CBBC partners with YouTube talent

CBBC in the UK has ordered a raft of new shows, including factual entertainment series featuring YouTube talent and an adaptation of a Dame Jacqueline Wilson novel.

Cheryl Taylor

Among the new programmes featuring online talent is Max & Harvey: Breaking America (working title), which follows the 14-year-old twins who racked up more than four million followers on social media with videos of their favourite songs.

The series is a coproduction between Sassy Films, CBBC and BBC Worldwide (BBCWW).

YouTube star Ali-A (aka Alastair Aiken) will present Ali-A’s Superchargers (10×20′), which puts children charge of giving the family car a new look, without their parents’ input. The series is produced by Endemol Shine North.

CBBC’s drama commissions include Katy (3×30′), which marks the channel’s in-house drama team’s latest adaptation of novel by Wilson (Tracy Beaker), and Joe All Alone (4×30′), adapted from Joanna Nadin’s book.

The latter follows a boy who manages to find optimism, adventure and friendship in the most deprived circumstances. It is produced by Zodiak Kids.

Katy, meanwhile, follows a lively, strong-willed and impulsive heroine struggling to adjust to life in a new blended family, before an accident leaves her in hospital with a spinal injury.

The adaptation was spearheaded by CBBC’s in-house head of drama development Anna Davies, working with writer Tom Bidwell.

The new dramas will join The Worst Witch, Hetty Feather and The Dumping Ground, which have all been renewed.

CBBC has also ordered Fear Falls (working title), a gameshow in which contestants control avatars and navigate cyborg starships while completing complex challenges to help conquer malevolent overlords. It is produced by Objective Media Group Scotland and Panda TV.

CBBC Productions will produce Beyond Bionic (13×30′), a factual series following underwater explorer, skydiver and adventurer Andy Torbet as he attempts to match, if not beat, the super-powers of animals using engineering and ingenuity.

Meanwhile, CBBC’s factual series My Life (13×30′) will return for its ninth season, featuring more real-life stories from remarkable children.

Other returning shows on CBBC include Class Dismissed, 4 O’Clock Club, Danger Mouse, Gory Games, Remotely Funny, Got What it Takes?, Diddy TV, How to be Epic, Sam & Mark’s Friday Wind Up, Taking the Next Step, Marrying Mum & Dad and The Dengineers.

Cheryl Taylor, controller of CBBC, said: “CBBC continues to inspire its young audience with the broadest mix of dedicated content genres for young people in the world. It’s exciting to be welcoming new faces from digital platforms onto the channel as well as supporting strong and highly popular formats with well-deserved recommissions.”