Wiggleywoo Archives -

‘Tea with the Dead’ feature film underway at Wiggleywoo

Wiggleywoo, a Dublin-based animation studio, has started production on its first animated feature film, Tea with the Dead, based on its award-winning 2014 version of the same name. The short was broadcast on TG4 and won Best Animation at Raindance and Rhode Island and was selected for screening in dozens of film festivals around the world.

The new longform project is headed by director, writer and designer Gilly and producer Susan Broe, co-founders of the studio.

Tea with the Dead is described as “quintessentially Irish” because of its characters, storytelling, location, and language but ultimately has a universal theme of grief and love. The short hit a chord with audiences all over the world and the same is expected from the film. The short shares sad stories and morbidly hilarious moments, wrapped up with an ultimately uplifting ending. Frank Kelly (1938-2016), known for playing Fr. Jack in Father Ted, voiced the main character.

The feature will have all these characteristics too and will be a charming story that takes the viewer through the five stages of grief with the film’s hero, Frank Finnegan, punctuated by the stories shared by his deceased companions.

Frank is no ordinary embalmer, after he has disinfected, embalmed, washed and dressed the dead he does two more things, he makes them a cup of tea and then brings them back to life. They talk and laugh over tea and biscuits before he puts them into their coffin and sends them on their way.

Colm Meaney (Star Trek: The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine, Layer Cake, Hell on Wheels) plays Frank Finnegan. Tea with the Dead will be released in the autumn of 2023 and will be broadcast on RTE Television.

World’s biggest television channel all set to broadcast ‘The Day Henry Met’

Monster Entertainment announced that Chinese broadcaster, CCTV-14 Kids is set to broadcast the animated preschool series The Day Henry Met, produced by Dublin-based animation company Wiggleywoo Ltd. CCTV-14 Kids is the world’s biggest television channel with a reach of just over one billion people.

From 29 November, The Day Henry Met will be broadcast at 11:20 am from Monday to Friday on the channel’s Animation World column. This is a prime slot on the channel and it reflects how CCTV are anticipating the series to be popular with Chinese audiences.

The Day Henry Met has proven itself to be a global hit, currently airing in 192 countries. The series airs on Nick Jr almost worldwide and on a range of free TV channels including in the ITV in the UK and Ireland, RAI in Italy, ABC in Australia, TVO and Knowledge in Canada, YLE in Finland, SVT in Sweden ERR in Estonia, TVP in Poland, RUV in Iceland, Aztec TV in Mexico and Canal Plus in French speaking Europe, Africa and the Caribbean and on many SVOD platforms.

A robust merchandising, licensing and publishing programme is underway in multiple territories. Every day Henry meets something new: the day Henry met a compass, the day Henry met a cookbook, and the day Henry met a Surfboard!

Wiggleywoo is an award winning animation studio in Dublin, Ireland and has won four major awards since their inception in March 2012. Monster Entertainment is a brand management company which develops entertainment brands and distributes them worldwide.

ITV picks up ‘The Day Henry Met’ from Wiggleywoo

Monster Entertainment has announced that ITV has acquired the exclusive free to air rights of Wiggleywoo’s hit series, The Day Henry Met seasons three and four in the UK, and they’re set to launch the series on littleBe, a block dedicated to programming for preschool children, this summer.

Other broadcasters who recently acquired the rights to season four, include RAI in Italy and TFO in Canada. The first three seasons of the show have recently been renewed by Kids Stream in the USA and by Azoomee for multiple territories. Additionally, kids streaming giant Noggin recently acquired the series, which means it now airs in 192 countries across the globe.

The series airs on a range of free tv channels including in the UK and Ireland, RAI in Italy, ABC in Australia, TVO and Knowledge in Canada, YLE in Finland, SVT in Sweden ERR in Estonia, TVP in Poland, RUV in Iceland, Aztec TV in Mexico and Canal Plus in French-speaking Europe, Africa and the Caribbean and on many SVOD platforms including Playkids, OCS, iDipper, TFOUMax, and Kanopy, Itunes, Google Play, Hoopla, BusyBee TV Roku, Microsoft XBOX, Amazon, Jetsen Huashi, Telefonica and Svenks.

Two new publishers, Harper Collins in Poland and Agyra in Greece have also signed up to publish a range of books based upon the series, Di Costa in Italy have created Henry Easter eggs with a gift inside and there will be a Henry promotion through kiosks in Italy organised by Teaser Lab.

LMI has taken on the UK Licensing and Merchandising rights in the UK and 28 airlines are featuring the series in their inflight entertainment.

The Day Henry Met features Henry who meets something new every day- a compass!

a cookbook, a Surfboard and so on. It’d be exciting for kids to find out what Henry’s going to meet today?

littleBe is a dedicated pre-school block on ITVBe targeting children aged two to four in the UK during key broadcast hours (09:00-12:00). ITV’s home for younger viewers, the block has been acquiring a range of animated and live-action programmes.

ITV is an integrated producer broadcaster and the largest commercial television network in the UK It operates a family of channels including ITV, ITVBe, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 and CITV, which are broadcast free-to-air. ITV is also focused on delivering its programming via the ITV Hub, mobile devices, video on demand and third-party platforms.

‘The Day Henry Met…?’ season 4 to premiere on Nick Jr

The latest season of Wiggleywoo’s series, The Day Henry Met…? has just been completed and will premiere on Nick Jr in the UK and Ireland in January before going on to air on Nick Jr in 178 other countries.

Other broadcasters who will air Season 4 include RTE Jr, TV3 Catalunya in Spain, TVP in Poland, Ceska in the Czech Republic, Eesti in Estonia and Viaplay SVOD in Scandinavia.

Earlier seasons have recently been sold to Playkids, OCS, iDipper, TFOUMax, Azoomee and Kanopy, all for SVOD, and TV Azteca in Mexico. The series airs on a range of Free TV channels including Milkshake! in the UK and Ireland, RAI in Italy, ABC in Australia, TVO, TFO and Knowledge in Canada and on many SVOD platforms.

Two new publishers, de Agostini in Italy and Agyra in Greece have signed up to publish a range of books based upon the series, Di Costa in Italy have created Henry Easter eggs with a gift inside and there will be a Henry promotion through kiosks in Italy organised by Teaser Lab. LMI has taken on the UK licensing and merchandising rights in the UK and 25 airlines are featuring the series in their in-flight entertainment.

The series is continuing to enjoy terrific ratings – e.g. in Italy, The Day Henry Met…? has ranked fifth among the most viewed programs on free children channels, with a 13.32 per cent share of viewers aged four to seven. The Day Henry Met…? performed similarly to Albero Azzurro and Peppa Pig and has also received a morning timeslot on RAI YoYo.

The series has been sold to 25 airlines including Virgin Atlantic, Delta,Emirates, Qantas Airlines, Lufthansa, Air France, Norwegian Air, Cathay Pacific, KLM

Every day Henry meets something new – The day Henry met a compass!, The day Henry met a cookbook!, The day Henry met a Surfboard!

How exciting, I wonder what Henry’s going to meet today?