Lightning strikes for BBC and AAC

The BBC and Canada's Alliance Atlantis are ramping up their production relationship with Ace Lightning & The Carnival of Doom, a 26×30' live-action/cgi combo series for kids, now shooting in Toronto.

Production commenced on June 23, and will continue until late November 2001.

The project is being produced for BBC, which holds worldwide rights, and Alliance Atlantis may choose to air the series on its soon-to-be-launched BBC Kids digital channel in Canada.

The series chronicles the exploits of a 13-year-old boy whose favourite video game Ace Lightning suddenly comes to life when his house is struck by a bolt of lightning during a storm.

AAC-owned animation and special effects house Calibre Digital Pictures will be producing the cgi characters from the video game that will intermingle with the live-action actors.

Canadian Michael Riley (Power Play) is the voice for the cgi character Ace Lightning and British actor Tom Wansley plays the role of the boy along with co-stars Mark Minardi and Shadia Simmons (I Was a Sixth Grade Alien).

The BBC's Rick Siggelkow is exec producing, with Canada's Jim Corston (Longhouse Tales) producing.

Directors include UK talents Graeme Lynch (Animorphs), Anthony Brown, Don McCutcheon (In a Heartbeat) and Giles Walker (The Neverending Story), and Canuck directors include Gail Harvey (Paradise Falls) and Steve Wright (Longhouse Tales).

Writers include Alan Grant (Archangel Thunderbird), Neil Richards (Starship Titanic), Jeff Biederman (The Famous Jett Jackson), Richard Clark (The Halfback of Notre Dame), Sean Kelly and Mark Leiren-Young.