This (the original series with David Peachey that ran 1996-2001) still turns up on occasion on CITV Channel, even if the trailers for it do seem to suggest otherwise.
If you've seen the Treehouse of Horror episode where Bart and Milhouse get their grubby little mitts on a magic watch, the concept of Bernard's Watch is identical, only a lot more realistic (for the most part anyway) and without the ending of The Simpsons short in question.
Bernard is a boy who doesn't have enough time so he gets a watch so he has all the time in the world as he can stop it. Cue what was originally dubbed as "adventures" that often turn out to be usual day-to-day activities interspersed with time freezes, visits from the postman and the odd slightly risky chain of events considering the series was aimed at under 12's.
David Peachey did a lot of growing in five years on this show but never seemed particularly interested in what was going on. Every time a close-up of Bernard going "oh!" in a deadbeat fashion after receiving some plot-related revelation became irritating after it appeared in every episode and was milked to death. The fan sites for Bernard's Watch seem to paint an impression that Peachey was the greatest child actor who ever lived. This is debatable, on the back of these scripts if you look at them from a grown-up viewpoint. As a nine year old you ain't going to know any better.
By 2003 the show was reinvented as Bernard and ultimately ruined. Not the first time Carlton had taken something out of the back catalogue, remade it and subsequently boosted affection for the original. The 2003 version saw new characters and actors, a new premise, a whole new direction and new scripts. Planted in the ideology of "I'm a boy and I hate girls", much of this saga was an on-going battle of boys getting one up on girls, the girls getting one back on the boys and the boys having the advantage of Bernard with his watch.
In a far cry from the relative realism of the previous incarnation, the 2003 remake was so escapist it just could not be taken seriously. The teacher seemed to have a personal vendetta against Bernard just for existing. Some of the things the kids did to each other, it had to be seen to be believed. Not surprisingly this charade only lasted two years and managed to break the entire canon of six years work in the space of ten minutes.
The original David Peachey episodes are better, granted. Peachey may well have been recast by 2003 in any case since he was probably getting on for 13 or 14 years of age by 2001 and the one sin you shouldn't really do as a child actor in a children's programme is grow up.
If you've seen the Treehouse of Horror episode where Bart and Milhouse get their grubby little mitts on a magic watch, the concept of Bernard's Watch is identical, only a lot more realistic (for the most part anyway) and without the ending of The Simpsons short in question.
Bernard is a boy who doesn't have enough time so he gets a watch so he has all the time in the world as he can stop it. Cue what was originally dubbed as "adventures" that often turn out to be usual day-to-day activities interspersed with time freezes, visits from the postman and the odd slightly risky chain of events considering the series was aimed at under 12's.
David Peachey did a lot of growing in five years on this show but never seemed particularly interested in what was going on. Every time a close-up of Bernard going "oh!" in a deadbeat fashion after receiving some plot-related revelation became irritating after it appeared in every episode and was milked to death. The fan sites for Bernard's Watch seem to paint an impression that Peachey was the greatest child actor who ever lived. This is debatable, on the back of these scripts if you look at them from a grown-up viewpoint. As a nine year old you ain't going to know any better.
By 2003 the show was reinvented as Bernard and ultimately ruined. Not the first time Carlton had taken something out of the back catalogue, remade it and subsequently boosted affection for the original. The 2003 version saw new characters and actors, a new premise, a whole new direction and new scripts. Planted in the ideology of "I'm a boy and I hate girls", much of this saga was an on-going battle of boys getting one up on girls, the girls getting one back on the boys and the boys having the advantage of Bernard with his watch.
In a far cry from the relative realism of the previous incarnation, the 2003 remake was so escapist it just could not be taken seriously. The teacher seemed to have a personal vendetta against Bernard just for existing. Some of the things the kids did to each other, it had to be seen to be believed. Not surprisingly this charade only lasted two years and managed to break the entire canon of six years work in the space of ten minutes.
The original David Peachey episodes are better, granted. Peachey may well have been recast by 2003 in any case since he was probably getting on for 13 or 14 years of age by 2001 and the one sin you shouldn't really do as a child actor in a children's programme is grow up.