Malory Towers Christmas Special Set for CBBC

WildBrain and King Bert Productions’ family drama Malory Towers is slated to return to CBBC in December with a two-part Christmas special.

The special will see Darrell Rivers and her friends take part in festive adventures as they welcome Great Granny Mary and Ron’s younger brother Fred Gilson to Malory Towers.

Valerie Lilley (Bloodlands, Marcella, Doctors, Casualty) plays Great Granny Mary, and Charles Jackson stars as Fred.

Season four is also upcoming and will introduce viewers to a new class of first formers. Among them is Darrell’s younger sister Felicity (April Woods), who, along with her new best friend June Johns (Edesiri P Okpenerho), are set on a collision course with Darrell, who has been appointed head of lower school. Other new cast mates are Amy Roerig, Kimia Lamour, Aviella Burch and Ava Azizi.

Adapted by lead writers, Rachel Flowerday and Sasha Hails, season four is produced by David Collier and executive produced by Jo Sargent and Yvonne Sellins for King Bert Productions and Josh Scherba and Anne Loi for WildBrain. The producers for WildBrain are Angela Boudreault and Daniel Bourré. Bruce McDonald and Tracey Rooney direct.

Season four and the Christmas special were filmed in the U.K. and Canada earlier this year and are co-produced in association with BYUtv (U.S.). As an international distributor outside the U.K., WildBrain has sold the new season and special to ABC Kids (Australia) and will be presenting the full Malory Towers catalog at MIPCOM.

Caroline Tyre, VP of global sales and rights strategy at WildBrain, said: “With four seasons plus a new Christmas special, Malory Towers is a genuine international hit that continues to be discovered by new fans around the globe. The stories are heartwarming, sincere and relatable, and we’re looking forward to sharing season four and some Malory-style Christmas spirit with families around the world.”

Jo Sargent, executive producer and managing director at King Bert Productions, said: “We couldn’t be happier to be bringing festive cheer to the halls of Malory Towers, joining the girls as they celebrate with a few adventurous hijinks. It is the perfect viewing for all the family to get together and watch. And then we look forward to welcoming our new cast members in season four—we are sure audiences are going to love them as much as we do.”