The Story of Tracy Beaker
Encyclopedia : T : TH : THE : The Story of Tracy Beaker
The Story of Tracy Beaker is a novel about a child in care by Jacqueline Wilson, which was published in 1991. The main character is Tracy Beaker,a young girl of ten. Tracy has 'behavioural problems', and can be considered very rude and naughty; furthermore, she is always telling tall tales. A recurring story that Tracy Beaker promulgates is that her mother is a Hollywood movie star, and that she is coming to collect her someday. No one is sure if these stories are true. The story also focuses on the other children in Stowey House Care Home (which is later renamed Cliffside and nick-named The Dumping Ground by its residents), as well as the care and social workers. Tracy hates Elaine 'The Pain' Boyak, a social worker. Jacqueline Wilson has also written a sequel to the book called The Dare Game.
TV Adaption
The Story of Tracy Beaker has also been adapted into a BBC children's TV show of the same name. The first couple of series loosely incorporated the events of both The Story Of Tracy Beaker and The Dare Game. Later series have introduced more characters and new events not featured in any book, but these still keep with the same themes and the same central character of Tracy Beaker. Five series have been aired (the fifth has just begun).In the TV drama, Tracy Beaker is played by Dani Harmer.
A TV-movie has also been made about Tracy Beaker with the same cast as the TV show. In the film Tracy Beaker's mum comes back to collect Tracy after Cam had just fostered her.
The Tracy Beaker theme tune is sung by Keisha White.
In the Tracy Beaker film Tracy's mum comes back but continues to let her down, so because of which Cam fostered her and promised to Carly (Tracy's mum) that she could see her daughter any time she wanted!
Other characters
Characters in both the book and TV series:- Adele features in the first and second series. She is in care while living a teenage life
- Cam Lawson is a writer, and is also Tracy's 'on-off' foster Mum. She appears in all of the series and in the last episode of the fifth series, when she marries Garry, they both decide to adopt Tracy.
- Elaine Boyak, also known as "Elaine the Pain', is a fastidiuous care worker who appears in all five series.
- Jenny is the head care-worker in the first and second series.
- Justine Littlewood is Tracy's enemy. She appears in all five series, but her role in the fourth series is minor (one episode), since her father takes her away from care during the third series. However in the fifth series she comes back.
- Justine's dad, first, second, third series and on and off in the fifth series, parent.
- Louise was Tracy's best friend, but is now Justine's best friend instead. She features quite heavily in the first and second series, and has a minor role in the third.
- Mike Milligan is a guitar-playing care worker who appears in the first and fifth series. In the fifth series he has replaced Duke as chef but it is noted that his food is terrible.
- Peter Ingham is Tracy's best friend before Ben comes. He appears in the first series only. Small and kind, he was dumped in the D.G. when his nan died and left when he was fostered by Terry and Jill Brown.
- Amber features in the second series. She is in care and is always on the run from the foster home but to distract herself always finds pleasure in being naughty in various ways. Gets fostered by the end of the second series.
- Alice is featured in the fifth series only. She is good friends with Layla and believes in magic and fairies. She thinks Roxy's her best friend, despite Roxy's hatred of her.
- Ben, Tracy's best friend during the first, second, and third series. He is not in care but often visits the care home with pleasure as his parents are always busy.
- Bradley "Bouncer" Plakova is in care. He loves cooking, football and girls. He appears in the second, third, fourth and fifth series.
- Carrie is married to Justine's father. Second, third and fifth series.
- Chantal, Rio and Roxy Wellard are the enemies of everyone at the dumping ground. They are in care, and appear in the fourth and fifth series. Roxy, while the youngest, is undoubtedly the leader and has the whole Dumping Ground under her thumb. Next is Rio, the idiot, who doesn't even know who his Dad is. Last is Chantal, the most sensitive. She's fostered in the second episode of the Fifth Series.
- "Liam (Crash)", so named because he is always smashing things when he is in a rage, is in care, and appears in the third, fourth and fifth series. In the fifth series, where he is the main character his name turns out to be Liam. Has romantic issues with Justine.
- Leah was a temporary care worker in one episode in the first series when Jenny went to hospital. She used to be a resident of the DG.
- Dolly is a girl in care, whose favourite care worker is Nathan. She appears in the second and third series.
- Duke is a care worker and a busy chef. He appears in series one, two, three and four. He was also mentioned in series five (he was in the Caribbean).
- 'Flying' Freddie Mercer is Jackie's grandpa's friend and appears in the fourth and fifth series
- Gary is a man who eventually marries Cam in the show's finale, and appears in the fifth series only.
- Hayley is a very quiet girl, who is in care. She appears in the third and fourth series.
- Laurence "Lol" Plakova is Bouncer's younger brother, who is also in care. He has bags of confidence and charm and is a wheeler-dealer. More intelligent than most, especially his brother, Bouncer, Lol sometimes challenges Tracy as Scam-Master of the D.G. He appears during the second, third, fourth and fifth series.
- Layla, a girl with cerebal palsy, is best friends with Hayley and loves wildlife and swimming. She appears during the third, fourth and fifth series.
- Marco loves dressing up. He has many costumes, and has been known to wear alien, bat, dog and snake charmer costumes. He features in the third, fourth and fifth series.
- Maxie appears in the first series only, in a minor role. He is the comical little boy of the Dumping Ground.
- Michael is a minor character in the third series. He is in care. He had a crush on Louise and is known for being an unpopular snitch.
- Milly is a silent girl who speaks only twice in the show. She appears in the fifth series where she is eventually fostered and turns into Marco's sister.
- Nathan is a trainee care worker, famous for saying 'dude.' He features in the second and third series.
- Sofia' is a foreign girl who cannot speak English. She appears in one episode in the third series and shares a room with Tracy.
- Rebecca is the "new girl" who is an enemy of Justine Littlewood, and hates having her name shortened to 'Becky', 'Becs' etc. She appears in the fifth series.
- Ryan and Zac are twins in care, who appear in the first series. They are the 'ancestors' of Lol and Bouncer, being wheeler-dealers themselves.
- Shelly is head care worker in the third series and had a minor role in the fifth series (two episodes).
- Sid Rooney is head care worker in the fourth series.
- Wilson is a boy who features in two episodes in the third series, while his mother is in hospital. Tracy rather falls for him.
- Wolfie is a rich boy, who became attracted to the hard way of living. He appears in the fourth and fifth series.
- Carly Beaker Tracy's mum in the film. Carly doesn't show much care for Tracy.
- Jackie Hopper Only two things matter to Jackie --- running and her only family: her Grandpa. Her Grandpa has Alzheimer's Disease and is in a care home, but Jackie insists that he isn't. At the start of the third series she tried to run away. At the beginning of Series 4, Jackie was devastated when her Grandpa died, and at the end of the series she left the D.G. to join a running academy. In the fifth series she pretended she had broken her foot so she could return to the D.G. because she found the academy too hard.
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.