Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú

Online portal Cartoon Works expands, Muddle Earth is commissioned and Shaun The Sheep returns

Award-winning channel CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú reinforces its commitment to British animation as it announces that online portal Cartoon Works is expanding to become a new destination to première short-form content from the UK animation industry.

CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú has also commissioned brand new animation Muddle Earth, based on the much-loved children's books by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell, and Shaun The Sheep returns to screens this autumn in a series of new exploits.

Steven Andrew, Head of Drama, Animation and Acquisition, for CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú, said: "CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú is commissioning Muddle Earth, a mysterious and epic animated tale, as well as returning to the adventures of Shaun in a new series.

"We are also very excited by Cartoon Works which we hope will act as a creative cartoon playground for the UK animation industry.

"These new commissions are testament to the talented and creative community working in UK animation today, and the wonderful content that is being produced across the country."

Cartoon Works – CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's popular online portal for animation which launched in 2008 – is expanding to become a destination which will première new and exciting short-form content made by British animators.

From autumn 2009, the online interactive creative playground will showcase brand new animation from budding under-18 amateurs through to established professionals.

Anyone can submit animation, the best of which will be selected and showcased on bbc.co.uk/cbbc and then transmitted on the CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú channel in spring 2010.

Further information will be available soon for animators interested in submitting projects.

Project managed by CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú producer Helen Brunsdon, Cartoon Works was commissioned by former CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Controller, Anne Gilchrist, and is run by the CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú interactive team. The executive producer is Rachel Bardill.

Muddle Earth is a magical land that time forgot, remembered and then forgot again.

Inspired by the epic style of traditional storytelling, and based on the books by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell, Muddle Earth is a mystical land with three moons, a floating lake and a perfumed bog full of pink stinky hogs and exploding gas frogs.

Complete with inept wizards, warrior heroes, goblins, talking clocks, elves, sarcastic budgerigars, not-very-bright ogres and scheming fairies, and anything else you can imagine, the upside down world of Muddle Earth is a place where anything can happen – and frequently does.

Commissioned by former CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Controller, Anne Gilchrist, the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú executive producer is Sarah Muller.

Muddle Earth (26 x 11-minutes) is due to transmit in spring 2010. Muddle Earth is a CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú production, with animation by Hullabaloo Studios in Greater Manchester.

Series two of Shaun The Sheep, star of Wallace and Gromit's A Close Shave, from Aardman Animations, returns this autumn (20 x 7-minutes).

The series will follow the adventures of Shaun and the rest of his flock as they join in his latest madcap schemes and attempts to out-fleece the Farmer.

From dressing up as guests at the Farmer's party to hijacking a road line-painting machine, and from mistaking a pair of bagpipes for a sick emu to close encounters with alien life forms, there is never a dull moment down at the farm when Shaun is around.

The CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú executive producer is Nikki Chaplin and Aardman Animations series producer is Gareth Owen. The series transmits on CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú in November 2009.

Notes to Editors

CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú won the Children's Channel of the Year Award at the Children's Baftas in November 2008 and was named Children's Channel of the Year at the Broadcast Digital Awards in June 2009.

Figures show that CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú is one of the most-loved channels for children, and it reaches more six to 12-year-olds than any other children's channel in the UK. Almost a third of all six to 12-year-olds in digital homes in the UK tune into CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú on a weekly basis.

LG