Hoopla Doopla!

hoopla doopla!

Company type	Television series production
Industry	Children's television
Founded	2013 (2013)
Founder	Melinda Wearne, Ron Saunders
Headquarters	Australia, China
Area served	Australia, China
Key people	Melinda Wearne, Ron Saunders, Zhao Qian, Mark Barnard, Liang Tong
Products	Children's television series

hoopla doopla! (presented in lowercase; ) is a collaborative live-action children's television series without spoken dialogue, produced jointly by Australian and Chinese teams, which premiered in February 2014. The concept was developed by Melinda Wearne and Ron Saunders, incorporating cast and crew members from both nations. Direction was shared by Mark Barnard and Liang Tong. Filming occurred over a six-month period in 2013 within a 2250 square metre studio—approximately the size of a football field—where the fictional locale of Hoopla was created. The production team included Wearne (The Content Agency), Saunders (Beyond Screen Production) representing the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and Zhao Qian from China Central Television (CCTV). Shooting took place near Zhuozhou, about two hours southwest of Beijing, with post-production finalized in Australia.

Designed for children between three and seven years old, hoopla doopla! features six main characters: Jango (Daniel Gorski), Mimi (Kate Wright), Zap (Simon Wright), Bop (Xie Ning), Squidgie (Liu Wanting), and Ziggy (Zhang Haoran), with narration provided by Zindzi Okenyo. The series began airing on ABC on 10 February 2014 and subsequently on CCTV from mid-February, consisting of 52 episodes, each lasting 12 minutes.

Premise

The narrative of hoopla doopla! centers on six inhabitants of the town Hoopla: Jango, who works as a street sweeper and clown; Ziggy, a magician who owns a shop; Bop, a strongman and mechanic; Squidgie, a contortionist and gardener; Mimi, a cook and juggler; and Zap, an acrobat responsible for delivering parcels. Each episode presents a challenge that the characters resolve together using non-verbal communication such as acrobatics and facial expressions, without any spoken words. An off-screen Narrator offers clarifications throughout.

Cast

• Daniel Gorski as Jango: clown and street sweeper
• Kate Wright as Mimi: cook, juggler, cafe proprietor
• Simon Wright as Zap: acrobat and delivery agent
• Xie Ning as Bop: mechanic and strongman
• Liu Wanting as Squidgie: contortionist and gardener
• Zhang Haoran as Ziggy: magician and shopkeeper
• Zindzi Okenyo as Narrator

Production

Melinda Wearne initially proposed hoopla doopla! to ABC Children's Television through a pilot episode. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation collaborated with Ron Saunders of Beyond Screen Production alongside China's CCTV Drama Production Centre to co-produce the series, continuing their previous partnership on Magic Mountain (1997–1998). Casting presented difficulties due to the requirement for performers skilled in both physical performance and acting. The isolated location of the Chinese filming site posed logistical obstacles for the Australian cast members. The three Australian actors—Gorski, Simon Wright, and Kate Wright—are all trained circus artists; Gorski and Simon graduated from the National Institute of Circus Arts, while Kate began training with Cirkidz at age seven. Directing duties were shared between Mark Barnard from Australia and Liang Tong from China.

Episodes

Episode titles:

1. "Upsy Daisy!"
2. "Big Squidgie"
3. "Shadowplay"
4. "Zap's Alarm Clock"
5. "Mimi's Big Surprise"
6. "Hiccups"
7. "The Dough Monster"
8. "Squidgie's Day Off"
9. "Snow Business"
10. "Squidgie's Picnic"
11. "Sticky Situation"
12. "Jango the Joker"
13. "Magic Coat"
14. "Mimi's Perfect Pie"
15. "Zap's Special Delivery"
16. "Hula Hoopla"
17. "Bop's Clumsy Day"
18. "Zap Gets Stuck"
19. "Tomato Trouble"
20. "Midnight Muncher"
21. "Ziggy's Hidden Talent"
22. "Bop and the Butterfly"
23. "Sick Story"
24. "Trading Places"
25. "Sporty Jango"
26. "Dinosaur"
27. "Jango's Big Clean Up"
28. "Happy Snaps"
29. "The Lost Thing"
30. "Moonwalk"
31. "Jango the Genie"
32. "Treasure Map"
33. "Squidgie's Plant"
34. "Ziggy Goes Camping"
35. "The Smell"
36. "Zap's Whistle"
37. "Swap Shop"
38. "The Ziggy Hop"
39. "Ziggy's Hat Trick"
40. "Bop and the Clock"
41. "Ziggy the Invisible"
42. "The Robot"
43. "The Magic Pumpkin"
44. "The Hungry Dragon"
45. "In a Fix"
46. "Best Friends Day"
47. "King Jango"
48. "Hoopla Fire Brigade"
49. "The Sneaky Snacker"
50. "Mimi's Holiday"
51. "Squidgie's Present"
52. "Ziggy the Hero"

Releases

• Hoopla Doopla! Happy Snaps (2014) – Distributed by Roadshow Entertainment (R-114962-9), featuring episodes 1–4, 6–7, and 28
• Hoopla Doopla! Hula Hoopla (2015) – Released through Roadshow Entertainment (R-122354-9), containing episodes 9–16
• Hoopla Doopla! Best Friends Day (2015) – Available via Roadshow Entertainment (R-122995-9), including episodes 17–23 and 46
• Hoopla Doopla! Ziggy the Hero! (2016) – Issued by Roadshow Entertainment (R-123612-9), covering episodes 24–26, 29, 38–39, 41, and 52

Awards and nominations

During the 2014 AWGIE Awards, episode 9 titled Snow Business received the award for Children's Television (P Classification), while episode 16, known as Hula Hoopla, earned a nomination in the identical category.