CBeebies, FME branch out with tree toon

MIPTV: BBC preschool channel CBeebies is partnering with FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) to coproduce a new multi-platform action-adventure animated series.

Tree Fu Tom (26×22′), which airs on the UK diginet in 2012, aims to encourage fun physical movement among its young viewers by following a central character who can transform into a superhero and has adventures in an enchanted world inside a tree.

CBeebies controller Kay Benbow, who commissioned the series, called it an “exciting new project; visually stunning and quite unlike anything we’ve done before.”

She added that all the physical actions have been devised and approved by movement development specialists and are designed to help all children, including those with dyspraxia, a condition that affects coordination.

The series will be animated by Blue Zoo Animation. Creator Daniel Bays is producing, along with exec-producers Jackie Edwards and Alison Stewart for the BBC, and Bob Higgins and Sander Schwartz for FME.