The BAFTA Children’s Awards were held in London on Sunday, November 28th and saw ‘Shaun the Sheep’ and ‘Tracey Beaker Returns’ scoop top prizes in the categories of Animation and Drama respectively.
‘Shaun the Sheep’, walked away with the top prize in the category of Animation at last night’s award show. The series, for which Irish filmmaker Seamus Malone was Animation Supervisor, beat off competition from BBC Wales’ ‘Doctor Who: Dreamland’; Novel Entertainment/ CiTV’s ‘Horrid Henry’ and BBC Scotland’s ‘OOglies’.
CBBC’s ‘Tracy Beaker Returns’, which is directed by IFTA nominated Irish director, Neasa Hardiman (Prime Time), claimed the top award in the Drama group. The other nominees in the category included Beat BBC Wales’ ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’; Gamelab London/ BSL Zone’s ‘The Boy from Before’ and Dublin-based Jam Media’s ‘Roy’ which was also nominated in the Writer category for Paul Smith (Desperados).
‘Shaun the Sheep’ is a stop-motion animated children's television series commissioned by the BBC and the WDR. It first aired in the UK on CBBC in March 2007. Shaun exhibits human intelligence, creativity, and behaviour in a farm setting, which usually provides a situational comedy conflict which Shaun must resolve before the end of each episode.
Seamus Malone is a supervising animator for Aardman Animations. The Irish filmmaker and graduate of Ballyfermot College enjoyed further success recently when the series nabbed the Children’s and Young People Award at the International Emmy awards that were held on November 22nd in New York.
In ‘Tracy Beaker’s Return’, Tracy is twenty years old. She's angry, occasionally violent, but also strong, funny and loyal. She returns (very reluctantly) to the care home where she spent so many years in order to work as a care assistant where she meets other young people like her, each with their own problems. Each episode focuses on one of the Home's denizens as they come to terms with their own past and try to map a better future.
‘Tracy Beaker’s Return’ marked Irish director, Neasa Hardiman’s first foray into children’s drama. In an interview with IFTN earlier this year she talked about getting involved with the series: “I knew the producer of the series, Gina Cronk, and we had wanted to work together for a while,” she explained. “So when she suggested getting involved with the ‘Tracy Beaker’ series I was delighted. We talked a lot about the fact that it was children’s programming – a genre that I often have a bee in my bonnet about. I think a lot of children’s programming nowadays leaves a lot to be desired, I would be of the same opinion as Neil Gaiman who says ‘There is no such thing as children’s drama, there is only good drama or bad drama’.”
This year's BAFTA Children’s Awards were hosted by children's television presenter; Barney Harwood (Basil’s Swap Shop, Prank Patrol), at the London Hilton on Sunday, November 28th. For a full list of winners visit www.bafta.org
