Thunderbirds are go at MipJunior

MIPJUNIOR: Broadcasters in the Middle East have pre-bought the highly-anticipated Thunderbirds reboot from ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVSGE) ahead of its world premiere at MipJunior this evening.

Thunderbirds Are Go! will be the first ever MipJunior World Premiere TV Screening when it takes place at Palm Beach here in Cannes tonight.

The show has now been acquired by Noga in Israel, where it will launch in summer 2015 on its Kids Channel. Pan-Arab broadcaster MBC has also bought the series to air on its children’s edutainment channel MBC3. This follows its acquisition by Australia’s Nine Network.

News broke earlier this year that ITV Studios (ITVS) in the UK and Pukeko Pictures of New Zealand were reviving Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s classic 1960s puppet series Thunderbirds for a 2015 debut on ITV and CITV in the UK in 2015.

The firms have teamed with New Zealand’s Weta Workshop (Avatar, King Kong, The Lord of the Rings) to coproduce the 26×30’ children’s series, which will feature a mix of CGI animation and live-action models.

The deals were brokered by André Renaud, senior sales executive for South East EMEA at ITVSGE.

Thunderbirds Are Go! once again features the globetrotting International Rescue family of heroes as well as their collection of incredible vehicles.

The new series was commissioned by CITV head of programming Jamila Metran. It is executive produced by Estelle Hughes for ITVS, Richard Taylor and Andrew Smith for Pukeko Pictures, and Giles Ridge for ITVSGE.

The series head writer is Rob Hoegee (Generator Rex, Teen Titans, Ben 10, Slugterra).