BBC Children’s and Education Reveals New Commissions

BBC Children’s and Education has unveiled six new commissions, including a new Zog series.

Based on the films Zog and Zog and the Flying Doctors, as well as the books by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, the new 52×11-minute program will see Zog the dragon, Sir Gadabout and Princess Pearl appear on television to care for the inhabitants of their fantastical world.

The animated comedy from Magic Light Pictures is aimed at children ages 4 to 6 and aims to teach them about caring for others, yourself and the world around you.

Another new commission is a third season of Supertato, following the adventures of a potato superhero and his fruit and veggie sidekicks—the Taco Team—as they thwart the malicious of Evil Pea. The new season will introduce new characters, including Captain Pak Choi and Evil Pea’s parents, and will see Supertato get his own Tatocar. The series, based on the best-selling books from Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet, comes from BBC Studios Kids & Family Productions and BBC Children’s and Education.

The Football Fantastics, a ten-part live-action preschool comedy, centers on six irrepressible children who are brought together by their weekend football activity group in Yorkshire. The children are led by a football-mad coaching team and a nature-loving groundskeeper and are supported by their eccentric parents. It is produced by Strike.

Get Arty, meanwhile, is a new “how to” art series hosted by a charismatic, relatable, enthusiastic family and a funny but deadpan animated paint brush named Bristles. The show follows real people of all ages on a journey to learn as much as they can about art. Artists from around the U.K. will explain how they make their masterpieces, and the series will include challenges for the whole family to take on together. There will even be a celebrity draw-along, where well-known celebs will demonstrate how to draw a unique picture. The series comes from Ranga Bee.

Also, BBC Children’s and Education has ordered a fourth season of Andy and the Band—Rock Star School. Andy and the Band’s world tour is interrupted by a request to give a special teacher an Odd Socks send-off, but when the band shows up at Ramshackle School, they discover it’s about to be closed down. They decide they can’t desert the kids they meet there, so the head of education for all of planet Earth gives them exactly three and three-quarters weeks to turn things around. Ninja Pig Productions produces the series.

A 13th season of The Dumping Ground has also been commissioned. The show follows in the footsteps of The Story of Tracy Beaker and Tracy Beaker Returns and is inspired by Jacqueline Wilson. Set in a children’s home, it follows the lives of the diverse group of young people who live there. The new season will feature four new young characters and a familiar face. It is produced by BBC Studios Kids & Family Productions.

“In a challenging market where investment in content for children’s television continues to drop globally, the BBC continues to be the biggest commissioners of content for this important audience,” said Patricia Hidalgo, director of BBC Children’s and Education. “Fostering their development, curiosity and creativity whilst supporting British storytelling across the U.K., this latest slate is the perfect example of our continued commitment to this brilliant industry and our young viewers.”