Wark Clements set for CBBC winter double

In the UK, the BBC is lining up a pair of children's shows from the new kids' department of Scottish independent Wark Clements, including a drama about young alien hunters and a new £1.2m puppet pre-schooler.

Jeopardy is a 13×25' live-action drama – shot in a Blair Witch hand-held DV style– following a gang of Scottish school kids who travel to Australia in search of UFOs. Currently being taped on location in Sydney, the fast-turnaround series is due for tx in January 2002.

The show, the first greenlight for Wark Clements' new head of children's Richard Langridge, is being produced in association with Southern Star and is distributed by BBC Worldwide. Andy Rowley is producing the show, while Paul Wroblewski is in the director's chair.

A former head of children's drama at the BBC, Langridge was previously responsible for Microsoap and arrived at Wark Clements in May this year. {If all goes well, the 13 episodes will have been commissioned, written, shot and transmitted all within four months,{ he said.

Also, CBBC will be airing Wark Clements' first puppet series this winter, with the pre-school show Captain Abercrombie pencilled in for an airing on CBBC's pre-school slot on BBC2.

The 26×15' show has been created by illustrator John Gorman and follows a boy's adventures in a fantasy world populated by seas monsters, pirates, castle and underwater cities. The show has a cast of 100 puppets.