C5 roars off with dinosaur toon

MIPCOM: Channel 5 in the UK has commissioned a CGI-animated comedy series about a young boy and his pet dinosaurs from the creator of CBeebies’ Waybuloo.

Dan Good

Dave’s Dinosaurs (52×7′) comes from London-based Absolutely Cuckoo, the character design and animation studio co-founded by Dan Good.

It will air on Channel 5’s children’s block Milkshake!, home to series such as Peppa Pig and the new Bob the Builder, in 2017, Good told C21 here in Cannes.

Aimed at 4-6s, the series follows a young boy living in a coastal town who comes into possession of six bizarre looking eggs that suddenly hatch, making him the proud dad of six baby dinosaurs.

“Dinosaurs are an extremely popular topic and an endless source of fascination for children everywhere,” said Good, who is currently looking for a distributor to take the series international.

“It’s every child’s dream of finding a real-life dinosaur, so we wanted to play on the comical aspect of the realities of a child bringing up a gang of baby dinosaurs in the 21st Century.”

Jessica Symons, head of children’s at Channel 5, described the show as “a fresh and original take on subject matter close to children’s hearts.”

The commission adds to Good’s numerous UK preschool TV creations, which now include Waybuloo, Zodiak Kids’ Floogals and another Milkshake! show, Wissper.

The latter series, about a little girl who can talk to animals, is due to begin airing on the preschool block next week and was acquired recently by Nickelodeon to air in the US.