Dave Spud is a British children's animated series featuring the surreal adventures of the eponymous Dave Spud of Grimsby, his friends and tower block-dwelling family.[1] It was created and directed by Edward Foster, inspired by his 2003 NFTS student short 'Anna Spud'. It was developed into a pilot in 2010 produced by The Illuminated Film Company. 26 11-minute installments were commissioned, whilst the soundtrack was composed by electronic group Basement Jaxx.[2]
If there were two things Dave could wish for it would be for Fuzzypeg to smell better, and for Gran to be nicer. Is getting what you want always a good thing?
Anna is practising for the school cycling test and is good at it. Dave isn't quite as skilled, but with a new bike from his parents he really hopes to pass.
When Dave needs a new coat, Gran kindly suggests she knows a good one by the car park bin. Dave promptly gets trapped inside the coat and discovers its past.
Gran sits in front of the television for so long that she turns into a cocoon, and with a little help from Dave - Who wants his favourite seat back - she hatches into a moth.
Dave and his friend, Zombie Katie, are working on a school project together about endangered animals, so George takes them on an expedition to the local park to see what they can find.
Dave enters Fuzzypeg into a competition to become the face of a new brand of dog food, which he unexpectedly wins. As Fuzzypeg embarks on a glamorous new lifestyle, Dave misses his pal and seeks a way to terminate his contract.
Gran buys a new loo, this lavatory has a tendency to flush its users into another dimension, and Dave and Gran quickly finds themselves flushed and spat out in olden day Grimsby.
Gran has been particularly naughty lately and is sentenced to a stay in an old people's home, but the home is the stuff of nightmares for Gran, and it's soon up to the Spuds to break her free.
Dave and his friends get lost on a school orienteering exercise thanks to Robert Robot, who is unable to read the map - snatched by a flock of giant tiger pigeons and deposited into their equally giant nest, Dave must retrieve the map from Robert and get them all back to school.
Dave stumbles across a mermaid at the dockside who invites herself round for tea and takes up residence in the Spuds' bathtub, so Dave and his family must somehow persuade their unwanted guest to go back to her watery home.
Dave and his friends embark on a school trip along a canal where they awaken an ancient monster called Big Lippy, who pushes them over a waterfall and sends them back in time to the Jurassic era.
Dave finds a handheld computer game at the dump which involves killing zombies - his friend Zombie Katie, however, finds the game rather insulting. Exacting her revenge, Dave finds himself confronted with a group of very angry and very real zombies.
Dave is warned by local fortune teller Madam Donald that walking under a ladder will bring bad luck - he walks under one anyway, and soon a meteor is heading for Grimsby. It is up to Dave and his friend Robert Robot to catch it before everyone is squished.
Anna is training to be a magician with Dave as her helpful assistant, but their disappearing trick is not up to much - that is, until Zombie Katie bestows a magic spell book upon them. Soon they can't stop making stuff disappear, but what will happen when there is nothing left to make disappear in Grimsby?
Lil Sue has started a delivery company called Deliver Sue, and in a quest to raise money for a new set of wheels, Dave lands himself with a job - Anna thinks she knows how to deliver packages quicker than Dave, though, and a dramatic sibling rivalry soon unfolds.
Dave is thrilled when he wins an electronic home help device called Barry - finally, his family can boss something around other than him, but it is not long before Barry is overwhelmed by the Spuds' demands. Fighting back, Barry takes over Grimsby Heights and heads off to the sea for some well-earned peace and quiet.
Dave accidentally rips the fabric of space causing time to jump around and gravity to leak out. Now Dave must fix the tear before everything gets sucked in.
Dave consumes a cheesecake which was not meant for him. At bedtime, he gets stuck into a cheesy dream with the rest of his family. The only way to escape is to admit everything he has done and confront his guilt.
Dave and his friends become cheerleaders for their school's sports team and with Gran's help, they're going to create the best cheerleading performance the school has ever seen.
After Betty gives Dave bad hair ahead of the annual community disco, he finds a wig made from a donkey's hair. Soon he discovers the side effects of the wig.
Dave makes a weathervane during class which he tests on the rooftops of Grimsby Heights; things go wrong when his assistant Gran gets struck by lightning and is charged with electrical powers.
The Spuds wants to become fit after watching strongman competitions, they order Gribits to get moving but cannot stop when they discover the devices were faulty.
Dave makes a Gareth-shaped piñata for Gareth's birthday, but his starfish friend is unfamiliar with such an item and confused when the Spuds bash it to pieces. Convinced that Dave does not like her anymore, Gareth leaves and heads back out to sea - can Dave find her in time and persuade her that it was all a silly misunderstanding?
School puts Dave on a work placement with his dad at the local dump - sucked into the mysterious world of rubbish, an old cow and a group of unruly fridges teach Dave an important lesson about recycling.
Lil Sue asks Dave to 'pet sit' her flea Mr Grumps - when Fuzzypeg, the Spud family dog, eats the little fella, Dave must launch a rescue mission. Will he and the rest of the Spuds reach Mr Grumps before he is dissolved like food inside Fuzzypeg's tummy?
