ViacomCBS and Sky pick Pip and Posy

A TV series based on illustrator Axel Scheffler and author Camilla Reid's Nosy Crow-published Pip and Posy series will be co-produced by ViacomCBS and Sky, the two media giant's first joint production. 

The GCI animated series will be broadcast on ViacomCBS-owned Channel 5's free-to-air children's strand Milkshake! and on the on-demand service Sky Kids. ViacomCBS UK Kids vice-presdient for programming Louise Bucknole and Lucy Murphy, director of Kids at Sky UK and Ireland, commissioned the show for their respective companies from Magic Light Pictures.

Magic Light originally optioned Pip and Posy in 2018 and has had a long relationship with Scheffler, having animated several of his collaborations with Julia Donaldson, including The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and The Snail and the Whale. 

Pip and Posy follows a mouse and a rabbit whose lives "revolve around a wonderful world of play". The pre-school series was devised and written by Nosy Crow co-founder and editorial director Reid, with the first title published in 2013; the nine books have collectively sold for nearly £2m through Nielsen BookScan UK. 

Nosy Crow m.d. Kate Wilson said: “We’ve known the [Magic Light] team for many years, and their integrity and respect for the books they use as the basis of their animation work for children is superlative. All eight of the current Pip and Posy books—and there are more to come—are about the real ways in which children interact and feel, and it was Magic Light’s immediate grasp of the importance of this that will, we believe, make this series stand out.”

Michael Rose, co-founder of Magic Light, said: “We’re really excited to be producing our first-ever pre-school series and proud to be working with Milkshake! and Sky. Axel Scheffler creates truly enchanting worlds and we can’t wait for viewers to join Pip and Posy for their fun and adventures.”

The TV series, currently in production, will comprise 52 seven-minute episodes. It will premiere on Milkshake! and Sky Kids in early 2021 and appear on Nick Jr the following year.