Coolabi secures Character Options as master toy partner on Clangers
Leading children’s and family entertainment producer and rights management company, Coolabi, has signed a major new deal with Character Options as Master Toy Partner for its brand new animated series Clangers.
The leading toy company has secured UK distribution and global (ex US) manufacturing rights to the cult brand and will be producing a range of plush and playsets based on the upcoming CBeebies series. The new product will be launching at retail on Autumn/Winter 2015.
Jon Diver, Character Option’s Joint Managing Director says: “Clangers is an evergreen property that already has a strong following amongst parents of many of today’s pre-schoolers, With the upcoming CBeebies series, and timeless storylines and characters, the time is ripe to bring it back to market as a major toy line. I myself have great memories of these funny creatures that live on soup on a distant planet and cannot wait to see them come to life as one of Character Options’ pre-school brands.”
Valerie Fry, Director of Sales at Coolabi adds: “Clangers is a much loved brand so it is vital that the new range of product is of the highest quality. Character Options is a globally renowned producer of high-calibre toys and is the ideal partner to be working with on our exciting new project.”
The iconic and much loved British cult classic animated television show, Clangers, is set to make a welcome return to its home on the BBC after 45 years. Coolabi, Smallfilms, CBeebies and US 24-hour pre-school network, Sprout, are co-producing the new pre-school series, with BBC Worldwide for its international channels. BBC Worldwide is also confirmed as the international distributor for the show. The £5 million production is already underway and is set for a highly anticipated return to the small screen in 2015.
The Clangers, which previously launched on the BBC in 1969, are pink, long-nosed, inventive and loveable mouse-shaped creatures who live on a small blue planet, out in the starry stretches of space, not far from Earth. Its surface is peppered with holes topped with metal dustbin lids, which flip open with a ‘Clang!’ to reveal steps down to their home beneath the surface of the planet – containing a series of interconnecting tunnels and caves. Kind and generous creatures, they communicate with distinctive whistles, and a narrator comments on the thrilling and often hilarious events which occur in every episode.
The classic Smallfilms series, originally created by founding fathers of UK animation, Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate (Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog), will be produced in stop motion animation by specialists, Factory Transmedia (Strange Hill High, Raa Raa the Noisy Lion), and award-winning puppet makers and producers, Mackinnon and Saunders (Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox, Chicken Run, Mars Attack, Bob the Builder, Raa Raa the Noisy Lion, Frankenstein’s Cat and Postman Pat). Peter Firmin and Daniel Postgate (son of Oliver Postgate), will be actively involved in the new series as executive producers. Firmin is also part of the design process and Postgate is writing storylines and scripts.
For further information contact DDA Blueprint PR:
Janet Balmforth Tel: +44 (0) 20 8868 0511 / + 44 7748 185656 or Email: janet@ddablueprint.com
Monique Levine Tel: +44 (0) 20 7932 9825 or Email: Monique@ddablueprint.com
