Sky Kids (U.K.) has added the new animated original series Dodo to its summer line-up. The show, based on multi-award-winning film and YouTube hit Not the End of the World by British creator and series director Jack Bennett, will debut in June.
The 20 x 10′ Sky Original series is an animated school-based comedy for kids 8+ and families produced by BAFTA-winning Wildseed Studios (The Last Bus for Netflix, Counterfeit Cat for Disney). Leading kids’ and family entertainment specialist CAKE is launching the series internationally at MIPTV next week.
Dodo is a funny, relatable and heart-warming portrayal of everyday school life as experienced by 11-year-old Joe Connolly as he navigates the dramas and pitfalls of his first year at secondary school. With new situations and embarrassments around every corner, small events mean big drama for Joe, as he tries to fit in, make new friends, girlfriends and even loses his school trousers. But Joe has best friends Frisbo, Pete and Lily at his side, helping him realize that each challenge is really not the end of the world as he triumphs over adversity and survives another school day.
“Wildseed Studios have perfectly captured kids’ everyday experiences in school in a very fun and creative way,” noted Ed Galton, CCO & Managing Director at CAKE. “While kids will relate to Joe’s dilemmas, for adults, the self-consciousness, uncertainty and confusion of long-gone school days will come flooding back. An entertaining show for the whole family.”
The series is produced by Helen Stern (The Amazing World of Gumball), directed by creator Jack Bennett, with the support of Ben Ward (Horrible Histories) on scripting and with executive guidance provided by Wildseed’s Head of Kids and Animation, Sarah Mattingley.
Wildseed Studios is producing Dodo in association with Birkdale Film and Television, with Toonz Media Group in India and Telegael in Ireland both providing production services. CAKE is representing the series worldwide. The series was commissioned by Lucy Murphy, Director of Kids Content at Sky U.K. & Ireland, and exec produced for Sky by Estelle Hughes, Commissioning Editor, Sky Kids.
“Joe’s dramas at secondary school will feel familiar to anyone who has ever been to school yet, with his incredible animated fantasies and disaster-scenarios, they’re also uniquely funny and surprising. We know our audience will love this show,” said Hughes.
“Lucy Murphy and Estelle Hughes at Sky Kids were very quick to spot the potential of Dodo and we were delighted when they came on board,” said Miles Bullough, Managing Director at Wildseed. “Sky Kids has established itself as a platform of great quality and we are very proud that Dodo will join its distinguished roster of great shows and we look forward to working with the wonderful CAKE to bring the show to the international market.”
Sky Kids offers families eight kids’ channels and over 5,000 episodes of on demand viewing as well as the Sky Kids app, a safe space for younger kids’ content, games and art tools with parental controls including a sleep mode so parents can moderate screen time. This is complemented by the pin protected Safe Mode on Sky Q, which prevents children straying into areas of content that are not for them.
