Irish animation ‘Science Fiction’, which is currently airing on RTÉ and CBBC, was picked up by UK-based distributors Aardman Rights ahead of MIPCOM Junior.
MIPCOM Junior, a two-day event which was held last weekend, is the start of the main MIPCOM event which kicked off in Cannes yesterday.
Aardman signed an exclusive deal with Dublin-based Kite Entertainment for global TV, DVD, and publishing rights for the 33-part series.
‘Science Fiction’ is a science-themed cartoon aimed at 8-12 year olds which attempts to debunk many of the common myths in the world of science through the use of comedy.
Young scientist Doctor Sorcha Knowles presents the show with sidekick professor Mike McCork. A supercomputer called Bud-E is on hand to help them bust the myths.
Kite, which is currently in production on a third series, uses a multimedia mix of green-screened puppetry, 3D animation and 2D cartoon sketches to create the animation.
Colm Tobin is the series writer on the RTÉ/CBBC co-production.
Commenting on the deal with Aardman, Kite Entertainment MD Darren Smith said: “For a company like Kite to get to work, not only with CBBC (whom we consider to be the HBO of kids TV) but also Aardman, feels like a real endorsement of the quality writing and animation that Colm Tobin and his team pour into the making of ‘Science Fiction’.”
RTÉ’s programme sales manager Edel Edwards called the series “brilliant”, adding: “Aardman has a fantastic catalogue of shows and the fact that ‘Science Fiction’ will be alongside them is a testament to how good it is.”
Other animations Aardman distributes include a number of ‘Wallace & Gromit’ shows, and popular series ‘Shaun the Sheep’.
Alix Wiseman, head of sales and acquisitions for Aardman Rights, says: “We love how well Kite Entertainment has married up their expertise in comedy writing with relevant and off the wall scientific facts and we believe there’s a real gap in the market for this kind of programming for older kids.”
MICPOM continues today until October 11, with over 40 Irish companies attending under the Ireland on Screen and Enterprise Ireland banner.
