Kids’ entertainment company Cake has announced that the latest season of its New Zealand stop-motion series Kiri and Lou has been picked up by Nickelodeon and is slated to air on the Nick Jr. channel in 2024.
Kiri and Lou launched in the US on the Nick Jr. channel in June 2022 and the addition of new episodes brings the total number of episodes to 104 x 5’.
The series follows the friendship between Kiri, a feisty little dinosaur and Lou, a gentle and thoughtful creature, as they explore the world of feelings through laughter, song and outdoor adventure. Storylines in the new season will cover emotions including joy, anxiety, the delight of swimming lessons and the fear of missing a birthday party, among others. Original and imaginative, Kiri and Lou invites children to learn about empathy and how to get along, through warm-hearted and gently humorous storylines which are resonating with audiences of all ages.
Hand-crafted in paper and clay and created using traditional stop-motion animation from Antony Elworthy (Pinocchio, Isle of Dogs, Coraline), this show is voiced by Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) and Olivia Tennet (Lord of the Rings). It is written and directed by Harry Sinclair, with Stretchy co-founder Fiona Copland as the producer.
The series premiered on TVNZ in New Zealand and CBC Kids in Canada. Other broadcasters include CBeebies in the UK, ABC Kids in Australia, YLE in Finland, SVT in Sweden, RTP Portugal, Czech Television, EVision and BeIN in the Middle East, Showmax in Africa and more.
A award-winning series, Kiri and Lou was selected for screening at Annecy, was awarded the Cynopsis Best of the Best Award for Best Nature-Focused Preschool Series and won a silver award at The Prix Jeunesse in 2020 and 2022. It has also been nominated at the Chicago Children’s Film Festival and for a Children’s BAFTA in 2022. In 2023, the series won the Rockie for Best Pre-School Animation at the Banff Media Festival 2023.
Three books, two albums of songs and a Grow Your Own Forest AR app have been released with further publishing, music and sustainable consumer products licensed and in the pipeline, Cake has said.
