U.K. independent Rollin’ Spider Films has been tapped to produce a children’s chat show with a difference for Channel 4.

The 10 x 10 minute series, The Bird, features an animated host called Dolly who will interview well-known and well-loved puppet characters like ‘Basil Brush, Roland Rat, The Wolves, Nobby the Sheep, and DJ Kat,’ says Rollin’ Spider’s producer, Viv Ellis.

Dolly is a virtual puppet created by award-winning French animation studio Medialab (whose past work includes Nickelodeon’s cartoon host, Bert the Fish) using real time animation. She will chat with her guests via motion capture, courtesy of an actor wearing sensors that will feed into Silicon Graphics computers.

The series, which begins airing in April, is ‘a perfect showcase for Medialab’s technical and creative team using state-of-the-art, high-tech equipment,’ says its television manager Emmanuel Javal.