Ragdoll Creates New Kids’ Series

LONDON: Ragdoll Productions, behind hits such as In the Night Garden and Teletubbies, is launching the new series The Adventures of Abney & Teal in the U.K. on CBeebies on September 26.

The series is comprised of 52 11-minute episodes to be broadcast on CBeebies. Series creator Joel Stewart is an internationally published and award-winning writer and illustrator of the Dexter Bexley and the Big Blue Beastie series of picture books, among others. The Adventures of Abney & Teal combines a hand-drawn style with contemporary animation techniques.

The series is about Abney and Teal who live on an island in the middle of a lake, in the middle of a park, in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the big city. Adrian Scarborough is the narrator and voice of Abney, and Shingai Shoniwa, lead singer of the band The Noisettes is the voice of Teal.

Ragdoll’s founder and creative director, Anne Wood, said, “I have long been an admirer of Joel’s picture books, with their distinct brand of gentle, fantastical humor and exquisite drawing style. Joel is well known for his illustrations for Hans Christian Andersen fairytales and for his Dexter Bexley and the Big Blue Beastie picture books, but it was the publication of Addis Berner Bear Forgets, with its filmic quality, that first prompted me to contact Joel.”