https://philarchive.org/archive/NICACC-3) Walsh used 400 face masks to produce the character's range of expressions.[1](https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/angry_kid/) TV Passport describes the method as a combination of pixelation, live action, and mask replacement.[8](https://www.tvpassport.com/series/angry-kid/1452086) Reviewers noted that pixillation, coupled with real and semi-real backgrounds, gives the series a look distinct from Aardman's typical plasticine style.[7](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/angry-kid-film-review-by-keith-dudhnath)\n\n## Internet debut and audience\n\nAardman chose the web as the series' first platform. A planned release on Channel 4 had collapsed because the content was judged too extreme for peak-time television.[4](https://www.awn.com/news/aardman-delinquent-breaks-net) The Guardian reported on 11 April 2000 that the first of a series of 60-second shorts would go online at Atom Films from midnight on 7 May;[2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/11/news3) Animation World Network later dated the exclusive online launch to May 8, 2000.[4](https://www.awn.com/news/aardman-delinquent-breaks-net) Twenty-five webisodes, each about a minute long, were available on the AtomFilms site.[4](https://www.awn.com/news/aardman-delinquent-breaks-net)\n\nThe audience figures were unusual for the period. Seven weeks after launch the series had been watched by a million people, which AWN called an Internet record for a Web-based program, and the total had since doubled; a third of viewers downloaded the webisodes and e-mailed them to friends.[4](https://www.awn.com/news/aardman-delinquent-breaks-net) A later Aardman-related report put cumulative plays and downloads of the Angry Kid webtoons at over 7 million through webcasters such as Atom Films, with production costs recouped through online sponsorships and commercial tie-ins.[11](https://www.c21media.net/news/aardman-returns-with-wallace-gromit/)\n\nThe economics were unconventional. Design Week reported that the series took two years to make at a cost of £450,000 and that, unusually, Aardman as producer would receive no fee from AtomFilms.[12](https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/18-may-2000/fowl-play/) Miles Bullough, Aardman's head of broadcast and the series' executive producer, later explained the fit between form and platform: Aardman used a locked-off camera with backgrounds that hardly changed, so the images rendered well on the internet and on mobile phones, which he described as part of the luck behind the series. He noted that Atom charged advertisers between 25 and 50 dollars per thousand viewers, the same rates as American networks, and set aside around 10 percent of advertising revenue for content producers, shared according to popularity.[13](https://cineuropa.org/en/video/108958/)\n\n## Television broadcast and later revival\n\nAfter the web run, the character moved to television. British Comedy Guide lists Angry Kid as a sitcom broadcast on BBC Three and Channel 4 from 1999 to 2016 across four series.[1](https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/angry_kid/) A 2003 half-hour compilation, directed and co-written by Walsh, was released on DVD with a BBFC 15 certificate.[7](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/angry-kid-film-review-by-keith-dudhnath) According to 365Bristol, 50 episodes and 5 specials were made before production ceased in 2007 at Aardman's Bristol studios.[5](https://365bristol.com/story/2015/07/27/angry-kid-is-back-/1558/)\n\nIn July 2015 the character returned in vlog format, with a run of 12 new videos on his YouTube channel, the first a satirical homage to the film Boyhood; the original episodes were digitally remastered and released on YouTube alongside the new content.[5](https://365bristol.com/story/2015/07/27/angry-kid-is-back-/1558/) TVmaze lists the show as ended, with a final fourth-series episode, \"Sponsored Silence\", dated November 8, 2019, and IMDb lists 80 episodes spanning 1999 to 2019 with an average user rating of 7.0 out of 10 from 378 votes.[6](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/28119/angry-kid) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2647976/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Angry Kid – BBC3 sitcom, British Comedy Guide](https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/angry_kid/)\n2. [Aardman's Angry Kid debuts on the web, The Guardian (11 April 2000)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/11/news3)\n3. [Angry Kid (TV Series 1999–2019), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2647976/)\n4. [Aardman Delinquent Breaks Net, Animation World Network (27 September 2000)](https://www.awn.com/news/aardman-delinquent-breaks-net)\n5. [Angry Kid is Back!, 365Bristol (27 July 2015)](https://365bristol.com/story/2015/07/27/angry-kid-is-back-/1558/)\n6. [Angry Kid, TVmaze](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/28119/angry-kid)\n7. [Angry Kid (2003) review by Keith Dudhnath, Eye for Film](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/angry-kid-film-review-by-keith-dudhnath)\n8. [Angry Kid (Animated), TV Passport](https://www.tvpassport.com/series/angry-kid/1452086)\n9. [CATA festival catalogue 2016 (Angry Kid 'Bone' credit)](https://animafestival.be/animafestival/up/a-propos/Archives/2016/catalogue_2016_compressed.pdf)\n10. [Animation & Cartoons (Nicolae Sfetcu), PhilArchive](https://philarchive.org/archive/NICACC-3)\n11. [Aardman returns with Wallace & Gromit, C21Media](https://www.c21media.net/news/aardman-returns-with-wallace-gromit/)\n12. [Fowl play, Design Week (18 May 2000)](https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/18-may-2000/fowl-play/)\n13. [Miles Bullough, Head of Broadcast at Aardman Animations, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/video/108958/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Early English-language web series (1997–mid 2010s)*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/angry-kid", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/angry-kid.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Angry Kid\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/angry-kid. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Angry Kid](https://www.edgepedia.org/angry-kid)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/angry-kid](https://www.edgepedia.org/angry-kid). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Angry Kid\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/angry-kid. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Angry Kid is a British stop-motion comedy series by Darren Walsh at Aardman Animations about a ginger-haired 15-year-old brat, made by pixellation with 400 masks, launched on Atom Films in May 2000 and later shown on BBC Three and Channel 4." }