Today, France-based animation studio HARI announced a new deal with the BBC, which has acquired the rights for feature quality CGI animated shows Grizzy and The Lemmings World Tour and The Weasy Family. The deal will see both shows air across the public service broadcaster’s linear and digital platforms in 2023/2024 and beyond.
The includes seasons three and four of the global hit Grizzy and The Lemmings, titled Grizzy and The Lemmings World Tour. Each season contains 78 x 7-minute episodes of the non-dialog slapstick comedy. Season three is produced and season four is currently in production (delivering in 2024).
Suitable for all age groups, but primarily aimed at kids aged 6+ and their families, the series centers on a grizzly bear named Grizzy who has to deal with a tribe of eponymous lemmings, with hilarious outcomes! In the new seasons they accidentally take off on a world tour.
Grizzy and The Lemmings first aired in 2016 and has gone on to become an award-winning family favorite around the world. It featured in Netflix’s Top 10 shows in more than 60 territories, and amasses 1 billion YouTube views each year. The show won Best Animated Series at the Kidscreen Awards (2018) and was nominated for an Emmy in 2019.
Global broadcast partners include France Television, Warner Media, Netflix, Germany’s Super RTL, Mango TV in China, Wildbrain and Canada’s TeleQuebec.
The Weasy Family is HARI’s brand-new slapstick non-dialog animated series, currently in production. Comprising 78 x 7- minute episodes, it takes place in a Wisconsin barn in the middle of the cornfields, where Weasy, an irresponsible weasel with the IQ of a human teenager, raises the twin ducklings he adopted after accidentally incubating their egg.
The show combines comedy action with emotional family moments and parent/child relationships. According to HARI, it’s the first-ever benevolent slapstick cartoon, where no one gets hurt even when situations get out of hand.
Broadcast partners include France Television, Germany’s Super RTL and Canada’s TeleQuebec.
Both shows were created by executive producers and co-founders of HARI, Josselin Charier and Antoine Rodelet.
“We created a new form of slapstick comedy with Grizzy and The Lemmings, and we’re delighted with its success,” said Charier. “In our brand new show The Weasy Family we explore a different form of slapstick comedy. Here we’ve created an entirely new alchemy of characters and a unique balance between comedy and emotion.”
Sophie ‘Kido’ Prigent, HARI’s head of sales, adds, “BBC platforms offer a perfect home for our comedy animated shows. Grizzy and The Lemmings has been a huge success in the U.K.! The slapstick humor really resonates with British families, so we’re delighted to be bringing our creations to even larger audiences there.”
