The second season of mixed media comedy series Strange Hill High is set to debut later this month on CBBC UK with Josh Weinstein (The Simpsons, Futurama) back on-board as showrunner.

The brand-new animated 13 x 22-minute season for kids ages six to 11 sees best friends Mitchell (Doc Brown), Templeton (Richard Ayoade) and Becky (Emma Kennedy) return to their creepy, inner-city school where they encounter a new round of mysterious phenomena and strange new characters including a games teacher who is a human/plant hybrid and a were-teacher named Deputy Head.

Created and executive-produced by Kat Van Henderson at indie animation studio FactoryTM, Strange Hill High is co-produced by FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment with Factory TM (formerly Factory Transmedia) and CBBC.

The series will maintain its use ‘hypervynorama,’ an innovative new animation technique that combines Japanese vinyl toy design and puppetry with CGI.

Showrunner Weinstein said in a statement that the series remains unique beyond its interesting look and feel.

“I’ve worked on some great animated shows, but there is something special about Strange Hill High that makes it stand out above all the rest. Is it the old world craftsmanship combined with innovative use of state-of-the-art technology? Is it the hilarious writing? Our amazing voice cast? The brilliant directing that makes every episode a mini-movie? Yes, all of these and more,” Weinstein says.

As the Strange Hill High property grows bigger, the new season is being supported by the spring launch of a master toy range by Vivid. FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment also signed additional new licensees, TV distribution deals and promotional activity in January.

International broadcasters set to premiere the new season in 2014 include ABC3 (Australia), Zoom (Israel), K2 and Frisbee (Italy), DR (Denmark), SVT (Sweden) and okto channel (Singapore).