BBC Studios and Australian broadcaster ABC Kids have co-commissioned a second season of Brisbane-based Ludo Studio’s animated series Bluey. Production will start later this month on the 52 x seven-minute episodes, which will debut on ABC Kids and its VOD app ABC iview in 2020.

On top of the new season, Bluey is also getting its first consumer products. BBC Studios and Penguin Random House have teamed up for a series of three books based on the show that will be available in Australian stores before Christmas.

Created by Joe Brumm (Tinga Tinga Tales), the 2D-animated preschool show first debuted at Asian Animation Summit in 2016 (where it was voted Best in Show by attendees). It was co-commissioned by BBC Worldwide and ABC Kids the next year, with production investment from Screen Australia in association with Screen Queensland. Bluey debuted on ABC Kids and the kidcaster’s on-demand platform iview in 2018, followed by CBeebies Australia last year. The show has been viewed more than 75 million times on ABC Kids and is the most viewed program on ABC iview, according to ABC Kids.

The first 52 x seven-minute season follows the daily adventures of a six-year-old blue heeler puppy that lives with her parents and four-year-old sister. Ludo’s Charlie Aspinwall (Doodles), Daley Peterson (Doodles) and Sam Moor (Tinny) produce the series, and Richard Jeffrey (Tinga Tinga Tales) serves as the animation director. The series is executive produced by ABC’s acting head of children’s TV Libbie Doherty and BBC Studios’ director of children’s content Henrietta Hurford-Jones.