Cavegirl – Nostalgia Central

2 0 0 2 – 2 0 0 3 (UK)
38 x 25 minute episodes

Created and written by Daniel Peacock, this comedy-fantasy for kids blended prehistoric settings with contemporary teenage issues, revealing that life hasn’t evolved all that much as the titular heroine faced problems with bad hair, bad fashion, boys, and sibling rivalry.

Filmed on location in South Africa, the show faced a wave of media scrutiny, criticising it for being too raunchy for a children’s timeslot. The criticism focused on the cast’s skimpy prehistoric animal-fur outfits and the show’s heavy focus on teen flirting (although in reality, lead actress Stacey Cadman was actually 23 years old).

Retrospective reviews acknowledge the show’s surprisingly strong feminist leanings.

Cavegirl and her mother were typically portrayed as the tribe’s smartest, most logical characters, while the male characters were often written as idiots or cowards.

An attempt to adapt the series for the big screen in 2011 ultimately fell through.

An unrelated 1985 American teen B-movie comedy, also titled Cavegirl, follows a modern student who gets time-warped back to the Stone Age.

Writer and creator Daniel Peacock enjoyed a long career on television with The Comic Strip Presents …, Only Fools and Horses and The Vicar of Dibley (where he played Jim Trott), and in films including Quadrophenia (1979), Gandhi (1982), The Jewel of the Nile (1985), and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991).

Cavegirl
Stacey Cadman
Sticks the Saucy
T.J. Sorrell
Roast the Rugged
Harry Capehorn
Mum
Jennifer Guy
Big Sis
Lucinda Rhodes Thakrar
Gran
Gabrielle Downey
Little Bro
Chad Burton
Trunk the Tasty
Paul Leyshon
Dad
Stephen Marcus
Netal
Tanya Baleson
Chief
Kenneth Collard
Babe
Puleng Mpokotho
Drummer
Jodi Balfour

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