“We are happy to be able to secure more funding for animation,” says CBBC head of acquisition Michael Carrington during a brief chat at MIPCOM Jr. “Of course, our first priority is to commission work from U.K. animation studios, but that doesn’t mean that we’ll rule out working with people outside the country.”
Toon fans are already rejoicing because CBBC has commissioned Bristol-based shop Aardman Animation to produce a new 40-part series centering on Shaun the Sheep, the wooly star of Wallace and Gromit’s Oscar-winning short, A Close Shave (1996). The show will follow Shaun’s adventures as well as some of the other sheep in his flock.
"We are delighted to be working so closely with the BBC on Shaun the Sheep and very happy to have secured such a strong U.K. platform for what we hope will become a significant global property for Aardman’s burgeoning kids business," says Miles Bullough, Aardman’s exec producer of Shaun the Sheep.
