Milkshake!


Exclusive: Paramount’s C5 boards disability-led animation ‘MixMups’ in UK

Channel 5’s children’s strand Milkshake! will become the UK home to MixMups, its first animated pre-school series to feature disabled lead characters and be made by a team with lived experience of disability. The 52 x 10-minute stop-motion animated series is aimed at three to five-year olds and highlights different pre-school play styles. The show […]

VIMN hires Disney UK & Ireland director for kids

Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) has appointed Disney’s UK & Ireland programming director Louise Bucknole to lead on kids programming. Bucknole has been hired in the newly created role of VP of programming for VIMN Kids. She will be tasked with driving ratings performance and brand strength for the Nickelodeon channels and Milkshake! on Channel […]

Channel 5’s Milkshake! brings in new shows

Channel 5 (C5) is bringing in toon duo Puffin Rock and Gigglebug to its preschool block Milkshake! as part of the UK network’s on-going refresh of its kids offering. Puffin Rock is an animated pre-school series narrated by Chris O’Dowd (Moone Boy, The IT Crowd). It features a family of puffins and their adventures on […]

Milkshake! puts Shane the Chef to work

UK broadcaster Channel 5 has greenlit production on a 52x11mins animated preschool series about an energetic chef and his daughter. Shane the Chef comes from UK-based producer and rights management firm Hoho Entertainment, with Cardiff-based Cloth Cat Animation producing the episodes. The first episodes are due to delivery this autumn. Creative Europe has supplied additional funding […]

Former C5 kids exec starts indie

Jessica Symons has set up Ivy House, a new UK kids indie. Symons was head of kids at Viacom-owned free-TV net Channel 5. She said today several shows are now in development, including a drama that is being worked up with former Milkshake boss Nick Wilson. During ten years of Channel 5, Symons ended up […]

Sky Kids App launches in Germany, Austria

Sky has launched its new Sky Kids App in Germany and Austria, offering content from its portfolio of children’s channels – including Boomerang, Cartoon Network, Disney Junior, and Disney XD. Sky Germany said that 2,000 episodes will be available at launch with programmes on the service including Maya the Bee (pictured), Vicky the Viking and […]

Channel 5 conjures up Magic Marlon toon

UK broadcaster Channel 5 has commissioned a new animated series from the producers behind Dangermouse, Count Duckula and Wind in the Willows. The 52x7mins preschool toon, Magic Marlon, will air on Channel 5’s Milkshake next year in the spring or summer. It comes from CHF Entertainment, which also sold its last show, Pip Ahoy!, to […]

News brief: Channel 5 orders Shane the Chef

UK broadcaster Channel 5 has ordered Shane the Chef, a CG-animated series from UK indie Hoho Entertainment. The preschool show will air on Channel 5’s Milkshake preschool block, and will follow an energetic chef and his daughter, Izzy, who together run a restaurant in the town of Munchington. “Children are just beginning to discover a […]

Channel 5 commissions new kids series

UK free-to-air broadcaster Channel 5 has ordered Wissper, a new preschool series from UK indie producer Absolutely Cuckoo. The animated series will follow Wissper, a quirky girl who can speak to animals and ends up helping them with their problems. Absolutely Cuckoo, the studio that counts preschool hit Waybuloo among its credits, is making the […]