GLASGOW: BBC Scotland’s headquarters in Glasgow is putting the finishing touches to a live real-time performance animation drama series called Salut Serge!.

Computer-based real time characters developed by Tele Virtual will introduce conventional animated characters directed by Bob Godfrey, also director of Roobarb and Henry’s Cat.

Salut Serge!is targeted at children age seven and over.

It features 3-D animated characters Serge, the cheeky monkey and Pascale, the sedate parrot. They live in a virtual tree house world. The program builds around their relationship with Serge as the active young child who plays video games and listens to music, while Pascale is more serious and subdued.

The French-language series is structured in a ‘shell’ format so that the program can be easily adapted to other languages.

The project, a co-production between BBC Scotland and BBC Worldwide, is expected to be completed in April for broadcast some time this summer.

Domestic market spin-offs are planned for books, videos, audio cassettes and multi-media products.