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Based on the
less-than-memorable film of the same name, this US tv offshoot went down a storm with home
audiences, and picked up a healthy fan base on its initial showing in the UK, on
satellite channel Sky One. When it finally reached network channel BBC2, at the very end
of 1998, there were hopes that the same would happen there.
Buffy is a teenage high-school student with an unusual - and some would
say undesirable - gift for being able to hunt down vampires. As she is the chosen Slayer
of her generation, she doesn't have much choice in the matter, and all sorts of evil seems
to be attracted to her. So when a large group of vampires appear at her school, she has to
sort them out, all the time making it quite clear she is doing this reluctantly.
Helping her are her teenage pals Willow and Xander, and Giles, an
eccentric English librarian and Buffy's mentor. Buffy is played by Emmy Award-winning
actress Sarah Michelle Gellar, also to be seen around the same time in the feature film Scream
2.Giles was instantly recognisable to British audiences as Anthony Head, recently
from the failed VR5, but far more memorably from the long-running Gold Blend
adverts. She is also aided by a young man named Angel, someone who simply appears to pass
on some helpful advice and then vanishes into the night. His motives are unknown, at least
to start with. The series began with tongue-in-cheek comedy alongside a healthy dose of
adventure and mystery, and a likeable rock music title. The cast was almost entirely
fresh-faced and young, and the series aimed (initially, at least) for the same formula of knockabout humour that
had been established by Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess. Dates
following each episode are those of their US transmissions. Episode titles were not shown
on screen.
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Creator: Joss Whedon
Co-Producer: David Soloman
Producer: Gareth Davies
Executive Producers: Sandy Gallin and
Gail Berman, Fran Rubel Kuzui and
Kaz Kuzui, with Joss Whedon
Co-Executive Producers: David Greenwalt
and Marti Noxon
Music: Nerfherder
Incidental Music: Walter Murphy
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US Production/UK Screenings:
Season One: 12 Episodes
1996-97/30th December '98-31st March '99 1
Season Two: 22 Episodes
1997-98/ 8th April 1999 - 16th March 2000 2
Season Three: 22 Episodes
1998-99/ 30th March - 21st September 2000
Season Four: 22 Episodes
1999-00/28th September 2000 - 12th April 2001
Season Five:
22 Episodes
2000-01/23rd August 2001 - 14th March 2002 1
Season Six:
22 Episodes
2001-02/31st October 2002 - 5th June 2003 3
Season Seven: 22 Episodes
4
2002-03/28th October - 18th December 2003
A Mutant Energy Inc / Kuzui Enterprises / Sandollar
Television Production for 20th Century Fox
144 colour episodes, first ep 90 mins, rest x
44-mins
(BBC2)
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Note
1: This includes occasional breaks for sports and other programmes.
Note 2: This span includes a mid-season break dating
from 6th May to 28th October 1999.
Note 3: This span includes an undeclared late-season
break dating 3rd April to 8th May 2003.
Note 4: The entire seventh series was shown at the rate
of three episodes a week on BBC2, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, all
highly censored for content in its 6:45pm screening. A full and
uncensored repeat was screened in a graveyard slot, at the more normal
rate of one episode per week, early in the new year.
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