ViacomCBS and Sky have announced to have partnered for their first co-production, preschool CG animated series Pip and Posy (52 x 7′).
The animated series will premiere exclusively on Channel 5’s free-to-air service Milkshake!, Sky’s on-demand service Sky Kids in the U.K in early 2021, and Nick Jr. a year later.
Multiple Oscar-nominated Magic Light Pictures of recent hit The Snail and The Whale fame, is producing Pip and Posy with animation services provided by Blue Zoo.
“Pip and Posy is a delightful animation series that captures the essence of how young children play, think and feel. It fits perfectly with our portfolio of educational and fun programming. The series teaches preschoolers the importance of friendship and societal wellbeing through imaginative storytelling and creative play. We have a long-running and close relationship with Sky, so it’s very exciting to have commissioned our first co-production together, enabling us to bring the very best of British animation to Milkshake! from world class producers Magic Light Pictures,” mentioned ViacomCBS Networks U.K. Programming Kids VP Louise Bucknole.
Currently in production, Pip and Posy is based on characters from Nosy Crow’s popular collection of story books by multi award-winning illustrator Axel Scheffler and author Camilla Reid.
The series follows the tale of a mouse and a rabbit whose lives revolve around a wonderful playworld. Packed with warmth and humor, the series is a joyful celebration of their friendship, laughter, games,along with its ups and downs. Pip and Posy deals with emotions, resilience and feelings in a relatable way for preschoolers to learn about themselves, all centred on creative play from a child’s point of view.
Sky U.K. and Ireland director of Kids Lucy Murphy said, “Pip and Posy is a playful series that will be loved by young children and their families. This addition to Sky Kids, plus our recent raft of original commissions, demonstrates our ambition to feature a range of premium British programming for under-twelves. We bring our customers the very best kids TV alongside our partner channels and this co-production with Milkshake! evolves our close relationship with ViacomCBS.”
Pip and Posy is executive produced by Magic Light Pictures co-founder Michael Rose and Martin Pope along with Vici King for Magic Light Pictures producing it.The animates show is Magic Light’s first ever preschool series and marks the continuation of the production company’s 13 year association with Axel Scheffler, which has produced seven high-profile animated specials based on his hugely successful book collaborations with author Julia Donaldson. The showrunner at Magic Light is Jeroen Jaspaert (Stick Man, The Highway Rat) and Blue Zoo’s director is Matthew Tea.
“We’re really excited to be producing our first-ever preschool series and proud to be working with Milkshake! and Sky. Scheffler creates truly enchanting worlds and we can’t wait for viewers to join Pip and Posy for their fun and adventures,” added Rose.
Magic Light Pictures holds the global distribution and merchandising rights to Pip and Posy (excluding publishing) and is developing a full licensing program to complement the new series.
Last year, Milkshake! pledged to double its content investment, which will lead to 50 new U.K.-originated hours per year from 2021. Whereas, Sky Kids offers 11 kids channels with over 5,000 episodes of on-demand viewing as well as the Sky Kids app. The app is made to be a safe space for younger kids with special focus on content, games, art tools and parental controls including a sleep mode so parents can moderate screen time. This is complemented by the pin protected Safe Mode on Sky Q, so there’s no danger of children straying into any areas of content that are not right for them.
