Nick UK hunting for live-action shows

New Nick UK boss Tina McCann says one of her programming priorities is to find original live-action series for the channel’s teen/tween audience.

“We have a lot of preschool programming and a lot of animation,” McCann told TBIvision. “We need more live-action for teens and tweens and we will put it out to producers later this year that that is what we are looking for. We want something with the qualities Nick programmes have, like drama, comedy and music.”

Nick’s international development team, which is based in London, has been focused on the UK version of The House of Anubis, which is being produced by UK indie Lime Pictures. The hunt for a non US-originated teen/tween series will start in earnest after Anubis goes out this autumn.

McCann’s comments follow those of new Turner boss Michael Carrington, who said at the recent Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield that he is also on the look-out for live-action comedy.

McCann is a few months into her new role, running Nick in the UK. She joined from Turner and replaced Howard Litton. She was speaking at the Nickelodeon autumn/winter schedule launch.

Programming highlights included US series Victorious, about 15 year-old Victoria Justice and her life at a Hollywood arts school, the show is Nick’s answer to Hannah Montana.

The cast of UK-produced Summer in Transylvania were also on hand at the launch. The Foundation-produced 20x30mins series from Andy Watts (My Parents are Aliens) revolves around Summer Farley and her life at a new school in Transylvania, where other pupils include vampires, mummies, and a wereboy.

Preschool highlights included new animated series Team Umizoomi, about mini action heroes who uses maths to help solve problems. There are also new episodes of Peppa Pig, Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom and Ni Hao, Kai-lan.