Dave has a bad day and tells a news reporter that Grimsby is rubbish - when his words are aired on the news, his whole seaside town turns against him. With the help of his friends and a rogue fox, Dave attempts to make amends by shooting a film about all of the great things that Grimsby has to offer.
Grimsby is putting on its annual community play and Anna wants the role of princess. Cast as a witch instead, the Spuds set out to prove that witches can have happy endings too.
Dave orders a water pistol with his birthday money but is sent a Happy Sparkle unicorn toy instead. Will it bring joy and sparkle into his grumpy world?
It is the Spuds' turn to run Grim Fest, the annual festival at Grimsby Heights, but their jealous neighbours, the Dups, are out to sabotage their efforts.
Dave is tired of following his mum and dad's rules. Creating a reverse fountain of youth in the bathtub, he shrivels himself into an old man and sets about making up rules of his own.
A sweetie thief has been reported in the town and the suspect looks remarkably like Dave. Dave and his friends must find a clever way to prove that he is not guilty.
The Spuds have a surprising day out when the lift in their tower block home, Grimsby Heights, delivers them to a desert island instead of the ground floor.
The Spuds visit Betty's sister, Aunty Barbara, on her farm. Put in charge of searching for Aunty Barb's chickens and their eggs, Dave goes on an egg-citing adventure involving magic beans.
The people of Grimsby believe the Twins are wise lifestyle gurus, able to predict what everyone wants before they know it themselves, but the Twins need a nap before they get cranky.
Lil Sue turns into a stomping, green eyed monster. It is up to Dave and the rest of Lil Sues friends to calm her down before she ends up big and green forever
According to Gareth the starfish, every pancake has two sides, happy and grumpy. If Dave is to leave his pancake on the grumpy side, he had better prepare himself for an adventure - in the flipside.
A faulty television remote rewinds the Spuds back to the olden days where everything is black and white, everyone is a puppet, and there is a giant biscuit on the rampage....
It is the hottest day of the year and Gran's naughty knitting crew have dressed the whole town in their woolly wares - when their finest work, a giant sock puppet, comes to life, Dave must stop it from eating them all.
George takes Anna and Dave on a trip to a local attraction called Lawnmower Land, but a run-in with the latest technology in lawnmowing gives them more than they baaaa-gained for...
George shaves off his beard in a mistaken attempt to impress Betty, but the beard then runs away and it is up to Dave to coax it back for the sake of his family.
The Spuds set off the Bobby Dazzler firework that Gran has been saving, but when it hits the moon and breaks it into several pieces, the whole town goes wonky and Dave must somehow put the broken bits back together.
Note: This was the last episode and the last programme to ever air on the CITV channel on 1st September 2023, before the channel closed and the show’s run moved to ITVX.
George creates a robot version of Betty while she is away, but when the real Betty returns, Robo-Betty is not quite ready to give up her place in the Spud family
Dave has to contend with a living, singing blob on his head after using too much hair gel, and Anna faces her fear when confronted with the floating 'Lurgisaurus plaster' during her school swimming lesson.
Fuzzypeg has been exhibiting some odd night-time behaviour. Dave must find out why by going on a mission to discover more about his dog's surprising genetic makeup
Dave, Gran and Anna embark on a road trip to avoid having to clean the flat. One wrong turning later and they end up in the Jurassic era, where some very large dinosaurs want a taste of Gran's custard cream biscuits
The teachers are excited about something hidden behind the bookcase in their school staff room. Disguising himself to get in, Dave cannot believe his eyes when all is revealed.
Gran's nuclear pickle sandwiches turn out to be really good fishing bait on the school sea trip, too good as they have attracted Tabitha who is a very big crustacean bully. Can Gareth stop her and save them all?
A stray cat enters the Spud residence and with one look into its swirly eyes, the Spuds are hypnotised into behaving like cats. It's up to Dave to find out just what Hypnocat wants.
Chuffy Peaches loves living in the Spuds' bathroom but is missing home. A quick phone call to her parents and the Spuds find themselves beamed up into space along with Chuffy, where they are all soon caught up in an explosive alien rivalry.
Aunty Barb and her animals have run away from the farm. Realising there is not enough room in the Spud flat for all of them, Dave uses his recently acquired cowboy skills to hunt down the large wriggly reason why Aunty Barb left in the first place
The Spuds dare to go shopping without Gran, but when she wakes to find them gone, she creates a new family of freshly baked Spud-Scones using some rather questionable, life-giving ingredients
Dave's wish for the wizard on television to grant him a 'dream home' leads to the Spuds' flat being taken away. Will Dave and his family accept any of the new homes offered to them or realise their old tower block, is really the best place to live?
The Spuds wake to find all of Grimsby underwater following an accidental toss of the pancake. It is a race against time to toss it back from the Flipside and to pull the plug on the watery world they are now living in.
George and Betty have a romantic night away leaving Gran in charge. After throwing a party, Gran's clean-up operation leads Dave to discover a vacuum cleaner haunted by a long-lost member of the Spud family.
