London-based indie Silvergate Media has sold the second season of its animated series Peter Rabbit to the BBC’s kids’ channel CBeebies.

The re-imagined series, based on characters from Beatrix Potter’s best-selling children’s book The Tale of Peter Rabbit, first aired on CBeebies in December 2012 and has been a ratings winner consistently topping the “most popular” list on the BBC iPlayer.

The new season will once again be animated by Ireland’s Brown Bag Films and produced by Silvergate in partnership with Penguin UK and Nickelodeon US. Season two will consist of 52 x 11-minute episodes and two 23-minute specials.

Regular main characters Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny and Lily Bobtail will return along with new characters including Tom Kitten, Mittens, Pig Robinson and Mr. Tolly the Tortoise.

The second season pick-up comes as new international broadcasters continue to acquire season one including Germany’s Super RTL, which inked a TV and merchandising rights deal for the IP in January.

Silvergate owns the worldwide licensing and merchandising rights to the classic Peter Rabbit brand and all audiovisual, licensing and merchandising rights to the new CGI Peter Rabbit worldwide, excluding the Americas and India, which are controlled by Nickelodeon US.