CBBC orders animated comedy shorts

In the UK, new digital children's channel CBBC has greenlit a series of animated comedy interstitials from Hertfordshire-based toon studio Elephant Productions.

Animal School (30×45{) is aimed at kids 10-15 and each short has various animals being taught how to act like whatever creature they happen to be.

The show's writer Jamie Rix has centipedes learning how to walk, lemmings learning to follow each other off cliffs and vultures being taught how to scavenge each other's lunch. Ex-Young One Nigel Planer and Morwenna Banks provide the voices.

The series was jointly commissioned by CBBC's acquisitions and education departments. CBBC has also picked up online rights to the series. The animation for both the CBBC website and TV broadcast is being done in Flash by Ficticious Egg's Andy Wyatt.

Elephant will be shopping the series down at Mip-TV in April.