The Brit preschool block is adding flavor to its content lineup with a live-action cooking series, a stop-motion animated comedy and a preschool spinoff.
 |
| MCC Media culinary show Cooking With the Gills |
UK broadcaster Channel 5 is adding some new flavors to its
Milkshake! preschool block, mixing new commissions and acquisitions in with a handful of series renewals.
The first greenlight is for stop-motion animated comedy Tweedy & Fluff (40 x five minutes), whose big-hearted yarn-made main characters met on the workshop floor of a tweed mill. They quickly become inseparable bond, learning how to communicate without using speech and manage their anxieties in stressful situations. The series explores love, nurture and friendship through visual comedy.
Created by children’s author Corinne Averiss (A Dot in the Snow), the show will be directed by Chris Randall (My Motorbike) and co-produced by UK-based Second Home Studios and Averiss’s Stitchy Feet entertainment company, with support from the UK Government’s Young Audiences Content Fund.
 |
| French CGI animated series Oggy Oggy |
Channel 5 is also adding a little spice to Milkshake!’s slate with a commission for live-action series Cooking With The Gills (25 x 11 minutes) from British production company MCC Media.
The project features JB Gill, a farmer and former member of boyband JLS, who takes his family all over the UK asking talented young cooks to help him prepare and cook delicious recipes from around the world. After learning the origins of the dish and the value of its ingredients, Gill and his family head to their rural pop-up kitchen and serve meals to their friends and other local families.
Lastly, the broadcaster has acquired CG-animated series
Oggy Oggy (156 x seven minutes) from Paris-based prodco Xilam Animation. This preschool spinoff of long-running 2D-animated comedy series
Oggy and the Cockroaches, which debuted in France in 1998, follows along as young kitten Oggy adventures with his cat pals in a bright and colorful world where everything is made out of toys.
 |
| Tweedy & Fluff |
These three new titles will join returning shows including Boom Kids’ live-action adventure series
Meet the Experts (season 2, 20 x 11 minutes); 2D-animated preschool series
Daisy & Ollie (season five, 26 x seven minutes), produced by UK-based Hoopla Studio; CG-animated comedy
Pip & Posy (season two, 52 x seven minutes), a UK co-pro from Sky Kids and Magic Light Pictures; and WildBrain’s CG-animated
Fireman Sam (season 13, 26 x 11 minutes).
Louise Bucknole, Paramount’s General Manager (GM) for kids and family in the UK and Ireland, recently noted at The Children’s Media Conference (CMC) in Sheffield that Milkshake! is currently commissioning for 2024 onwards and said she is particularly interested in live-action series that could be factual or about STEM learning. The exec is also on the lookout for slapstick and comedy formats, messy play and shows about play patterns, in addition to coproductions.
For Nick Jr, which is also under Bucknole’s remit at Paramount, the exec is after character-driven storytelling with franchise potential, that could be based on a book.
Additionally, Bucknole called out for content aimed at the 6-12 audience for
Sunflower TV, a YouTube channel launched last month by a host of organisations including Channel 5, for Ukrainian refugees.
Paramount+ UK & Ireland is HERE! Stream a Mountain of Entertainment, including your Nickelodeon favourites! Try it FREE at ParamountPlus.com!
