A new animated series for kids three to five years old is joining the Milkshake! lineup on Channel 5 (U.K.) this week. Premiering November 4, Mixmups (52 x 10′) is inspired by children’s love of ‘mixing’ things together as a way of playing, exploring and discovering. The show aims to encourage individuality, imagination, friendship and flexible thinking.
Commissioned by Channel 5’s Milkshake!, Mixmups is the brand’s first animated preschool series featuring disabled lead characters and made by a team with lived experience of disability. The series was developed and produced by Manchester-based Mackinnon & Saunders (Guillermo del Torto’s Pinocchio, Moon and Me) and created by Rebecca Atkinson, the founder of the viral #ToyLikeMe campaign which called for more diversity in children’s industries.
“In Mixmups, I wanted to create a universally appealing show which would burst from screens like a seaside candy store of creativity, bright, tangible, sweet and funny, capturing the magic of play and the ability of preschoolers to disappear into their own imaginations, but with unprecedented attention to the lived experience of disabled children and families,” said Atkinson.
The show centers on three friends dubbed “the Mixmups” — neat and tidy Pockets, creative and inventive Giggle and boisterous and physical Spin — along with their lovable assistance pets, Roller Guinea and Yapette the guide dog, who all live in a wheelchair-accessible Helter-Skelter house in Mixington Valley.
Each episode sees the friends use their wooden spoon and magical mixing box to ‘Mix up the Magic’ of play and imagination and transport themselves on a host of comical adventures. Through their young, imaginative minds, they embrace a variety of ways to play, entertain each other and embark upon day-to-day problem-solving challenges with the help of the trunky-beaked Lucky Loover Bird.
“We are so proud to have commissioned the wonderful Mixmups for Milkshake!,” said Louise Bucknole, General Manager, Kids & Family, U.K. & Ireland, Paramount. “It’s a beautiful animation packed full of imagination and, what’s more, it’s a show accessible to every child. It’s been an incredible journey working alongside Rebecca and the team to bring this series to life and we’re so excited to introduce it to our Milkshake! audience.”
The series uses 2D and 3D animation and was directed by Andy Burns, written by Debbie MacDonald and Rebecca Atkinson and produced by Chris Bowden, with consultation from play and educational expert Karen Newell.
Mixmups was developed and produced with support from the U.K. Government-funded Young Audiences Content Fund (YACF), which is managed by the BFI, and in collaboration with Raydar Media.
Mixmups premieres November 4 and will air every Saturday and Sunday at 8:15 a.m. on Channel 5’s Milkshake!, streaming on My5.
