User Reviews

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.

This programme is fascinating and exciting. It is light hearted and when Bernard Beasley is recast, it is just as good as it is before hand. Both boys who play Bernard act him well, and the bully in this TV show called Ms Savage gets her comeuppance for giving Bernard and Nathan a hard time. The villain called Mr Rattle is punished as well. Although this TV show is very diverse, for example Bernard lets girls burrow his watch, it isn't too politically correct because there is a time when Bernard and other boys say "Boys are good at scoring goals Girls are good at playing with dolls''. But girls in this episode are Sexist too and when boys play against girls in this episode it is a draw, so it gives the message that boys and girls can play football equally well. One episode in this TV show is Racist, when a black girl is made to sound like an alien, and I don't like that. Also in the episode which shows Mr Rattle, Bernard is threatened in a way which is horrible to watch and sometimes the script of this TV show isn't very good. But this programme gives a lot of information about how watches work in this programme and the postman who gives Bernard a watch is a nice man. The second Bernard is less nice than the first one but episodes which feature the second Bernard still give a message that bullying is wrong. Nicolette bullies Bernard and Nathan but doesn't get away with it. Some of this TV show is funny and this programme gives good messages like in the episode where Sam's aunt is badly affected by worrying about things, she learns how to stop worrying so much. In one episode a character doesn't get the chance to watch a band performing because she injures herself which is too grim a thing to happen in this programme. But it is fun to watch time being stopped though and there are a lot of different storylines for this programme. Also I like how even when Bernard is recast, his name is still Bernard Beasley, there is consistency there but he has different parents, which means new characters. There is an episode of Bernard's Watch about a hotel, which gives a happy feeling because it seems like a really nice place where very nice people work, and in the episode where Bernard's granddad is throwing darts, he is able to do it fine when he feels confident about it, which is a good message to give. I don't like how at the end of this episode there is no explanation of how he can escape from a dog, but overall this programme is very good. It has good theme tunes and most teachers shown in it seem very nice.

When I was younger I used to love this programme. Now it's just the tiniest bit corny, but still worth a look. It is about a boy named Bernard who is given a magic watch from a postman. It is given with instructions to press it once and then press it again. Bernard discovers that this watch can stop and start time. After that episode he does all sorts with this watch. He stops burglars, tidies the house for his granddad, does well in school and lots more interesting adventures. He basically has all the time in the world. A very interesting and fun show, makes me wish that I had a watch like that. Good in childhood!