Wolfblood is a British-German fantasy teen drama television series. Created by Debbie Moon, it is a co-production between CBBC and ZDF/ZDF Enterprises. The television series revolves around the life of the species known as wolfbloods. They are creatures that have enhanced senses and look like humans but can turn into wolves at will — reminiscent of werewolves — but can also control their transformation during the day as well. They are distinct from werewolves but just like werewolves, their transformation is uncontrolled during a full moon, and they are at their weakest during "the dark of the moon", at a new moon. The television series focuses on their daily life and the challenges that they face to hide their secret. Each series has new characters and concepts.
The television series has won the Royal Television Society Award for the Children's Drama category in 2013. It also won the Banff Rockie Award in the category for 'Best Children's Programme (fiction)' in the same year. In 2015 the television series won the British Screenwriters' Award in the category 'Best British Children's Television'.
Contents
Cast
Main
Aimee Kelly as Madeline "Maddy" Smith (series 1-2)
Bobby Lockwood as Rhydian Morris (series 1–3)
Kedar Williams-Stirling as Thomas "Tom" Okanawe (series 1–3)
Louisa Connolly-Burnham as Shannon Kelly (series 1–3)
Gabrielle Green as Katrina MacKenzie (series 1–5)
Leona Vaughan as Jana (series 2-5)
Louis Payne as Terrence "TJ" Cipriani (series 4–5)
Jack Brett Anderson as Matei Covaci (series 4–5)
Sydney Wade as Emilia Covaci (series 4–5)
Michelle Gayle as Imara Cipriani (series 4–5)
Rukku Nahar as Selina Khan (series 4–5)
Recurring
Shorelle Hepkin as Kay Lawrence (series 1–4)
Rachel Teate as Kara Waterman (series 1–4)
Jonathan Raggett as Jin Gau 'Jimi' Chen (series 1–3)
Niek Versteeg as Liam Hunter (series 1–3, Wolfblood Secrets)
Nahom Kassa as Sam (series 1–3)
Mark Fleischmann as Mr. Tim Jeffries (series 1–5, Wolfblood Secrets)
Marcus Garvey as Daniel "Dan" Smith (series 1–2)
Angela Lonsdale as Emma Smith (series 1–2)
Ursula Holden-Gill as Miss Fitzgerald (series 1–3)
Clara Onyemere as Miss Parrish (series 1-3)
Siwan Morris as Ceri (series 1–3, Wolfblood Secrets)
Bill Fellows as Bernie (series 1-2)
Alun Raglan as Alric (series 2–4)
Lisa Marged as Meinir (series 2–4)
Cerith Flinn as Aran (recurring: series 2–4, guest: series 5)
Effie Woods (series 2) and Letty Butler (series 3–5, Wolfblood Secrets) as Dr. Rebecca Whitewood
Dean Bone as Harry Averwood (series 2–3)
Phillippa Wilson as Mrs. Vaughan (series 2-3)
Guest
Sam Fender as Dean (episode 1.6)
Plot
Series 1 deals with Maddy Smith and Rhydian Morris trying to balance their lives as wolfbloods with their human sides, while trying to keep their secret from being exposed. The start of the show sees Maddy, who lives with her wolfblood family in Stoneybridge, Northumbria, coming ever closer to her first transformation. When new boy Rhydian arrives at Bradlington High School, Maddy recognises him as being a wolfblood too. Rhydian, who lives with his foster family, has only recently started changing into a wolf, having been unaware of wolfbloods prior to his move to Stoneybridge. The Smith family claim him as a distant cousin, and help him settle in and learn about the wolfblood way of life. Rhydian becomes friends with Maddy's best friends Tom and Shannon, who are unaware of Maddy's and Rhydian's secret. As the series ends Tom and Shannon finally learn the truth. Rhydian was the star of series one becoming a popular hit for young teens
A webisode titled The Scape Goat takes place between the first and second series. Jana, daughter of wild wolfblood pack leader Alric, persuades Rhydian to take her to a town so that she can experience the human world. Upon their return to the forest they are discovered and Alric, already disgusted by Rhydian's failure on his first hunt, sentences him to be tied to a rock without food or water for a fortnight. Sensing that Alric is bent upon Rhydian's destruction come what may, Rhydian's biological mother, Ceri, secretly helps him to escape.
Series 2 is set three months after the series 1 finale. Jana arrives in Stoneybridge, claiming to have been exiled from the wild wolfblood pack. Despite occasional conflicts with Maddy, she befriends Maddy, Rhydian, Tom and Shannon and falls in love with the human world. Eventually she leaves to become the new wild wolfblood pack leader, her father having been exiled. It is discovered that Shannon is spying on the Smiths and collecting information on werewolves. When Maddy is almost killed as a result, she decides to destroy all of the data she has gathered. Liam, a boy at their school, then also begins investigating werewolves. Suspicious of the Smith family, he steals a dog chew from which Dr. Whitewood is able to extract and analyse a sample of the DNA of Maddy's father. With the results proving that the Smiths are not human they are forced to leave the country and, with the help of a contact, go to Canada. At the series' conclusion Maddy says goodbye to her friends and confesses her love for Rhydian.
Between series 2 and series 3 seven webisodes known as Jana Bites take place. They tell the story of Jana's adventures as pack leader of the wild wolfbloods, and end with her being shot and injured while trying to lead hunters away from the pack. This leads to her reappearance in series 3.
Production
Wolfblood was created after series creator Debbie Moon, during a visit to a bookshop, saw the words "wolf" in one book title and "blood" in another and blended them together. The series was commissioned after the BBC Writersroom website announced an open call for children's drama scripts. Moon was among eight writers taken to a conference centre in Kent, and, after a few days of intensive development, it became one of two new original children's dramas to be commissioned by CBBC. The series was filmed in the north-east of England by the same crew who filmed Tracy Beaker Returns. Early series filming locations included Hookergate School and the woods of the surrounding Rowlands Gill countryside, from series 4 onwards the filming moved to at Heworth Grange Comprehensive in East Gateshead (Hawthorn Comprehensive in the series) and the areas around Windy Nook and Newcastle.
Production for series 1 began in February 2012 and ran until May 2012. It was shot in 3 production blocks: episodes 1–4, episodes 5–8, and episodes 9–13. A second series was confirmed after the final episode of the first series had aired. Filming for the second series began February 2013 and ended May 2013. All of the directors were new to the series, and it was shot in four production blocks: episodes 1–4, episodes 5–8, episode 9, and episodes 10–13. Filming for the third series began in February 2014 and ended in May 2014 and the series aired from 15 September until 27 October 2014.
Home media
All five series are available on DVD in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and Germany (the latter has also released the series in Blu-ray format). They are also available in many other countries via Amazon and other online retailers.
Spin-off
The second series was accompanied by a 10 part wildlife spin-off series exploring wolves, hosted by Bobby Lockwood. This has been produced by the BBC Natural History Unit, entitled Wolfblood Uncovered; it began airing on 9 September 2013. Wolfblood Uncovered compares scenes in Wolfblood with facts about real wolves, and points out how wolf behavior is reflected in the actions of the characters in the story, such as living in packs, defending territory against rivals, fear of fire and enclosed spaces, reliance on sense of smell and a carnivorous diet. There are also a series of shorts called Wolfblood Secrets that aired in 2017, interviews about the wolfbloods in an interrogation room setting with the various characters about wolfbloods.
