BBC Selects Trio of Projects from Ignite Initiative

BBC Children’s and Education has chosen three projects to move forward from the Ignite initiative for U.K. animation talent.

Among the selected projects is Duck and Frog, created by Sam Shaw. The slapstick comedy with a modern British setting and an energetic anarchic sense of humor, proposed as a 50×7-minute series, is aimed at 7- to 12-year-olds. The production company is Sun & Moon.

Captain Onion’s Buoyant Academy for Wayward Youth, created by the production company Alt Animation, is proposed as a 50×11-minute series. It follows Marvins, a fish out of water who quickly learns that aboard the ominously named Unsinkable II all school dilemmas are better faced with friends.

Created by the collective, Sam Morrison and Tanya Scott, The Underglow is proposed as a 50×7-minute series. Targeted to preschoolers, the 2D series is set within an inclusive and diverse community of characters who seek to reinvent seemingly forgotten objects they encounter.

Patricia Hidalgo, director of BBC Children’s and Education, said: “Ignite called for ideas from across the U.K., the response was overwhelming and it has not been easy to decide which projects to take forward. The reason we chose these three is because they all have a clear sense of the audience they are trying to target and a strong creative vision. The ideas, stories and characters felt truly British and very original but they hold a sense of the familiar which is what usually makes a show successful amongst kids.”