, written by Jacqueline Wilson, was first published in 1991. Wilson's book Cliffhanger had previously been adapted as a two-part drama for television in 1995, though this was the first of her works to become a fully fledged series. The first series was filmed on location at the Amherst Lodge in Ealing, which doubled as the care home Stowey House, during Summer 2001. The building, which was a former maternity home and children's home, was sold by Ealing Council shortly after the series aired, and production moved to Cardiff for series 2. Amherst Lodge has since been developed into flats. Due to a change in production location, many of the cast from the first series departed; Jay Haher, Sonny Muslim, Joe Starrs and Jerome Holder. The building used across the second and third series, plus was former old peoples home The Hollies, on Station Road in Llanishen. The fourth series was filmed at Skomer House, on Marine Parade in Penarth, and the change in location was addressed within the programme for the first time. The beginning of the series saw the residents moving into a new care home called Cliffside. The building, which was once an old peoples home, has since been redeveloped into a luxury hotel and spa, Holm House. The fifth and final series saw another change in production location, with the Elm Tree House School in Llandaff doubling as another new care home, Elm Tree House, taking inspiration from the real building. After production ended, the former school was demolished to make way for a small housing development. The name of the building was retained for Tracy Beaker Returns and the first series of The Dumping Ground, despite being filmed in Newcastle and not Cardiff.
Episodes
The pilot episode aired on 8 January 2002 and the series finale aired on 9 December 2005. The show spanned a total of five series with 120 episodes in total. Series 1 builds upon the characters introduced within Jacqueline Wilson's books; Tracy,, Justine, Louise, Peter Ingham, Elaine Boyak, Jenny and Cam, whilst introducing other caseworkers and children who live in Stowey House. Three episodes in Series 1 form the basis of the show and make the format and atmosphere easy to understand, "Sneaking in Ben" shows Tracy's friendships, "The Truth Is Revealed" shows Tracy's way of thinking and "Friend" shows Tracy's way of understanding things.
Cast and characters
DVD releases
The Story of Tracy Beaker has been released on DVD in the UK.
Note: All of the series DVDs and the boxset contain only the 'best' episodes of that series, the only time all of the episodes were released on DVD was in a special collector's edition set, where one DVD containing several episodes was released each week for purchase. There were 24 DVDs in all, and these are now incredibly rare to find as a complete set. All episodes on Series 1 – 4's DVDs are compilations so there are 6 28 minute compilations which is 12 14 minute episodes, however Series 5 contains single episodes.
Awards and nominations
Repeats
When the series ended, repeats of the series were shown almost continuously on the CBBC channel until 24 March 2016. However, all episodes were released on the BBC iPlayer in July 2017 and remained there until the end of the year. The episodes returned in September 2018, and on 2 December 2018, the movie was shown again, followed by two episodes of the show on 3 and 4 December 2018. The movie continues to be broadcast regularly, and the series returned to the iPlayer in May 2019 - it is believed that they will be available permanently.
