Microsoap is a children's sitcom, co-written by Mark Haddon

Mark Haddon

Mark Haddon is an English novelist and poet, best known for his 2003 novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.- Life and work :...

 and co-produced by the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 and the Disney Channel

Disney Channel

Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

. A total of 26 episodes were made, lasting over four series, and airing from 1998-2001. The series Producer for all episodes was Andy Rowley

Andy Rowley

Andy Rowley is a British television producer known for his children's dramas, including Jeopardy, which won a BAFTA Award for best children's drama in 2002, and Microsoap, Prix Jeunesse winner and BAFTA best children's drama award winner in 1999....

. Directors were Juliet May

Juliet May

Juliet May is a British television director. She has directed a variety of television shows, including Challenge Anneka, Dalziel and Pascoe, Hope and Glory New Tricks and the award-winning Miranda....

, Baz Taylor, Graeme Harper.

The story is based around the lives of two children, Joe and Emily Parker, who are brother and sister. The series begin with the split of their parents, Colin and Jane, who decide the marriage isn't working. They don't want to make life for their children difficult, so they remain friends. Jane begins to see a builder named Roger, a single parent of three children, David, Felicity and Robbie. They move in next door, and Roger knocks through a wall making one big house. Meanwhile, Colin sees Jennifer, the marriage therapist he and Jane used. This forms the background story for each episode of the series, that starred Suzanne Burden

Suzanne Burden

Suzanne Burden is a British actress.A graduate of RADA, she has appeared on television, and occasionally in films, since the early 1980s. Her best known television work is probably as Esther Summerson in Bleak House...

, Paul Terry

Paul Terry (actor)

Paul Christopher James Terry is an English actor, best known for playing James in the movie adaptation of Roald Dahl's James And The Giant Peach. Apart from James and the Giant Peach he also appeared in the CBBC television series Microsoap in 1998...

, Jeff Rawle

Jeff Rawle

Jeff Rawle is a British actor, perhaps best known for playing the long-suffering George in the news-gathering sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey...

 and Rebecca Hunter

Rebecca Hunter

Rebecca Hunter, sometimes credited as Becky Hunter , is a British actress and singer.Hunter has a diploma in acting from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She is best known for playing Melanie Costello on the five soap opera Family Affairs between 2003 and 2005...

.

Series overview

Season		# of episodes	Date originally aired
	1	7	1998 1998 in television The year 1998 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1998.For the American TV schedule, see: 1998–99 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...
	2	6	1999 1999 in television The year 1999 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1999.For the American TV schedule, see: 1999-00 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-Miniseries:...
	3	6	2000 2000 in television The year 2000 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 2000.For the American TV schedule, see: 2000-01 United States network television schedule.-Event:-Debuts:-1940s:...
	4	7	2001 2001 in television The year 2001 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 2001.-Events:-Debuts:-1940s:*Meet the Press .*Candid Camera .*CBS Evening News ....

Novelisations

Following the success of the television show's first season, two novels were published in 1999. Both are based on the original scripts by Mark Haddon, with writing by Stephen Cole

Stephen Cole

Stephen Cole is a presenter for Al Jazeera English. Previously, he worked for the BBC.-Broadcasting career:...

 and illustrations by Philip Thompson

Philip Thompson

Philip Thompson may refer to:* Philip Thompson , U.S. Representative from Kentucky* Philip B. Thompson, Jr. , U.S. Representative from Kentucky* Philip R. Thompson , U.S. Representative from Virginia...

 and Atholl McDonald. They were published by BBC Books

BBC Books

BBC Books is an imprint majority owned and managed by Random House. The minority shareholder is BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation...

 and are fully endorsed by both the BBC and the Disney Channel.

• "My Dad Is An Armed Robber" - ISBN 0-563-55618-8, is a novelisation of episodes 1 and 2 of the first season.

• "Lodgers From Hell" - ISBN 0-563-55619-6, is a novelisation of the 3rd and 4th episodes of the first season.

The novels are written in a first-person narrative

First-person narrative

First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...

style, with Emily and Joe sharing the role. The switch between the narrators is always signified by a change in the type-face.